No. 5 Syracuse men’s lacrosse surges into ACC play against No. 6 Duke

No. 5 Syracuse men's lacrosse (8-2 , 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) kickstarts ACC play against rival No. 6 Duke (8-0 overall, 0-0 ACC) this Saturday. The Orange take an undefeated home record and a five game win streak into the matchup against the unbeaten Blue Devils.

In the last 6 matchups against Duke, SU has lost 4. But at home, Syracuse is a different team. When playing in the JMA Wireless Dome, the Cuse has taken down the Blue Devils in 4 of the last 5 games. Attackman Joey Spallina acknowledged the atmosphere after an 18-12 win over No. 14 Georgetown last Sunday.

“I mean, it’s the best place to play in college lacrosse, I don’t think that's a secret. It says there was 7,200 [attending] but if felt like 10,000. When you start to score and you score two or three in a row, I think the place goes crazy. It's the best feeling.”

Spallina and the orange need that atmosphere again on Saturday. Duke is one of 4 teams left in the top 25 of the Inside Lacrosse Poll with an undefeated record. But where the number 5 and 6 teams differ is their rating percentage index, or RPI. RPI factors a team's winning percentage, strength of schedule, and winning percentage of teams that the opponent has played into one ranking.

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Syracuse is 2nd in the nation in RPI, only behind unbeaten No. 2 Richmond. The Blue Devils, however, are in 8th place, 2 places below their Inside Lacrosse spot. Duke only has 2 ranked wins this year, both over opponents that SU also beat. The first was a 6 goal win over No. 16 St. Josephs, who the orange mauled in game 2 of the year 20-2. The other was a one goal win over No. 13 Denver at home last Sunday. Syracuse had to go on the road for their win over the Pioneers, also a one goal victory. Head coach Gary Gait spoke on the RPI difference between the two teams entering the contest.

Despite the schedule disparity, the orange face a tall task to stop Duke's high powered offense. The Blue Devils score the most goals per game in the country this season. But SU goalie Jimmy McCool is riding a hot streak of his own into the game. McCool tied a season high 17 saves in the game against Georgetown last weekend. Coach Gait spoke on the netminder's presence entering the matchup.

“Jimmy's playing with a lot of confidence. We're looking for him to be Jimmy and make the saves, give us more possessions. We look at our face off and goalies kind of in the same way. They're about giving us extra possessions. And I thought last game both positions did a pretty good job for us.”

SU also has Riley Figueiras to keep the Blue Devils in check. The senior has won ACC defensive player of the week twice this season, causing 6 turnovers during the last two weeks.

On the Duke side, Junior Aidan Maguire leads all Devils short sticks in caused turnovers with 8. The short stick defensive midfielder is also on a scoring streak, registering a point in 3 of the past 4 contests. 2 of those games included a goal for the senior. Coach Gary Gait commented on the midfielder's gritty play before the game.

“He's a great player and he's going to make some plays and create some opportunities for them. What you do is you try and score goals, so, you go back to the faceoff axis, it’s the easiest way to deal with that. That's our goal every time we have the ball in the [offensive] end. We’ve got our ride in place ready to go, we’ve got our ride and clear all set. So if we execute it, we'll limit those chances.”

Find out which team cashes in on their opportunities on WAER Saturday. Faceoff is set for 2 p.m., and we’ve got you covered pregame with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff starting at 1:30.