Heartbreak in Philadelphia, a heartwarming reception at home.
On Thursday evening, attackman Brennan O'Neill was rewarded for an exceptional junior season with the prestigious Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the best men's and women's player in college lacrosse. The honor comes on the back of a fantastic campaign with the Blue Devils that saw the Bay Shore, N.Y., native log 55 goals and 42 assists across 19 games, all of which were starts. The 2021 ACC Freshman of the Year stepped up his game in 2023 to become one of the nation's scariest offensive players, earning a spot on the All-American first team and ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors.
The most impressive part of those numbers, however, is when they were scored and against whom. O'Neill's season-high in points came in Duke's away win against Virginia, where he logged six goals and a hat trick of assists, but he also put up five points against North Carolina, seven against Denver and a combined 12 against Syracuse. In the NCAA tournament, O'Neill was named to the All-Tournament team and nabbed 17 points across four games before losing to Notre Dame in Monday's title match.
In winning the award, O'Neill beat out the likes of ACC rivals Connor Shellenberger of Virginia and Pat Kavanagh of Notre Dame, in addition to becoming just the third Blue Devil ever to earn the distinction following Matt Danowski in 2007 and Ned Crotty in 2010.
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Andrew Long is a Trinity senior and recruitment/social chair of The Chronicle's 120th volume. He was previously sports editor for Volume 119.