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Against Danny Varello, Jake Naso scooped up a loose ball and charged downfield. The game had been tied 5-5, but the No. 2 Blue Devils were amid a 4-0 run in the second quarter. Naso sprinted past Peter Dearth and Varello at X, then blew by Dami Oladunmoye and Brett Kennedy on SU’s defense.

The faceoff specialist kept going, all the way past Drake Porter and all the way to a five-goal lead for Duke. The Blue Devils would add another two before the Orange ended the 7-0 second-quarter run. But Varello responded by doing the same in the second half. He scooped up a loose ball after a faceoff and charged all the way down to the Duke end. Varello got hacked from behind, and the Orange scored on the man-up situation to complete the seven-goal recovery. But they still came up short.

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s (4-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) 15-14 loss against Duke (9-0, 1-0) on Thursday night in Durham, North Carolina:

Up-and-down defense

Early in the first quarter, Michael Sowers blew past Mitch Wykoff. The Duke sideline whooped in celebration as Sowers dodged right and Wykoff went flying the other way at X. SU slid to Sowers, but he’d already picked out a cutting Joe Robertson, who caught and shot in one motion for the Blue Devils’ second goal of the night.

SU didn’t have a consistent answer on defense for Sowers. In the first half, Wykoff couldn’t contain the nation’s best player. Sowers created frequent separation all night, rounding past Wykoff once again in the second quarter before diving at the edge of the crease, only to be denied by Porter. Minutes later, the Duke All-American did the same thing again, this time going low into the bottom corner to beat Porter. Wykoff frequently bit on dodges, and SU slid too early to Sowers.

At times, Sowers — understandably — proved unguardable. Against Wykoff on an island, the SU defender stayed tighter with the Duke attack, limiting his space more in the second half than he had in the first. Sowers fired, a shot that Wykoff didn’t see until it hit the back of the net.

But in the third quarter, Syracuse’s defense responded. The Blue Devils scored just one goal as SU’s defense slid to Brennan O’Neill, Robertson and Sowers with much more success. The Orange’s defensive midfield fought for loose balls but still won just 15 compared to Duke’s 31.

With pressure, Kennedy scooped up a ground ball after Sowers slipped, and the Orange pulled within one moments later. But in the final four minutes, Wykoff slid prematurely in an attempt to close down Owen Caputo, and Sowers found the net to put Duke up one.

SU defended until the shot clock expired in the last minute, but it ultimately lost on a man-down goal in the final 15 seconds.

Midfield comes to life

In the first half, Syracuse’s All-American first-line midfield notched just one point. The Orange saw very little of the ball when they were dominated at the faceoff X by Naso, and there was little for Brendan Curry and Tucker Dordevic to do on the offensive end.

But in the second half, Dordevic inverted and fed Curry to pull the Orange within two. Dordevic’s diving goal put SU up one goal in the final seven minutes, and the midfield was part of the man-up goal by Chase Scanlan that tied the game at 13 with nine minutes left.

In the final 30 seconds, head coach John Desko called timeout and drew up a play for Dordevic. He let a shot rip after a number of passes, but that didn’t connect. Two men up, Desko trusted Curry to shoot in the final five seconds, but that didn’t connect, either. Despite the Orange turning to their dominant midfield in the game’s most important moments, Stephen Rehfuss took the final shot with four seconds left, Mike Adler blocked it, and Syracuse lost.

Battle at the faceoff X

Duke’s Naso won 15 of his first 16 faceoffs, prompting Desko to pull Jakob Phaup for Varello in the second quarter. But the Orange racked up faceoff violations, and with 11 minutes remaining in the half, they had to take the remainder of the faceoffs in a man-down situation. That helped fuel a 7-0 run for the Blue Devils.

In the second half, the Orange found more success via Varello, but he still finished 7-of-22 in total faceoffs. The Blue Devils scored 10 of their 12 first-half goals through faceoffs, and even when they lost faceoffs in the second half, the Blue Devils fought for loose ground balls.

Desko said pregame that the faceoff X would be crucial in a tight matchup between two high-powered offenses that thrive when they have the ball.

Duke won five of the last six faceoffs in the game’s final 15 minutes, and despite conceding a 7-1 run in the third quarter, the Blue Devils prevailed largely because of their dominance at the faceoff X.

Published on March 25, 2021 at 9:28 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16