Neither John Danowski nor John Desko had an explanation.

As the two head coaches conversed following Syracuse’s 19-7 win on Sunday over Duke in the Carrier Dome, they reflected on the two teams’ matchup almost a year ago to the date, when the Blue Devils embarrassed the Orange, 21-7.

“You give credit to where credit’s due,” said Desko, the SU head coach. “And we played extremely well here and they played extremely well down there. … We weren’t sure what it is.”

On Sunday, No. 1 Syracuse (7-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) solidified itself as the nation’s best and only remaining undefeated team. It dominated in nearly every aspect of the game in the first half. It won 13 of the first 16 faceoffs. It took 34 shots to No. 4 Duke’s (7-2, 0-1) 12 and picked up four more ground balls in the first quarter alone.

Danowski said it was the worst-coached Duke team he’s ever been a part of, and told his players that the final score was a reflection on him. He said he was worried that this kind of game might happen before it started, given the gap in experience between the two teams.

“We are nowhere near the two-time defending champion in that respect,” Danowski said. “Those two teams have come and gone. This is a different team.”

Syracuse struggled to get going offensively on its first possession. First, Hakeem Lecky forced a shot well to the right of the goal. Then Dylan Donahue was hounded and released a bouncer that Duke goalkeeper Luke Aaron didn’t need to touch. Nicky Galasso took a shot that sailed well over the goal and out of bounds.

The Orange missed six shots before midfielder Henry Schoonmaker connected from nearly 20 yards out to put SU on top.

From that point on, Ben Williams won 11-straight faceoffs, the last of which culminated in a Lecky goal on a running shot from the right of the goal to put Syracuse up 10-1. And by that time, with just over 20 minutes of game action elapsed, the Orange celebrations had become more subdued.

There wasn’t the boisterous arm swing and leg kick that Tim Barber had employed after his goal to open the second quarter. There wasn’t a mob of players jumping into a pile like there was after Williams connected just seven seconds later. Instead, Lecky did a light fist-pump as he jogged behind the goal.

“It was definitely surprising, especially watching Duke earlier this year, they seemed like they were doing pretty well,” Schoonmaker said. “I definitely thought it was going to be a little more of a battle than it was.”

Attack Kevin Rice said Syracuse played aggressively and did a good job taking the Duke defense where the Syracuse offense wanted it to go.

Danowski said his team prepared for everything Syracuse did, but not at the speed that Syracuse does it.

Last season, Duke used its home field as its platform to prove that it was among the nation’s best, blowing out the then-No. 6 Orange by 14 goals. On Sunday, just one day before the one-year anniversary, Syracuse did the same thing to its ACC rival.

And as the clock ticked out on the Orange’s best win of the season, the 11,408 in attendance — SU’s largest home crowd in more than six years — rose to their feet. Very few had left, despite the lopsided score.

Syracuse had proven the point to Duke that it had so rudely made just a year ago.

“I don’t know if there’s a heck of a lot to say,” Danowski said. “We got taken out to the woodshed. Syracuse was terrific.”

Published on March 22, 2015 at 2:48 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3