Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange outlast Duke, 9-8, to win first ACC Tournament title since 2016

It wasn’t pretty, but ‘Cuse hung on by the skin of their teeth during a furious fourth quarter finish to take the title.

The Syracuse Orange added to their trophy case on Sunday when they defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 9-8, to win their third ACC Tournament Championship and first since 2016.

Coming into the weekend on a three-game losing streak and in a somewhat precarious spot for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, the Orange picked the perfect time to assuage any concerns and fortify their resume with two additional top wins over the Blue Devils and Notre Dame. What a difference a weekend makes.

Just two weeks ago, ‘Cuse put in a weak effort in an 11-7 loss down in Durham. Today, they changed their fortunes thanks to a foundation of ferocity that they laid down right from the outset. They played with intensity on defense, tenacity going after ground balls and relentlessness in their effort all the way up and down the field.

Once again, it started with Johnny Mullen (11GB), who led SU to a dominant day winning 14-of-20 face-offs (70 percent) that allowed them to control possession and pace on a warm day down in Charlotte. Mullen dominated, winning clamp after clamp to himself to keep the pressure on Duke all day long.

Mullen led the charge, but the entire Orange team did a tremendous job playing with intensity in their pursuit of loose balls the gain even more possession. ‘Cuse eviscerated Duke in that department, grabbing 37 ground balls to the Blue Devils’ 20. It was a physically played game by both teams, but SU was able to be more efficient in the aftermath of that physicality to give themselves as many opportunities as possible against a great Duke defense.

The Orange got the party started quickly, taking advantage of a substitution advantage with Michael Leo (1G, 2A) finding Owen Hiltz (2G) open on the wing for a hammer finish to open the scoring.

For a while after that, SU was moving the ball pretty well and generating some good looks, but their shooting was off and so the offense went cold for most of the rest of the quarter while Duke scored a pair to take an early, 2-1 lead.

Tyler McCarthy (1G) ended the drought with some wonderful moves against super-shortie Aidan Maguire, using a swim to get past him and tuck one low past Patrick Jameison, who had a fantastic game slowing the Orange down with 16 saves. Less than a minute later, some great team ball movement ended with Joey Spallina (1G, 2A) finding Finn Thomson (2G) for a goal that gave ‘Cuse a 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.

A defensive battle ensued in the second as both teams got a little loose with the ball, and Spallina put an end to it with a very smart finish when he rolled back from the right side to his left to increase his angle and give himself a much better look at cage. He finished it and put the Orange up, 4-2, with 6:31 left in the half.

Finn pushed the lead out further with a phenomenal BTB shot off a feed from Leo. Finn’s stick skills are just sublime, and he caught and shot the ball all in one motion without moving his torso basically at all. It was a cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow type finish, and he earned his archer celebration afterwards.

Up 5-2 and in control late in the second, Andrew McAdorey gave Duke a little momentum heading into the locker room with a heave and a goal from outside the offensive box that took a deflection and went in to make it 5-3 at the break.

Duke continued that momentum into the second half, getting on the board first with a Benn Johnston goal off a Wyatt Hottle slip-to-the-ground turnover to make it 5-4. Michael Leo put a stop to it a few minutes later with a very nice dodge against his shortie matchup from just above GLE, beating his man and diving as he scored to go ‘Cuse a little cushion.

Less than a minute later, Hiltz drew a double team that led to a Payton Anderson (2G) open look and goal when Jameison was screened by a teammate, putting SU back up by three, 7-4, with 6:20 left in the third.

The Blue Devils got one back when they got the ‘Cuse defense hung up, but on the next possession the Orange used some quick passing to give Owen Hiltz a step on his shortie matchup coming up from X to bring the lead back to 8-5 at the end of the third.

Duke got a man-up goal a few minutes into the fourth to start their climb back, but Payton Anderson punched right back by showing off his impressive strength on a wing dodge against a pole that he bounced in from a difficult angle, making it 9-6 at the time with the goal that would become the eventual game-winner.

In the waning minutes of the game, ‘Cuse adopted a hang-on-for-dear-life strategy that wasn’t working so great. They completely took the air out of the ball every time they had an offensive possession, preferring to waste 80 seconds and maybe try to get one late look rather than run any kind of normal offense.

It almost bit them as Duke scored twice, including the game’s final goal with 61 seconds left. Mullen won the ensuing face-off and the Orange were able to waste some of the clock, but caning out of their second timeout, Hiltz was doubled teamed and immediately turned it over.

Duke came down, called timeout and got exactly what they were looking for out of it. Michael Grace (3GB), who played a great game along with the rest of the defense, made an ill-advised slide against a Benn Johnston dodge from up top, leaving Eric Malever wide open near the crease. Johnston bounced a pass that he scooped on a short hop, but thankfully his tying effort went wide of the pipe as the clock expired and the Orange ran out to celebrate their ACC Tournament title.

It was a hard-fought game of lacrosse on both sides. I thought SU was the better team on the day and deserving of the win, but Duke certainly showed their mettle with that comeback and should have sent the game to overtime.

The defense put in a great effort holding the Blue Devils to eight goals. The poles all made impacts throughout the game. Billy Dwan (4GB, 2CT), Riley Figueiras (1GB, 2CT), Michael Grace (3GB) and Chuck Kuczynski (3GB) were especially impactful. Dwan and Figueiras were awesome all weekend, both being named to the ACC Tournament Team alongside Owen Hiltz, Joey Spallina, Johnny Mullen, Finn Thomson and ACC Tournament MVP Jimmy McCool (10SV).

McCool is racking up the hardware in the last week with the ACC Goalie of the Year and tourney MVP, and it’s all deserved with the surge he’s had in the last couple months. After making a career-high 20 saves on Friday, he made 10 more today to help hold the Blue Devils to single-digits. He made 30 saves this weekend with a 60.0 save percentage.

The Orange came into the weekend in need of a win, if only to get something positive going for themselves. They exit it with two more strong resume builders, and now have a short wait to find out their NCAA Tournament slot (my guess is they’re hosting and have played themselves into either the No. 5 or 6 seed) tonight at 9:30 PM on ESPN U.