Fourth-seeded Syracuse (10-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) won its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship on Sunday, beating third-seeded Duke (10-7, 2-2), 14-8, at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia. SU made its third straight conference title game appearance and grabbed its second consecutive ACC championship victory over Duke.

The Orange offense was spread out with Tim Barber leading the way with four goals. At the half, six players scored all six of Syracuse’s goals.

Myles Jones paced the Blue Devils with two goals. Deemer Class was held scoreless on 10 shot attempts after scoring seven goals in the teams’ first meeting.

Syracuse earned an automatic NCAA tournament berth with the win.

Here are three observations from the game.

Weathering the storm

With 7:10 left in a one-goal game and Syracuse in the middle of a minute-long, man-up opportunity, the officials blew their whistles and both teams jogged off the field because of lightning in the area.

Syracuse was trying to stall, taking almost every possession in the fourth quarter down to the final seconds of the shot clock. A storm rolled into the area and filled the field with water at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.

The original delay started at 1:48 p.m. A restart time was originally set for 3:15 p.m., then 4 p.m. before the teams finally moved to Turf Field 1 at Kennesaw State and resumed the game at 4:45 p.m.

Dylan Donahue scored 13 seconds after the game resumed to put the Orange ahead by two. The Orange went on a four-goal run after the restart to win comfortably.

 

Courtesy of the ACC

 

Not again

When Syracuse lost to Duke, 16-15, in overtime in Durham, North Carolina on March 26, a struggling Orange defense watched a five-goal, third-quarter lead and four-goal lead to start the fourth quarter quickly slip from its grasp.

Duke scored five straight goals and won 5-of-7 faceoffs in the fourth to send the game into overtime.

But on Sunday in the ACC championship game, Syracuse recovered from a late Duke surge to pull out the win.

A defense anchored by improved slides and Evan Molloy in net recovered from a three-goal Duke spurt in the third quarter that brought the Blue Devils within one. Williams recovered from losing the last four faceoffs of the third quarter to win five in the fourth.

 

Courtesy of the ACC

 

Brick wall

About a month ago, Syracuse’s goalie situation was wrought with uncertainty. Both Evan Molloy and Warren Hill seemed to be mediocre options at best in net. But with a 13-save and just eight goals allowed performance on Sunday, Molloy continued his recent stretch of dominant performances and led Syracuse to victory.

The first-time starter was consistently on the ground making saves with his body and legs. At the end of the first quarter, Molloy picked up a groundball and heaved it to Donahue at midfield, who then scored with just one second left in the first quarter. It was Molloy’s first career assist — something that rarely happens in lacrosse.

By the half, Molloy had held one of the nation’s top scoring duo in Jones and Class scoreless. Duke assistant coach Matt Danowski told ESPN’s Paul Carcaterra during the break that its biggest issue was solving Molloy.

Jones ultimately tallied two goals, but Class had no goals on 10 shots.

Published on May 1, 2016 at 5:14 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus