CHESTER, Pa. — It was an unusual correlation.

As Duke’s Brendan Fowler took over at the faceoff X and secured the Blue Devils nearly as many possessions as he could, the Syracuse attack was somehow able to keep up.

“They played for 60 minutes and never gave up,” Duke head coach John Danowski said.

After one quarter, Syracuse (10-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) trailed on the scoreboard, 5-2, even with a 6-2 faceoff advantage. But as the Orange won just 2-of-15 faceoffs throughout the second and third quarters, its offense netted eight goals and kept itself within striking distance heading into the fourth quarter of its thrilling 16-15 win over the Blue Devils (12-3, 4-1) on Friday in the ACC tournament semifinals at PPL Park.

Dylan Donahue efficiently hit all four of his shot attempts, Kevin Rice added a hat trick and three other SU players finished with a pair of goals to carry the SU attack and ultimately complete a miraculous comeback.

“Our offense started playing awesome in the second half,” goalie Bobby Wardwell said.

Despite SU’s 13 shots on Luke Aaron in the opening frame, only two got past the Duke goalie.

But in the second period, the Orange found a rhythm.

Midfielder Hakeem Lecky dodged down the right alley and pinpointed the bottom-left corner for SU’s third goal. Not even a minute later, Rice connected on a wraparound goal.

SU kicked off the quarter with a 4-0 run. When Duke’s Deemer Class broke the string, Rice and Donahue netted scores to help the Orange jump out to an 8-6 lead with 5:25 left in the second quarter.

“I don’t think that Syracuse scored too many goals outside 5 yards,” Danowski said. “They got inside a lot and when they got inside, they made plays.”

Although the Blue Devils responded with a run of six unanswered goals, it was still a game going into the fourth quarter.

Scores by Nicky Galasso and Donahue — who would net two more in the fourth quarter, highlighted by the game-winner — drew Syracuse within two at 12-10 heading into the stretch run.

From there, a string of timely plays by SU’s efficient attack capped the stunning win.

Said Rice: “We were playing pretty good offense all day, so we talked about trying to stay patient. Duke’s not a team to hold the ball, so we knew we’d have enough opportunities to work our way back in it.”

Published on April 25, 2014 at 11:21 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb