"Missed it by that much."
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Case Matheis doesn’t look anything like Don Adams, but you could understand if he was muttering Maxwell Smart’s signature line after Duke’s 15-14 loss to Syracuse in a taut ACC championship game. With a chance to force overtime, Matheis missed high from point-blank range with 16 seconds to go, and the Orange held on. Duke roared out to an early lead, but a big second quarter gave Syracuse a halftime lead that the Blue Devils could never quite erase.
When Syracuse hammered Duke in March, Ben Williams was a difference-maker, winning 13 of 16 first half face-offs as the Orange ran out to an insurmountable lead. With Kyle Rowe now fully healthy, he turned the tables, winning six of nine in the first quarter as Duke sprinted to a 6-2 lead. Nicky Galasso got the Orange on the board 39 seconds into the game, but Duke slammed the door for almost 12 minutes and rang up five unanswered goals, making Syracuse’s off-ball defense look very ordinary in the process. Jack Bruckner got the run started, scoring from the doorstep on an assist from Deemer Class. Matheis snuck out from behind to cash in a Myles Jones feed as the Orange were late to react. Off the ensuing face-off, Kyle Rowe won a tough scrum and Duke converted, Brian Dailey finding Bruckner alone on the weak side. Justin Guterding beat Brandon Mullins behind the net and took advantage of a tentative slide to slip the ball across the face of the goal to a wide-open Matheis. Tanner Scott spun away from Tom Grimm in the left alley and when the help never came, he ripped it past Bobby Wardwell. Hakeem Lecky ended the Duke run with a catch-and-shoot rip from the left alley, but Dailey grabbed his second assist of the quarter off the face-off, finding Guterding in the right alley. Syracuse killed a 30-second penalty, but an unforced turnover (the Orange had six in the quarter) gave Duke the last possession of the quarter, and the Blue Devils led by four after 15 minutes.
The second quarter would see a complete turnaround. After Tanner Scott hit the post on Duke’s opening possession, the roof fell in on the Blue Devils, as the Orange went on a 7-1 run. The Syracuse defense held Duke to 1-12 shooting in the quarter, and the communication issues that plagued the Duke defense over the first half of the season returned. Lecky got the run going 1:36 into the quarter, beating Will Haus in the left alley, and Randy Staats converted a Kevin Rice feed eight seconds later. Derek DeJoe scored on an extra-man opportunity, Nick Weston and Rice added goals, and with 7:59 to go the Orange had their first lead since it was 1-0. Guterding stopped the bleeding momentarily with 5:38 to go, cutting behind a ball-watching Mullins to cash in a feed from Matheis, but the Orange off-ball defense tightened up, and Rice took advantage of sloppy off-ball defense to find Dylan Donahue and Staats open for easy finishes. The Orange went to the locker room with a 9-7 lead and momentum.
Bruckner cut the Orange lead to one 58 seconds into the third, slipping away from Jay McDermott in the slot to finish a feed from Jones. Duke had a chance to equalize two minutes later when Joe Gillis was sent off for tripping, but an unforced turnover wiped out the extra-man opportunity, and Rice used a screen to beat Danny Fowler from in close. After Class and Haus hit posts, Staats found Galasso alone in front to give the Orange a three-goal lead with 7:28 to go. Jones and Bruckner scored to cut the lead to one again, but after Powley was sent off for an illegal check, a Staats behind-the-back pass found Rice behind the defense with 21 seconds to go in the quarter, and Duke faced a two-goal deficit going to the final quarter.
The fourth quarter would see Duke cut the lead to one goal three times, but the Blue Devils were never able to get even. Jones opened the scoring with 12:09 to go, getting his hands free for a 12-yard bomb from the right alley. With Duke a man down, Fowler came up with a brilliant save on Donahue, but a funky bounce delivered the rebound to Staats all alone in front, and he buried it. Bruckner converted a Class feed 58 seconds later. Rice found Galasso in front to make it 14-12, but after Haus forced a turnover, Duke found itself with a six-on-four advantage; Wardwell came up big for the Orange, stopping a Jones shot and controversially winning the race to the end-line. Tim Barber beat Brian Dunne with a sensational swim move to make it a three-goal game with only 3:15 to go, but it took Duke only 43 seconds to match the Syracuse two-goal run with one of its own. The Blue Devils won a ground-ball battle off the face-off, and Thomas Zenker was there for the rebound after Wardwell made a brilliant save on Guterding. Kyle Rowe beat Williams, and Jones ran over Grimm in the right alley and blasted it past Wardwell from 10 yards out. Kyle Rowe won his third straight face-off, and Duke set up on offense. Jones and Class missed the net, but Duke kept possession. Matheis found Scott in space, but his shot hit Mullins in the slot; the Orange grabbed the rebound, but Kyle Keenan forced a turnover, and Duke called time out to set up a final opportunity to tie the game. The Syracuse defense shut off Jones, and when Class was unable to beat Grimm in the left alley, the ball ended up in Matheis’ stick behind the net. He shook off McDermott and got to the front, but his shot went high, and when Paolo Ciferri beat Keenan to the end-line, the Orange were able to hang on.
Rice led the Orange with seven points (3g, 4a) and was named the tournament MVP. Staats had three goals and two assists, Galasso had a hat trick, Lecky contributed a pair, and four Orange players chipped in single tallies. Wardwell had eight saves, including two big ones in the fourth quarter. The Orange were out-shot by Duke, 43-35, but ground balls were even. Williams had his worst day of the season, winning only 11 of 29 face-offs against the Brothers Rowe (Cal Paduda went 0-3), and the Orange played to a five-possession deficit. Syracuse shot 42.9 percent on the way to 50 percent offensive efficiency.
Bruckner led Duke with five goals. Jones had three goals and two assists, giving him 73 points on the season; a deep run in the NCAA tournament by Duke could give him a chance to break the NCAA single-season midfield scoring record of 97 points, set by Jon Reese of Yale in 1990. Matheis and Guterding each had two goals and an assist, and Scott and Zenker contributed a goal apiece. Class was held without a goal, but had two assists, and Dailey also had two assists. Fowler made six saves. Duke shot 33.3 percent on the way to 40 percent offensive efficiency.
Syracuse moves to 11-2, and wins the ACC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They will play Colgate, the Patriot League champion, on May 2. Duke falls to 11-5, but the win over Notre Dame and the one-goal loss to Syracuse, combined with Maryland’s loss to Johns Hopkins on Saturday night, should significantly improve Duke’s hopes for a top-four seed in the Big Barbecue. Duke will play Boston University at Koskinen at 2:30 p.m. on May 3.
It’s a cliché because it’s true: "Duke plays its best lacrosse in May." The Blue Devils appear poised to make yet another deep run in the NCAA tournament.