Syracuse isn’t alone trying to wash away the sting of a blown, overtime loss. Three days after SU allowed Johns Hopkins to score the game’s final three goals last Saturday in an 11-10 win, Duke surrendered an 8-3 lead by allowing Air Force to score seven of the game’s last eight goals to snatch a 10-9, overtime win.

Now the two losing teams clash for their annual regular-season meeting, this one held at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The No. 3 Orange (5-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) square off with the No. 11 Blue Devils (6-4) on Saturday at noon.

Here’s everything you need to know about this weekend’s matchup.

All-time series: Syracuse leads 9-5

Last time they played: Playing its second game in three days, SU took down Duke, 15-14, en route to its first ACC tournament championship. The Orange was fueled off a combined 12 points from attacks Kevin Rice and Randy Staats, and senior midfielder Nicky Galasso also chipped in a hat trick. Of the 22 points Syracuse benefitted from, only five of those remain within players still on the roster.

 

Then-junior attack Tim Barber secured the game-winning goal with 3:15 left in the game, before the Orange barely staved off two late goals by the Blue Devils to cut the deficit to one. The game was a fragment of what the team’s regular-season matchup was like, when SU stomped on Duke in the Carrier Dome, 19-7. In that game, Syracuse held 6-foot-5 midfielder Myles Jones to just one point, and Ben Williams went 14-of-22 from the X.

“Our poles did a really good job on him,” defender Brandon Mullins said of defending Jones. “Peter Macartney and Scott Firman held him in check. We got up on him early and I think it kind of rattled their team as a whole.”

In the postseason rematch, the ultra-athletic Jones burned Syracuse for five points, and Williams met his match in Kyle Rowe at the X, who won 19-of-30 draws. SU still just barely skirted by in the championship win.

The Duke report: The Blue Devils impressively have three 20-plus goal-scorers, and three more who have between 15-18 tallies this season. By comparison, Nick Mariano is the Orange’s leading goal-scorer with 14, with Dylan Donahue trailing at 11, and three more tied with 10, though the Blue Devils have played four more games than SU.

“Very good team,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said of Duke. “The offensive end of the field they really put six really good players out there. Their midfield is more of a motor than their attack. I think their attack, they have some capable dodgers back there.”

It’s a midfield anchored by Jones, a perennial Tewaarton Award candidate. He has both 18 goals and assists, showcasing a balanced style of play that usually doesn’t accompany a player of his size.

Rowe has returned as the Blue Devils’ primary faceoff man, and he’s won at a 69 percent clip from the X. He kept SU’s Williams in check like no other opponent did last season, an effort not lost on Desko less than a year later.

Starting goalkeeper Danny Fowler returns this year, and he’s allowed a touch over nine goals per game this season, while Syracuse’s nearly 14 goals per game is fourth-best in the nation.

“We don’t want this goalie to get hot,” Desko said. “He’s been a little bit up and down but he’s had some big saves for them. So we’ve got to figure him out, so we’ve gotta be patient.”

 

Logan Reidsma | Senior Staff Photographer

 

How Duke beats Syracuse: The Orange has shown weakness when getting blitzed on offense by teams with a plethora of options. Last week, Syracuse’s man-down defense blinked and yielded two crucial goals late in the second half. The Blue Devils bring forth a comprehensive, dynamic offense, and it deserves to be emphasized that the offense’s best all-around player (Jones), isn’t even on the attack.

If the core of offensive players made up of Jones, Deemer Class, Jack Bruckner and others can bully Syracuse around enough and force the Orange into causing unnecessary penalties, scoring lanes will begin to open up for Duke.

The Blue Devils will also be in a great spot if Rowe can replicate last season’s effort against Williams on Saturday. Syracuse is only as great as its offense is, and its offense is only as great as Williams is, who feeds his offensive teammates the ball after dashing from the X.

“They have a great faceoff guy, so it’ll be a real battle there,” Desko said. “Teams might have the ball equally, which means we have to do a better job offensively, not get the turnovers we had a week ago and just play better lacrosse all-around.”

Numbers to know:

3 – Nick Mariano, Syracuse’s leading goal-scorer, has scored three goals in three straight games, and three goals in four of the last five games.

16 – In each game this season Williams has won at least 16 faceoffs, an amount that would boost the Orange on Saturday afternoon going up against Rowe.

31 – While taking a backseat in his scoring responsibilities this season, Dylan Donahue still holds the second-longest goal-scoring streak in the country at 31 straight games.

Player to watch: Myles Jones

It’s difficult to pick against one of the largest physical specimens in the college lacrosse landscape. His size allows him to effortlessly push aside defenders, and Mullins said the Orange has been using 6-foot-3 midfielder Pat Carlin to mock Jones’ presence on scout team practice this week. Jones, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s Major League Lacrosse draft, will likely force the defense to slide and how the rest of SU’s unit responds could dictate the outcome of the game.

Published on March 25, 2016 at 11:29 am

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @connorgrossman