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The beginning of the end of Syracuse’s season fittingly came because of a lost faceoff, and a ground ball it couldn’t pick up.

SU had all the momentum midway through the fourth quarter and trailed Duke by two goals after a 4-0 run. It was the smallest deficit since the six-minute mark of the second quarter. But then the Orange had to win a faceoff. And, as was the case in a season where they’ve consistently ranked in the bottom-10 nationally at the X, they couldn’t.

Duke’s Jake Naso won the initial clamp, and Brandon Aviles got flagged for slashing. The Blue Devils tried to feed the ball inside, but it ended up on the ground. Unsurprisingly, SU, the nation’s 12th-worst team at collecting ground balls, didn’t come up with it. Instead, Dyson Williams scooped up possession and scored on the point-blank goal, mere feet from goalie Will Mark.

Williams’ goal made it 16-13, ending any momentum Syracuse had. The Orange needed a win Saturday to stay in the NCAA Tournament hunt, but after their 18-15 loss to No. 2 Duke — their second in a row against a top-five ACC team — they’ll watch the postseason from home for the second straight year. It’s the first time since 1977-78 that Syracuse has missed the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years.

“Most of our games, we were in them,” Gary Gait said postgame, reflecting on his second year as head coach. “We played the most defense out of any team in the country due to lack of faceoff wins. We’re going to focus on faceoffs and ground balls. Next year we will be a completely different team if we can improve on those areas.”

SU competed in almost every game in large part because of its exceptionally-efficient offense. Its talented freshman class, one of the bright spots of future Syracuse lacrosse seasons, ended this season with another impressive performance. Joey Spallina totaled five points to cap off a historic freshman campaign, and first-year midfielder Luke Rhoa notched his first career hat trick midway through the third quarter. Fellow freshman Michael Leo had three points, including a goal he scored early in the fourth quarter to cut SU’s deficit to two.

The Blue Devils average the fifth-most goals per game in the country at 15.23, but struggled to match their usual numbers earlier this season against Syracuse, finishing with its second-worst offensive performance of the season efficiency-wise. Mark had notched a season-high 22 saves in that game, a byproduct of Duke’s sizable faceoff (21-9) and ground ball (44-27) advantages as well as a season-high 66 shots. Nearly 55% of the Blue Devils’ shots reached goal on March 5, but Mark’s efforts limited them to their worst shooting percentage, by far, of the season (21.2%).

Mark had another solid game on Saturday, registering 10 saves — though only two in the second half — but like in the first meeting, Duke had the ball too much. And the Devils shot over 46% this time.

On one second-quarter faceoff, Naso boxed out Jack Fine for the ball, who two passes later found Brennan O’Neill for his second goal of the game. Naso, the ACC’s faceoff leader at 63%, cruised Saturday afternoon against the nation’s eighth-worst unit. In the fourth quarter, Syracuse switched more to Johnny Richiusa, who found more success (6-for-13), but Naso still won 22 of the game’s 35 faceoffs.

Early in the third quarter, Alex Simmons sent a shot off the crossbar that careened all the way to midfield, where O’Neill fought to scoop it up — one of Duke’s 31 ground balls (Syracuse had just 23). The junior attacker sprinted toward goal, eventually shoveling a pass off to Williams, who cut in front of the cage to score an easy one and make it 11-7, Duke.

The two teams had gone back-and-forth in the first quarter but as the faceoff wins piled up, so did Duke’s lead. Mark stopped a hot, close-range shot from O’Neill (one of his eight first-half saves), but the rebound found its way to Andrew McAdorey, who dropped his stick and rifled a shot under the crossbar for a 4-3 Duke lead. The Devils would tack on two more goals in the ensuing minutes.

But Syracuse answered back. Rhoa ripped in a low shot off a behind-the-back feed from Owen Hiltz, and Cole Kirst scored off a crossfield pass from Simmons 53 seconds later. Then, Rhoa tied the game after he started near midfield, blew right by Charlie O’Connor and fired a shot from straightaway.

“Super proud of this team for trying to find answers and climbing back,” Gait said. “We’re encouraged to come back next year.”

Another run came midway through the second quarter, when the Blue Devils rattled off four straight goals to take a 10-6 lead into halftime. Duke also had an advantage in faceoff wins, 14-4, through two quarters.

“We win faceoffs and we score a couple of goals. If we can get better there and improve, it will solve a lot of our problems,” Gait said.

The Blue Devils are now 11-1 this season when leading at halftime. Their defense picked up after halftime, forcing Syracuse’s quick attack into lengthy possessions. The Orange were forced deep into the shot clock twice in the third quarter; on one play, Kenny Brower and Wilson Stephenson double teamed Spallina next to goal with the shot clock running out, and the freshman’s efforts to get the ball on goal resulted in the ball — and his stick — on the ground. Aidan Danenza scored 40 seconds later to make it 12-8.

Syracuse scored four straight to open the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils answered with Williams’ goal, and scored twice more afterwards. A turnover forced by O’Connor, and scooped up by Keith Boyer, led to an Aidan Maguire goal with four minutes left.

After a season built on reversing last year’s fortunes and building for the future, the Orange will have to look back and wonder what if ground ball and faceoffs stats had been just slightly better. What if the defense didn’t have to guard as long, and what if Mark didn’t have a five-ounce white ball flying at him nonstop for two hours every Saturday afternoon. What if Spallina, Hiltz and others had the ball in their sticks more.

Ultimately, those questions will remain unanswered. Perhaps, they can be answered on a Saturday next spring, when SU should field a unit that returns nearly all of its 2022 stars. But not on this Saturday, not with those pieces absent yet again when it mattered the most.

Published on April 29, 2023 at 2:29 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_