Duke Week News | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Duke Week News

Duke is gonna be desperate n in need of a win. Syracuse can not come out slow n like last 3 games have to battle back. They have to be ready from start n not take any plays off. They control their own fate win vs duke n control ur own fate even more. Come on boys come out smart calm composed and hustle your butts off. Talk to guys if they’re not doing so or even think they can do more. The leaders n captains have to take over n make sure guys do their parts n go all out. Let’s go orange
 
From today's Lacrosse Reference Expected Goals Newsletter:

#3: Duke vs Syracuse​

Sat, Apr 19 @ 2pm ET

Duke Summary​

Record: 9 - 4
LaxElo Rank: 7th
LaxElo Movement (this season): +24 rating points
Offense: 36.7% efficiency (7th nationally)
Defense: 25.4% efficiency (12th nationally)
Faceoffs: 57.2% win rate (17th nationally)

Highest Usage: Eric Malever (8.6% play share)
Most Efficient: Luke Grayum (2.06 usage adjusted EGA; 4.7% play share)
Quarterback: Eric Malever (27% of the team's assists)
Finisher: Benn Johnston (14% of the team's shots)
Most Productive: Eric Malever (35 devittes)
Vacuum: Aidan Maguire (12% of the team's ground balls)
Disruptor: Charlie Johnson (25 total caused turnovers)
FOGO: Luke Engelke (56% faceoff win rate)
Goalie: Patrick Jameison (51% save percentage)

Syracuse Summary​

Record: 9 - 3
LaxElo Rank: 13th
LaxElo Movement (this season): +116 rating points
Offense: 39.5% efficiency (3rd nationally)
Defense: 24.0% efficiency (8th nationally)
Faceoffs: 64.2% win rate (3rd nationally)

Highest Usage: Joey Spallina (11.1% play share)
Most Efficient: Luke Rhoa (2.29 usage adjusted EGA; 6.0% play share)
Quarterback: Joey Spallina (31% of the team's assists)
Finisher: Owen Hiltz (16% of the team's shots)
Most Productive: Joey Spallina (48 devittes)
Vacuum: Michael Grace (9% of the team's ground balls)
Disruptor: Riley Figueiras (16 total caused turnovers)
FOGO: John Mullen (63% faceoff win rate)
Goalie: Jimmy McCool (55% save percentage)


All team metrics are adjusted to account for the strength of the opponents faced to-date.

Edit: "Devittes" is Points minus Turnovers. In Joey's case it is 60 points (27g, 33a) minus 12 Turnovers. Tied at #2 in D1. CJ is #1 with 63. The only other Orange on the Top 100 list is Hiltz tied at #9 with 38.
 
Last edited:
The big question for me is how Syracuse defends Andrew McAdory. In the ACC tournament last year, Duke moved him to attack and Syracuse had absolutely no answers as he finished with five goals. They could not match his speed and they seemed totally unprepared for him being at attack. Now this year is different as Syracuse won't have to contend with guys like Brennan O'Neil, Dyson Williams and Josh Zawada. But I am not sure which defender could match him feet for feet.

It looks like last week he lined up at attack against UNC, but I think Duke has tried different combos at attack seemingly every game (mostly because the offense is struggling). I am guessing Riley Figuerias will match up with Duke's leading scorer (by a fair bit) in Eric Malever. And while Kucynszcki and Caccamo have been solid in defense, they aren't really known for their speed. Syracuse will have to prepare for multiple lineups Duke could throw out there.

The McAdory matchup is enormous for Saturday. He's been playing both mid and attack as Duke has struggled to get consistency out of their 1st line attack and teams have been double polling the midfield at times. I hope whether he plays attack or mid SU picks someone and goes with it. With his speed the answer is probably Figueiras but that forces you to put Dwan on Malever.

If McAdory does play middie SU will almost assuredly double pole with Sloat and Johnston both on the 1st mid line. My assumption is SU would pole Sloat and McAdorey and short whoever the third attackmen is be it the frosh Kershis or the grad transfer Cusolito. Not sure how Danowski is going to play it but slowing down McAdory and Malever will be absolutely crucial. Personally I'd put Fig on McAdorey and Dwan on Malever. Malever doesn't have the quickness of Kirst so Dwan should match up better then he did last week. Duke has been very inconsistent on offense and struggled at times mightily to score, hopefully that continues on Sat.

Duke runs a two headed tanded at FOGO so I suspect we will see both guys. Both are over 50% with Engelke the starter at 56%.

Defensively Duke is pretty good when dialed in, good short sticks and a very solid LSM group. Probably not as good as last year with the loss of Brower Carpenter and others but I suspect they will give SU trouble as again the SSDM group is pretty solid and they held UNC to 8 goals last week. They have struggled to stop some of the "known" guys in their losses. ND's Taylor and Manning from Denver torched Duke in their losses. Jameison the goalie is just over 50%. He's been OK but not great even though his GAA is under 10.

If this were at home I'd feel pretty confident but on the road against a desperate Duke team will be a difficult matchup. Penalties and turnovers are gonna be enormous, SU cannot give Duke easy goals and 4+ man ups. Unfortunately the penalty situation has not improved as the year has gone on and remains a major issue. This is a game SU really need to get and I hope plays well but I worry this may turn into a repeat of UVA where SU's trailing most of the game and needs to make some big plays late to get a lead.
 
Duke just isn't that good this year. A very beatable team. I hope they pack it in after their first loss to UNC at home since 2016 and Cuse hammers them. If Syracuse plays well, they're a better team.

Duke's offense has no flow or style this year. It's either McAdorey running by someone with the same sweep dodge every time and scoring, or missing the cage by 20'...or not much else.

Sloat and Johnston are enormous and have cannons, but they go missing for long stretches. Definite slump after losing O'Neill and Naso.
 
They look ready. We'll see.
Second to last photo you can see Sam English with his chinstrap a) over his mouth, NOT around his chin b) extremely loose

Dear NCAA, players, fans, coaches, officials, concerned parents: If we're going to be hyper-concerned about concussions and head trauma, to the point that my kids playing youth YMCA soccer aren't even allowed to head the ball, take it seriously and don't just pretend you care. If we're going to review every single hit, if we're going to penalize far too many body checks that have been a part of lacrosse since the game was created, if we're going to have players wearing collars then you need to actually take it seriously.

We all know the helmets are LIGHT YEARS better than when we had laces in the back. Guys should unequivocally not be able to push their helmets up on their heads without undoing a single one of the four buckles. That means it doesn't fit tightly. That means it won't do anything if the guy is hit hard. I do all sorts of cycling these days. My helmet can't move. There is no point in wearing it if I hit a rock coming down a mountain and it slips 3/4 off my head.

So, if I'm going to have to put up with what I see as an unnecessary, exaggerated concern for head trauma AND if I'm going to have to put up with the game being fundamentally changed because we're taking fully legal, NON-head body checks out of the game, then make players strap their helmets. Enforce the actual equipment rules instead of selling us some $100 collar.

Guys have to wear shoulder pads after George B was hit in the chest and died, right? So...make sure the helmets are actually snug, the dials turned down, the buckles tight, and the chinstrap ON THE CHIN. Otherwise, this is all just BS hang ringing and if we allow guys to play with helmets so loose they can push them up on their heads that easily then we don't actually care about solving the problem and we're just allowing a bunch of phonies to show fake concern for players and their safety.

There is nothing I hate more than fake sincerity and pretending to care and lip service. If you care about brain trauma, player safety, CTE, suicides, etc., stop allowing players to wear their helmets this loose. It makes a mockery out of the entire focus, concern, and attempt to address brain trauma.

And, I do believe CTE is an issue, I do believe repeated hits to the head are bad, but if you are going to basically take legal hitting out of a contact sport such as lacrosse, then actually enforce the equipment rules. How these guys are wearing their helmets is like using a wet lasso as a seatbelt.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
174,535
Messages
5,166,722
Members
6,136
Latest member
rob55ert_

Online statistics

Members online
257
Guests online
3,489
Total visitors
3,746


...
Top Bottom