No. 20 Syracuse men’s lacrosse falls to No. 6 Duke in OT heartbreaker, 14-13

No. 20 Syracuse men’s lacrosse (3-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped its third consecutive contest; this time, to No. 6 Duke (5-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) who edged out SU in overtime 14-13 with :54 remaining. This marked the Blue Devils’ first victory against the Orange on the road in program history. The difference maker for head coach John Danowski’s squad was freshman midfielder Charles Balsamo, who scored the game-winning goal.

"In overtime we always tell them no regrets”, Danowski said postgame. “You have to make the play, whatever that is…And Charles [Balsamo] as a freshman makes a play at the end…I said to him 'Keep your head up. You're playing in this huge game and you're doing great…Later on he comes back and makes a play and that's a great lesson for a freshman."

Goalkeeper Will Mark had an afternoon to remember. The LIU transfer made a season-high 27 saves en route to the 10th-most saves ever in a single game for Syracuse. This included 15 of those stops in the first 30 minutes for the Orange. The senior helped keep Duke at bay when he and his defenders were consistently peppered with shots all game.

In overtime, Mark had two saves on the Blue Devils’ opening possession, and thereupon gave the Syracuse offense a chance to win it, but after a forced shot and easy save for Duke’s William Helm. On the following possession, Balsamo found twine to write SU’s swan song in the afternoon.

“I've never coached in a game where a goalie made 27 saves, Coach Danowski stated after the game…”Somebody said that we hit 12 pipes. I know we hit a few early in the first quarter. Now 12, I don't know if that's true or not true. It was an ACC game and it was a terrific college event and we're very proud to be a part of it."

The Orange continue to have issues at the faceoff X. This go around, Johnny Richiusa (7-22) and Jack Fine (2-8) were on the wrong side of a 9-21 faceoff disadvantage. Consequently, the Blue Devils outshot SU by more than double in total shots. This was the third game in a row the ‘Cuse have faced 50 shots or more. Moreover, Duke completely decimated the battle for ground balls, grabbing 40-24.

Syracuse stormed right out of the gate, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game thanks to goals from Cole Kirst, Jackson Birtwhistle, and Alex Simmons. The Orange led 5-1 after one period of play.

Duke didn’t make this a cakewalk for SU. Garrett Leadmon, Andrew McAdorey, and Brennan O'Neill combined for three straight goals as the Blue Devils closed the gap on the Orange to one.

With Syracuse leading 8-6 out of the halftime break, both Kirst and Birtwhistle recorded hat tricks. That would be all the ‘Cuse could muster in frame number three, as the Blue Devils scored six unanswered goals.

Duke would hold its slight lead until around 2:04 when back-to-back goals came just :55 apart. from SU, including Kirst's fourth goal of the afternoon and the game-tying goal from Finn Thomson with a shot on the doorstep from Owen Hiltz.

Under Coach Gait, Syracuse is now 1-12 against ranked opponents, and the Orange fall to .500 and 0-2 in ACC play.

“That’s a tough, tough game for these guys,” Gary Gait said in the postgame press conference…“They played their hearts out again. Unfortunately, it just came up short.”

To finish up the home stand, SU faces another ranked matchup in No. 15 Johns Hopkins (4-2, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) this Saturday. During halftime, Syracuse plans to honor the legendary Mike Powell and retire his number 22 jersey to the rafters. Game time from the JMA Dome is set for 4 p.m. WAER’s coverage begins with Countdown to Faceoff at 3:30 p.m.