Stout defense anchors Syracuse’s ACC Championship win over Duke
Syracuse limited Duke to just eight goals Sunday to take home its first ACC Championship in nearly a decade. Ike Wood | Assistant Photo Editor
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Across all sports, whenever a team wins a championship following an elite defensive outing, the same moniker gets thrown around.
“Defense wins championships.”
For Syracuse, that’s not its identity. Lockdown defense typically doesn’t apply to elite SU teams of the past. Throughout the Orange’s history, they’ve boasted all-time attacks like Gary and Paul Gait, Mike, Casey and Ryan Powell — all of whom wowed spectators with their offensive outputs. Defense never received the same level of attention.
The modern version of Syracuse is still driven by that same formula. Joey Spallina, Owen Hiltz and others carry that mantle. Over the past few years, the Orange’s success has been derived from its high-octane offense.
If the attack didn’t perform up to its standards, a loss was more than likely on the cards. With the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship on the line, SU squashed that narrative in a big way.
No. 4 seed Syracuse (11-5, 2-2 ACC) put together a shutdown defensive performance, outlasting No. 3 seed Duke (12-5, 2-2 ACC) 9-8, to win its first ACC Championship since 2016. The Orange leaned on their defensive backbone to get them over the line against a physically imposing Blue Devils offense. They forced 16 turnovers while Jimmy McCool recorded a 56% save rate, earning Most Valuable Player honors. It was the first time since beating Vermont on Feb. 4, 2023 where SU won and failed to score 10 goals.
“That defense today was just outstanding, all of them (did great),” Gary Gait said postgame.
The Orange won a slugfest. Plain and simple.
It was never going to be the prettiest lacrosse game, considering Syracuse and Duke had just one day of rest following semifinal wins over No. 1 seed Notre Dame and No. 2 seed North Carolina, respectively. Syracuse had more time to recover since it played first, but Duke could rest its players in the second half after holding 12-1 at one point.
Duke’s offense entered Sunday scorching hot after recording its largest tally in over two months (14) to beat UNC. The Blue Devils haven’t always produced this season — averaging just 12.25 goals in the regular season — but their talent is evident.
Big and bulky midfielders like Benn Johnston and Max Sloat can bulldoze anyone who stands in their way. Once you mix in tricky attackers like Andrew McAdorey and Eric Malever, trouble can brew quickly.
The Orange found that out in the first meeting on April 19, when they fell 11-7. Syracuse conceded all 11 goals in three quarters, despite Duke failing to score eight goals in three out of its last four previous games.
The key in the rematch? Keep Duke out of transition.
The Blue Devils sped up the pace in the first meeting. Rather than letting Syracuse’s defense play six-on-six, Duke pushed the pace and took advantage when it outnumbered SU on the break. Since Syracuse committed a season-high 18 turnovers, it put itself in tough spots often, and with Sam English being SU’s only true two-way midfielder, the giveaways cost the Orange.
In a championship game, where every goal is crucial, Syracuse wasn’t going to give Duke free chances. That meant anybody who could get back and stymie an attack stayed on defense — even Hiltz and Spallina at points.
Spallina cracked a smile when asked about his mindset when he ventured to the other end of the field.
“Don’t get beat and listen to what these guys have to say,” Spallina joked when talking about his limited time on defense.
“If they came down to our end, you know, we would obviously talk them through any of that stuff. And they do a great job of getting us off the field.”
The formula worked. Duke couldn’t get anything going in transition. And outside of a stretch where Thomas Delgado and McAdorey scored back-to-back first quarter goals to put Duke up 2-1, Syracuse’s half field defense held strong. It was the first of just two times Duke scored two straight goals in a quarter all game.
“When we’re six on six, you know, our defense is pretty good,” Spallina said postgame. “We got a pretty decent goalie, I would say, we needed to just eliminate transition. Just any way that we can help those guys out, is what we’ll do.”
Syracuse’s half field defense was anchored by its three long poles, Billy Dwan, Riley Figueiras and Michael Grace. Dwan and Figueiras were key staples during Syracuse’s run to the NCAA Quarterfinal, while Grace was a new addition.
A transfer from Division-III Rochester Institute of Technology, Gait felt Grace would be a great fit alongside SU’s two cornerstone defenders. Over the course of the season, Gait’s been proven right.
Grace, the former D-III Defenseman of the Year, slotted right into SU’s backline. The Orange — aided by McCools heroics — have conceded just 9.67 goals per game. It’s the first time since 2017 they haven’t conceded at least 10 per game.
Sunday, Dwan matched up with Eric Malever, who scored five goals in the previous meeting. Figuerias took on the challenge of McAdorey, one of the top-rated prospects for the upcoming Premier League Lacrosse draft. Grace was aligned with freshman Liam Kershis.
Malever was held scoreless, Kershis had one goal and McAdorey had two, one of which was a last-second prayer from 30 yards out at the end of the first half. Still, Syracuse led 5-3 and built on that margin heading into the fourth quarter, where it led by three.
Nursing a multi-goal advantage, Syracuse slowed the pace. Elongated possessions led to it going the final 11 minutes scoreless.
It nearly backfired. Sloat and Kershis both added tallies to make it a one-goal game with 1:01 remaining. Despite winning the ensuing faceoff, Syracuse turned the ball over with less than 30 seconds remaining.
Duke coach John Danowski called a timeout with eight seconds remaining. A stop was the only thing standing between Syracuse and its first ACC Tournament Championship in nearly a decade.
Johnston started with the ball on the left wing, guarded by Chuck Kuczynski. As Johnston made his way upfield, Grace slid over to help. That left Malever unoccupied on the crease. Johnston hit him with a pass, but McCool closed down the angle to force Malever to miss the target.
As the ball rolled out of bounds and the clock reached zero, Syracuse’s bench streamed onto the field, mobbing McCool. It wasn’t Syracuse’s sharpest defensive possession, but its body of work throughout Sunday’s contest speaks for itself.
Sunday’s result wasn’t flashy. It didn’t follow the same blueprint of historically dominant Syracuse teams, who blitzed opponents with goals. However, the victory showed the latest version of Syracuse can get down and dirty when it needs to.
For the Orange, it’s one championship down. They have bigger goals ahead. If Syracuse wants to accomplish them, its defense is going to dictate that.
