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Duke was attuned to the sound of the ball bouncing off the pipe like a bad song that won’t get out of your head. But in the second half, the Blue Devils forgot the tune.

Brennan O’Neill charged in from the right side with four minutes left in the third quarter, muscling his way past Landon Clary. He brought his stick up and whipped the ball into the back of the net, tying the game at 10-10.

A minute later, Thomas Schelling was unmarked curling from behind the cage. He received the ball from Owen Caputo, turned his body to the goal and gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the evening.

Syracuse (3-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) maintained a lead for the majority of the evening against No. 6 Duke (5-1, 1-1 ACC) but a 6-0 run in the third quarter brought the Blue Devils back into the game. Eventually, SU’s failure to win at the faceoff circle, win ground balls and take efficient shots got the best of it in a 14-13 overtime loss. Cole Kirst led the Orange with four goals while Will Mark finished with a season-high 27 saves.

“The effort by the defense and Will was extraordinary, we had pressure on them all night long,” head coach Gary Gait said.

Kirst broke onto the scoreboard first, lowering his shoulder on Jake Caputo to gain some space on the right side. He did, firing the ball into the left side of the cage five minutes into the game. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils nailed the pipe surrounding the cage time and time again, including once on a man-up opportunity after Saam Olexo was called for a holding penalty.

Andrew McAdorey missed that shot and the Orange were awarded their own man-up opportunity on the ensuing possession. They converted, stringing together three passes which ended in Jackson Birtwistle’s stick. Birtwistle ripped an underhand attempt into the back of the net, giving SU a 2-0 lead.

Syracuse’s defense continued to stop Duke, even causing a shot-clock violation with five minutes left in the first quarter. The Blue Devils couldn’t get anyone open near the crease, forced to let off constant contested attempts. They only scored after Will Mark lost sight of the ball while leaving his spot in the cage. The ball rolled to Schelling, who threw it into the open net.

Johnny Richiusa also sparked Syracuse’s offense despite going against Jake Naso, who entered the game with the 14th-best faceoff percentage in the country (62.8%). Following Schelling’s goal, Richiusa easily beat Rosa to the initial clamp and took off with the ball. He located Kirst, who hesitated before firing an upper-handed shot into the back of the net.

The Blue Devils quickly erased Syracuse’s 5-1 lead though, scoring three goals within 36 seconds. The first came from Garrett Leadmon, who charged down the middle of the field with a defender on him. No other SU defender slid over, allowing Leadmon to leap up for a high, lefty shot that went into the back of the net.

After a scrappy faceoff, Will Frisoli passed to O’Neill, who dished it to McAdorey for the goal. O’Neill scored the final goal of the stretch on his own, cutting into the middle and whipping the ball right before he was checked to cut SU’s lead to one.

The Orange later responded. Owen Hiltz was responsible for the score, curling from X before Spallina delivered the ball to him on the right side. Two more defensive mistakes by Duke left Birtwistle and Alex Simmons open near the crease, increasing Syracuse’s lead back to four.

But SU still had some issues as Rosa established a rhythm, winning 6-of-8 faceoffs in the second quarter. It was also left without two men down with seven minutes left in the first half.

“Faceoffs and ground balls, those two areas are hurting us really bad right now,” Gait said. “I can imagine in our last three games, if faceoffs and ground balls were even, we would be 3-0.”

Two more goals within a minute brought Duke back into the game but Birtwistle and Kirst both clinched hat tricks in the same amount of time. At the start of the second half, the Orange strung together a few passes before Birtwistle gained possession wide open in the middle of the field. He had enough space to walk into his shot, slotting the underhand rip. Kirst was more tightly defended, utilizing a spin move to get little separation from his defender before shooting into the top right corner of the net.

Still, Duke got back within two scores, putting together a few strong defensive possessions which led to dividends in transition. Following a Syracuse turnover, O’Neill dished it to Dyson Williams on the right side of the crease for an easy goal.

“We have to understand that we can’t compound mistakes,” Gait said. “When you’re not getting a lot of possessions, you can’t turn the ball over.”

Once the Blue Devils took their lead, they continued to break through Syracuse’s once air-tight defense. Charles Balsamo caused Joe Bolea to fall to the turf, finding Aidan Danenza at the crease for an easy finish.

Syracuse tried to get something going offensively but Finn Thomson turned the ball over twice. The Orange gained possession right back after the second one though, leading to wide shots from Hiltz and Birtwistle. Spallina kept his back turned the cage with a defender pressed against him. He got enough space to free his stick and launch the ball off the grass into the back of the net.

The Blue Devils answered back after another deflected shot from Mark fell to the turf and led to an easy goal, but Kirst wasn’t done. He used a screen from Max Rosa to get open charging to the middle from the left side. He did, launching the ball into the back of the net before he collided with a Duke defender.

The Orange caught their biggest break a few minutes later, awarded a man-up opportunity after Kenny Brower was called for cross-checking. They made quick use of the advantage as Hiltz controlled the offense from X, locating a cutting Thomson to tie the game at 13-13.

“Our man-up offense is very efficient, thank god for that,” Gait said.

Kirst was the first to try to break through Duke’s defense in Syracuse’s first possession of overtime. He lowered his shoulder, which worked earlier in the game, but didn’t this time. Kirst gave it up to Jackson Birtwistle, who charged down the right side.

Birtwistle had his back turned the goal with a defender on his hip, sending a low bouncing shot that was easily deflected by William Helm. The Blue Devils took off, giving Balsamo possession on the right side. Balsamo had plenty of room to run, raise his stick and whip the ball into the back of the net, sending Duke’s bench sprinting onto the field in celebration.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t make the play at the end,” Gait said.

Published on March 5, 2023 at 6:41 pm

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