Powellfan
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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The Orange welcome the Duke Blue Devils to the Dome for the first time since 2017 (2019 was played at CNS and 2020 wasn't played). The Orange really need a win here in their drive for four more wins, and haven't won back to back games yet this season. The Devils come in with three losses and are unexpectedly ranked right at 10. Still, Duke has a ton of talent and should give the Orange everything they have. They've started their last two games very slowly, combining for just four goals in the first halves against Towson and Loyola - but have finished strong scoring 20 combined goals in the second halves of each game. They lost to Loyola and beat by Towson.
Duke comes in once again with a very good offense, but one that seems unbalanced. Brennan O'Neil leads the group with 42 points, followed by Dyson Williams with 38. But O'Neil is dominating shots for the Devils, he has an absurd 110 on the season, which is more than double the next highest producer (Williams). I imagine given his size and familiarity with O'Neil from their Team 91 days that Caccomo will draw the matchup here. The rest of the Duke offense is hard to get a read on as they seem to be trying to go "position-less". They aren't getting much production from their reserves and are relying mostly on their starting six. They still don't really have a QB of the group (though neither does the Orange), but five players have double digit assists, led by the freshman Andrew McAdory with 16. It's hard to tell who should get a pole on this offense, but I would think the Penn transfer Lulley and Montgomery should definitely draw one. Roberston isn't a dynamic dodger but can definitely take advantage of a short stick. Williams is too good of a player to leave a short stick on. I think it's best to try your luck shorting McAdory and Aiden Danenza but it will be a tall task for the Orange defense. Bobby Gavin will have to play well here and the Orange can't foul like they did against Stony Brook.
Syracuse nearly won last year down in Durham despite winning very few face-offs. Jake Naso has picked up where he left off last year and is winning 61% of his draws. Phaup has looked improved this season but he'll need to do better than he did last year (he was just 1-10). TD Irelan's coaching seems to be working this year but this will be the units biggest test yet.
Offensively, we saw a lot of good things from the Orange last week but there are still things that need to be improved upon. At this point it does not seem like the general strategy is going to change, this will for all intents and purposes be the Tucker and Brendan show. We have yet to see secondary scoring options emerge. I haven't seen a lot of Duke this season, but they pretty much roll out the same sort of defense year after year. They have big and athletic guys all over the field and they don't slide much. That said they still like to ball watch and you can cause them a lot of headaches with assisted goals - Loyola did this very well. Unfortunately that hasn't been the Orange's forte this year. Dordevic gets a lot of grief for not passing the ball much, but he still leads the team with a (paltry) nine assists. The ball movement against Stony Brook was better, and the coaches actually ran two midfields fairly evenly. I hope this trend continues against the Devils.
The other major storyline is injuries - Syracuse was without their two second line d-middies in Max Rosa and Dami and their first liner Lucas Quinn. Both Quinn and Rosa were in arm-braces last week so I'd be surprised if they played this week. Tyler Cordes chipped in with a goal in place of Quinn but made some other not so good plays. He's still a redshirt freshman and you can see the talent, but he'll have to play better.
SU has played Duke well the last few years, and all the games have been close. Dating back to 2016 I think every regular season game has been decided by one goal. This is a winnable game for the Orange but they need to play well. The Devils look "off" this year, but have clearly shown they put up a lot of points and have been decent teams by large margins. Syracuse really needs to play a full sixty minutes, not turn the ball over and really play inspired.
Duke comes in once again with a very good offense, but one that seems unbalanced. Brennan O'Neil leads the group with 42 points, followed by Dyson Williams with 38. But O'Neil is dominating shots for the Devils, he has an absurd 110 on the season, which is more than double the next highest producer (Williams). I imagine given his size and familiarity with O'Neil from their Team 91 days that Caccomo will draw the matchup here. The rest of the Duke offense is hard to get a read on as they seem to be trying to go "position-less". They aren't getting much production from their reserves and are relying mostly on their starting six. They still don't really have a QB of the group (though neither does the Orange), but five players have double digit assists, led by the freshman Andrew McAdory with 16. It's hard to tell who should get a pole on this offense, but I would think the Penn transfer Lulley and Montgomery should definitely draw one. Roberston isn't a dynamic dodger but can definitely take advantage of a short stick. Williams is too good of a player to leave a short stick on. I think it's best to try your luck shorting McAdory and Aiden Danenza but it will be a tall task for the Orange defense. Bobby Gavin will have to play well here and the Orange can't foul like they did against Stony Brook.
Syracuse nearly won last year down in Durham despite winning very few face-offs. Jake Naso has picked up where he left off last year and is winning 61% of his draws. Phaup has looked improved this season but he'll need to do better than he did last year (he was just 1-10). TD Irelan's coaching seems to be working this year but this will be the units biggest test yet.
Offensively, we saw a lot of good things from the Orange last week but there are still things that need to be improved upon. At this point it does not seem like the general strategy is going to change, this will for all intents and purposes be the Tucker and Brendan show. We have yet to see secondary scoring options emerge. I haven't seen a lot of Duke this season, but they pretty much roll out the same sort of defense year after year. They have big and athletic guys all over the field and they don't slide much. That said they still like to ball watch and you can cause them a lot of headaches with assisted goals - Loyola did this very well. Unfortunately that hasn't been the Orange's forte this year. Dordevic gets a lot of grief for not passing the ball much, but he still leads the team with a (paltry) nine assists. The ball movement against Stony Brook was better, and the coaches actually ran two midfields fairly evenly. I hope this trend continues against the Devils.
The other major storyline is injuries - Syracuse was without their two second line d-middies in Max Rosa and Dami and their first liner Lucas Quinn. Both Quinn and Rosa were in arm-braces last week so I'd be surprised if they played this week. Tyler Cordes chipped in with a goal in place of Quinn but made some other not so good plays. He's still a redshirt freshman and you can see the talent, but he'll have to play better.
SU has played Duke well the last few years, and all the games have been close. Dating back to 2016 I think every regular season game has been decided by one goal. This is a winnable game for the Orange but they need to play well. The Devils look "off" this year, but have clearly shown they put up a lot of points and have been decent teams by large margins. Syracuse really needs to play a full sixty minutes, not turn the ball over and really play inspired.