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The game’s opening faceoff was a scramble that Jakob Phaup lost, one that started with Peter Dearth falling on top of Duke’s faceoff specialist and finished with the ball in the back of SU’s net. Moments later, Duke’s faceoff specialist got the better of Phaup once again, scooping up a ground ball that led to another Duke goal.

Syracuse hardly touched the ball for the first two minutes and already trailed by two. The opening minutes set the tone for what would become a struggle at the faceoff X for Syracuse on Thursday. The Orange conceded a 7-0 run in the second quarter that stemmed from just 4-of-20 faceoff wins in the first half. Syracuse erased a seven-point deficit but lost the game’s last four consecutive faceoffs as it let a 14-13 lead slip to a 15-14 loss in the final seven minutes.

Syracuse’s Phaup and Danny Varello won just 8-of-32 faceoffs (25%) against No. 2 Duke’s Jake Naso in Durham, North Carolina. It marked the first time Syracuse has lost the faceoff battle since May 2019 against Loyola and the lowest faceoff win percentage since Feb. 2018 against Albany (21.7%). The Orange recorded three faceoff violations in the first half and had to play a man down on one faceoff later in the second quarter. And because SU wasn’t used to playing with so many faceoff losses, it had to figure out other ways to generate offense without frequent ball possession, head coach John Desko said postgame.

“When you’re not winning faceoffs, you have to learn how to play like that. Some teams know how to play because, consistently, they lose faceoffs,” Desko said. “We haven’t.”

Ahead of No. 4 Syracuse’s (4-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) matchup with No. 2 Duke (9-0, 1-0), Desko said there would be a battle at the faceoff X because both offenses thrive with the ball. But on Thursday, Syracuse struggled. Desko pulled Phaup early in the second quarter, replacing the usual starter with Varello.

“Jakob was getting beat cleanly, and Danny’s a slightly different technique. It’s always been a nice 1-2 punch for us in the past,” Desko said.

But Varello struggled, too. A false start on his first faceoff proved costly, marking SU’s third violation of the first half, a frame where Duke scored 10 of its 12 goals immediately after winning a faceoff.

“A couple times we saw their guy move early and thought the call went the wrong way a couple times,” Desko said.

Naso won 15 of his first 16 faceoffs, and though the Orange trailed by just five goals heading into halftime, they adjusted their offense to adapt to the unfamiliar.

“There were times where I think we needed to use a little bit more of our shot clock when we had the ball on offense, when we’re not getting the draws, we’re not getting the possessions because we played so much defense — especially in the first half,” Desko said.

Syracuse struck at the end of the first half when Varello won a faceoff after scooping up a ground ball near his foot and outrunning Naso. He found Chase Scanlan behind the cage, who fed Brendan Curry for a diving goal.

But on numerous occasions Thursday, it looked like Varello might escape the faceoff X and feed the ball to Syracuse’s offense before Duke forced a turnover. Midway through the second quarter, after having lost all but one faceoff — which was due to a violation called on Naso — Varello seemed to have escaped with the ball. Long stick midfielder Tyler Carpenter chased Varello down, jarring the ball loose, scooping it up and taking off in the other direction for a Nakeie Montgomery shot that Drake Porter saved.

Syracuse had similar issues with Phaup in the first quarter. An early faceoff turned into a ground ball that rolled into Duke’s half of the field. Phaup went for it, but Naso was there first.

“He’s really quick, and he was getting down on the ball,” Desko said of Duke’s faceoff specialist.

Phaup dove for a loose ball at the start of the second quarter, too, but Naso dove further and reacted sooner. Carpenter was there to clean up the ground ball. He charged downfield, outrunning Dearth for the rare long-pole goal. Phaup lost one more faceoff against Naso and was benched for the remainder of the night.

His 1-of-11 performance was the worst of his career since his Syracuse debut, where he went 1-of-7, also against Duke.

Up four goals as part of what’d eventually become a 7-0 run in the second quarter, Naso lined up against Varello. The ball spurted out toward Syracuse’s cage, and Naso was there first to scoop it up.

The Duke freshman took off downfield, sprinting past Dami Oladunmoye and Brett Barlow all the way to the cage. Naso fired, scored and celebrated. All Varello could do was watch and walk back to the faceoff X.

Published on March 26, 2021 at 12:04 am

Contact Roshan: [email protected] | @Roshan_f16