Duke star Brennan O'Neill torches Canada, nets five goals as USA takes gold at World Lacrosse Championships
Star Duke attack Brennan O’Neill left an indelible mark on his national team career on Saturday night. The United States took home gold at the World Lacrosse Championships, defeating Canada, 10-7, behind five goals from O’Neill.
It’s a second-straight gold medal for Team USA and caps off an undefeated run through the tournament for the Americans. And on top of O’Neill’s performance, the United States got a stellar performance from Blaze Riorden in cage, taming the potent Canada attack.
Making O’Neill’s five-goal outburst for the national team in a gold medal game even more impressive: He’s the only player on the roster going back to college next season.
One of his former Duke teammates, Michael Sowers, scored the dagger goal in the final seconds of the game. A number of former Duke players dotted other positions on the roster. And the national team is coached by Duke head coach John Danowski.
But only one player on the field on Saturday for the Americans will be playing college lacrosse in 2024.
O’Neill starred for Duke in 2023, as the Blue Devils made it all the way to the national championship game. He scored 55 goals and added 42 assists for a cool 97 points in 19 games. For his efforts, he won the Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the best player in college lacrosse.
And his penchant for scoring was big for the United State on Saturday, as the offense was otherwise difficult to come by.
O’Neill brought it in a variety of ways, too. He scored his fifth and final goal while dodging to his left and firing a shot on the run, as seen above. But he took some punishment to score, too.
To score his fourth goal, O’Neill drove to the front of the cage as a quartet of defenders converged. He fired a shot overhand past the goalie as a thicket of arms and lacrosse sticks beat him to the ground. After getting up slow and coming back to the bench for a period, he came right back out and scored his fifth, and final, goal.
With a gold medal and some national pride on the line in a tight, hard-fought final, O’Neill wasn’t letting defenders, the goalie or even some rough-and-tumble play keep him from the glory.
It’s a performance for his country that he won’t soon forget. Nor will the college defenders across the ACC tasked with stopping him next season.