No. 7 Syracuse outmatched by No. 12 Duke in disastrous 11-7 defeat
No. 7 Syracuse went scoreless across the first and third quarters as it fell 11-7 to No. 12 Duke, never managing to lead. Leonardo Eriman | Asst. Video Editor
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DURHAM, N.C. — In February, Syracuse hit its first roadblock in Gary Gait’s fourth year in charge. Back-to-back losses to then-No. 6 Maryland and then-No. 15 Harvard left SU one game above .500 with the majority of its season left. The Orange responded by playing their best lacrosse under Gait and winning six straight games, building its longest win streak in four years.
A loss last week to No. 1 Cornell brought SU’s streak to a crashing halt on Long Island. The last time Syracuse had a chance to get back on track, it failed miserably by blowing a five-goal lead to Harvard. Standing in SU’s way of its second losing streak of the season or potentially sealing their berth in the NCAA Tournament was Duke.
How would Syracuse perform with the pressure on?
The answer was definitive. It crumbled. No. 7 Syracuse (9-4, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) was outmatched by No. 12 Duke (10-4, 1-2 ACC) 11-7. The Orange let a struggling Blue Devils offense explode for its best outing in conference play. If it wasn’t for Jimmy McCool’s 15 saves, the deficit could’ve been much worse. Syracuse’s offense wasn’t much better as it was hampered by scoreless first and third quarters, in which Duke outscored the Orange 7-0.
“We didn’t play great today,” Gait said postgame. “It was not our best effort. Duke came full of energy and hustle and outworked (us). Especially in the beginning, the first quarter, ground balls, hustle plays all over the place. We got to do a better job responding, and put this one behind us.”
SU’s bleak performance leaves it with more questions than answers. The largest one being, how much of a blow is Saturday’s loss to Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament hopes?
Prior to Saturday’s contest, the NCAA Tournament selection committee projected Syracuse as the No. 9 overall seed. Meanwhile, Duke wasn’t in the top 10, giving the showdown extra significance as the Blue Devils tried to scrap their way into the tournament field.
Duke reeked of a desperate team from the jump, as it jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Blue Devils’ offense, which had failed to score eight goals in three of its past four games, got going early. Eric Malever — Duke’s points leader this season — scored twice, with a goal from Max Sloat sandwiched in between.
For the second straight week, Syracuse dug itself a hole after it trailed 8-2 in the second quarter against Cornell. Whereas the Big Red’s potent offense posed Syracuse with problems, Duke’s stout defense gave SU headaches.
The Blue Devils punched SU in the mouth with their physicality, and the Orange didn’t know how to respond. Syracuse’s offense looked out of sorts and finished their first half with nearly as many turnovers (five) as total shots (seven).
Per Gait, it simply came down to Syracuse not winning its one-on-one matchups anywhere on the field. Michael Leo and Sam English didn’t get going downhill. Owen Hiltz didn’t carve out enough space to get shots off and the Orange weren’t connecting with the same intensity like they normally do.
Even the addition of Finn Thomson, who came off the bench for his first action since getting injured against Utah, couldn’t make an impact. Gait revealed postgame Syracuse hasn’t been at full strength the past few weeks of practice, and it hindered his team’s execution.
“It’s made it tough on us, for sure, just just to get in that chemistry,” Gait said. “Changing guys in practice, not having those opportunities everybody there, it’s just kind of the way it goes.”
It wasn’t until 20 minutes in, where Syracuse showed any signs of a cohesive offense. That came by playing through Joey Spallina. After Duke jumped in front by four, Spallina tried to inject life into SU, contributing to four goals within a six-minute stretch. He fired a couple tight-angle shots home, while setting up Hiltz and Rhoa to cut Syracuse’s deficit to 5-4 with five minutes left in the first half.
Syracuse was most threatening when Spallina got the ball in dangerous areas, which led to quick ball movement. He single handedly swung the momentum back in Syracuse’s favor, but just like last week — where SU cut two separate six goal deficits to two — it couldn’t get over the top.
“It was hard to keep those runs going, but I thought we had chances to keep those runs going, and we just didn’t make the plays,” Gait said.
Malever — who finished with a game-high five goals — struck twice in the final three minutes, which increased Duke’s advantage to three at halftime. Despite that, Syracuse was still well within striking distance heading into the second half.
That idea was blown up three minutes into the third quarter. A transition goal from short-stick midfielder Aidan Maguire and solo effort from Andrew McAdorey made it 10-4. Fifteen seconds after McAdorey scored, nobody stepped in front of the long pole Mac Christmas. He unleashed a howitzer past McCool, which sent Duke’s sideline into a frenzy.
What was once a one-goal game, turned into Syracuse’s largest deficit of the season. Cal Girard won four straight faceoffs to start the second half and kept the ball out of Syracuse’s sticks.
Even when SU did get the ball, it couldn’t get out of its own way. Payton Anderson had a pass from X that ended up directly in goalie Patrick Jameison’s stick. He also dropped a simple feed out of bounds with nobody guarding him. Anderson finished with a game-high four turnovers.
The carelessness had a trickle down effect to the rest of the offense, with SU totalling six giveaways in the period. Spallina couldn’t save the Orange this time, with Charlie Johnson and the rest of Duke’s defense doing a better job of slowing him down.
The Orange didn’t record their first shot on target until 12 minutes, when Jameison denied Hiltz from point blank range for one of his 13 saves. Jameison’s heroics kept Syracuse off the scoreboard once again for an entire quarter.
Facing a stout defense that allowed less than eight goals in its last two games, the task was tall.
It proved to be too much. Syracuse made slight inroads, getting within four goals, but it came with less than three minutes left. The minor comeback effort never amounted to anything serious.
It leaves Syracuse in a precarious position wondering what went wrong?
Two weeks ago, SU was hitting its peak. A dominant win over then-No. 5 Notre Dame had the Orange dreaming of a potential deep run in the NCAA Tournament. The heralded junior class was growing up in front of everyone’s eyes and looked like a bonafide national title contender.
It’s been a shared goal of Syracuse this season to bring that glory back to central New York. 11 games into the season, Syracuse gave itself a serious chance to make its first Championship Weekend since 2013.
Since then, it’s been nothing but downhill.
Now the Orange are left wondering if they’ll even make the postseason.
