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Syracuse allowed the most goals it has all season against then-No. 12 North Carolina. Despite continuing to progress offensively in its last two games against both the Tar Heels and Maryland, Syracuse’s defense and faceoff specialist Johnny Richuisa haven’t been able to hold their own against better, more potent offensive attacks. 

Though the Orange beat Duke 14-10 last season, the Blue Devils are off to a successful start, scoring at least 13 goals in each of their first five games and dropping only a one-goal game at home against Jacksonville. They come into the JMA Wireless Dome hoping to parlay their upset of then-No. 7 UPenn into two straight ranked wins and a successful start to Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Prior to Sunday’s game against Duke, here is how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare.

Anish Vasudevan (4-1)
Go, Johnny, Go! (Johnny needs to B. Goode)
Duke 18, Syracuse 13

It’s debatable that the only important job in lacrosse is that of a faceoff specialist. For the last three years, Syracuse has had a solid player in Jakob Phaup, who wasn’t jaw-dropping with his skills at the faceoff X, but good enough to hold onto his starting role for the majority of his collegiate career. Now, Canisius transfer Johnny Richiusa is SU’s main faceoff specialist, and he too has been good, but not great. 

Richiusa sparked a third-quarter run against UAlbany that allowed SU to put the game away. But the Blue Devils are much better than the Great Danes. Duke has a 59.7% faceoff percentage this season — the best mark in the ACC. Its main faceoff specialist, Jake Naso, is 14th best in the country with a 62.8% win rate. Syracuse is outmatched in other areas, but the disparity in the faceoff might be the biggest. 

With more possessions, Duke will easily score more than 15 goals. SU could find the same success, but Joey Spallina, Jackson Birtwistle and Owen Hiltz can only do so much. I don’t think Michael Leo or some other young SU midfielder or attack will step up to lead the offense. 

Connor Smith (4-1)
So close
Duke 15, Syracuse 14

Duke is ranked sixth nationally, and has gotten off to a 4-1 start, but hasn’t been that impressive as of late. The Blue Devils have had their last three games decided by a total of four goals, and lost to Jacksonville in just their third game of the season. They’ve scraped by Denver and Penn over the last two weekends, but aren’t coming into this game hot by any means. That gives Syracuse — which has lost two straight games, and allowed a season-high 19 goals against North Carolina last weekend — a chance to keep this one close. 

Head coach Gary Gait said last Saturday that SU’s losing streak can be attributed to a lack of faceoff and ground ball wins, forcing the Orange to play a lot of defense. Will Mark has been one of the nation’s best goalies this season, ranking third in the NCAA with 71 saves. He had 17 against North Carolina, and 18 versus Maryland, yet Syracuse still lost both games. In fact, the Orange still gave up 19 goals to the Tar Heels. To win on Sunday, SU needs to win more faceoffs and pick up more ground balls so Mark doesn’t have to stand on his head like he has the last two weeks. 

The problem, though, is that Naso leads the ACC in faceoff winning percentage this season, and has won more faceoffs than any other player in the country. That means Richiusa will again face a tough test, and I just don’t see him winning enough faceoffs needed for Syracuse to control possession against Duke. This should be a tight, fun, down-to-the-wire game for sure, but by the end of it, SU will have lost its third straight game, this one more disappointing than the past two. 

Anthony Alandt (3-2) 
Pick your balls up
Duke 17, Syracuse 15

Syracuse allowed 19 goals against No. 12 North Carolina, the most it has all season against an exhaustive Tar Heel offense. Mark struggled, and the Orange couldn’t keep up. It was the most lopsided game in terms of talent that they’ve played all season, which is why I expect a similar result against No. 6 Duke. The Blue Devils boast a three-pronged offensive attack, unlike any other in the country. Andrew McAdorey, Dyson Williams and Brennan O’Neill — who had a hat trick in last year’s game — all have at least 13 goals and 20 points this season.

I expect Syracuse to get a few more shots on goal than they have over its last two losses against Maryland and UNC. I just don’t trust its defense to stop the Blue Devils throughout four quarters. It won last year because it was able to hold Duke to just one goal in the first and fourth quarters, but the Orange haven’t allowed that few goals in a quarter since the penultimate period against Holy Cross. Duke has also picked up the second-most ground balls (172) in the country this season, so unless something seismic happened this week, the Orange won’t have a major improvement in that sense either.

Published on March 2, 2023 at 12:47 am