Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

The Atlantic Coast Conference hasn’t been kind to Gary Gait since taking over Syracuse in 2021. Back-to-back 1-5 seasons left the Orange tied with North Carolina for the worst record in the ACC during that span. But Gait’s lack of success in the conference is just a reflection of Syracuse’s performances as a whole since joining the league in 2014. In 10 seasons, the Orange have finished above .500 just twice.

But with their most talented roster under Gait, the Orange have the chance to pull themselves out of mediocrity and return to the top of the ACC once again. The first conference test in 2024 was No. 4 Duke — the reigning national runner-up — a team Syracuse lost to twice last season.

The Orange got a chance at revenge Wednesday. Not only did Syracuse get the job done, but it made a statement in doing so.

Anchored by an air-tight defensive performance, No. 6 Syracuse held No. 4 Duke to its lowest scoring total since 2012, coming out with a 10-4 win. The Orange kept reigning Tewaaraton winner Brennan O’Neill in check to just one goal on 11 shots and forced the Blue Devils into 19 turnovers. Will Mark was on fire in net with 14 saves, constantly thwarting Duke’s dangerous attack and helping make up for a poor 6-for-17 effort from SU’s faceoff unit. On the offensive side, Syracuse was led by Owen Hiltz’s hat trick and though Joey Spallina was held scoreless, the Orange had seven different goal scorers as they defeated Duke for the first time since 2021.

Stopping O’Neill seemed like a monumental challenge, especially with two young defenders in Billy Dwan and Riley Figueiras tasked with slowing him down. Across two games last season, O’Neill shredded the Orange with 12 points. In 2024, the attack has only been held under five points twice, but Syracuse’s defense held him to just two.

O’Neill never got in a rhythm. Only three of his game-high 11 shots hit the target and even when O’Neill got his hands free, Mark thwarted him. But O’Neill isn’t the only threat for the Blue Devils. Dyson Williams entered Wednesday with a team-leading 31 goals, Andrew McAdorey posed a threat from midfield with 16 while seven players came in with double-digit goals. Gait said the key for Syracuse was playing team defense. One player wasn’t going to shut down a single guy, it was about when and how each of them supported each other.

Syracuse took Gait’s message to heart. The slides were well-timed, the late checks before shots bothered the Blue Devils and every time they seemed to have an opening it was quickly shut down.

“They trusted each other, they played team lacrosse, it really was an incredible job,” Gait said postgame.

Although it was a sloppy start on both sides, Duke was the first to get on the board through Benn Johnston just under five minutes in. Finn Thomson quickly answered for Syracuse with Michael Leo and Hiltz following to give SU a lead it never gave up.

While the defense stole the show, Gait said his offense was “opportunistic” and made sure they were patient. The Orange didn’t receive much help from their faceoff unit, losing all eight faceoffs in the first half against Duke’s Jake Naso, but picked their moments in the first half.

Luke Rhoa answered McAdorey’s finish to give Syracuse a 4-2 lead heading into the break. After a poor showing in the first half, Mason Kohn and John Mullen gave the Orange a boost going 6-for-7 from the X in the third quarter, which they took advantage of.

“That allowed us to put the pressure on them and get a run offensively and I thought that was huge,” Gait said about SU’s faceoff unit.

Hiltz went low-to-high to make it a three-goal game before Kohn went coast-to-coast 11 seconds later. A slim two-goal lead started to balloon after Jackson Birtwistle scored two goals across five minutes as Syracuse led by six, handing Duke its largest deficit of the season.

As Syracuse’s offense built its advantage, O’Neill and the Blue Devils were flustered. The attack created his own space moving left on the run. Typically an easy shot for him, but bounced it just wide of the right post. 20 seconds later Aiden Danenza found O’Neill for a step-down, but again flashed it wide of the post. Duke head coach John Danowski was quick to point out postgame that Duke’s offense is at its best when O’Neill is being set up because he doesn’t operate from X. Danowski said when the Blue Devils can get the defense moving it allows O’Neill to pick his spots.

“We never got to that tonight,” Danowksi said.

The threat of Duke’s offense lingered even with Syracuse leading 9-3 heading into the fourth quarter. Yet, the Orange scored five goals in the third quarter to all but seal the result. The Orange controlled the pace and even though it wasn’t a typical fiery offensive performance, they produced enough to “get the job done” Gait said.

“We talk a lot about being calm, confident and not getting too excited and frustrated,” Gait said. “We’re gonna make mistakes. It’s how we react to those mistakes, how we recover and I think that’s what happened today.”

Hiltz capped off Syracuse’s scoring with 13 minutes left in the game, putting the Orange up 10-3. O’Neill got on the scoresheet after over 50 minutes without a goal to get the Blue Devils back within seven, but it was too little too late.

When asked about the growth of Syracuse from this year to last, Gait didn’t give a celebratory answer. Gait mentioned the high standard when it comes to Syracuse lacrosse and said that after he was hired, he promised Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack to get back to that standard. Regular season wins against Duke doesn’t move the needle. Getting to Final Four’s and winning championships does. Though Gait acknowledged the Orange are heading in the right direction, they’re still not where they want to be.

But Wednesday’s win was another step in the right direction in Gait’s goal of returning to that standard.

“We know that we have more work to do moving forward and challenge our team to get better as we go,” Gait said. “Because this is just the first ACC game we’ve got many more and we need to get better because they will get better if we see them again.”

Published on March 20, 2024 at 9:13 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22