Duke Stifled by Orange Crush
by Paul Ohanian |
Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | NCAA Semifinals Blog
FOXBORO, Mass. -- This is not the way Duke
envisioned the 2009 season ending.
The Blue Devils had their surprising run to the final four and
nine-game winning streak emphatically halted by a suffocating
Syracuse defense that handed Duke its largest margin of defeat in
29 NCAA tournament games and their largest in any game since 2003
with a 17-7 win in the first Division I semifinal Saturday at
Gillette Stadium.
Duke had never lost an NCAA tournament game by more than three
goals before.
While much of the post-game analysis centered on Syracuse's
offensive efficiency that featured nine different goal scorers, the
lack of productivity from Duke at the other end of the field was
just as glaring. The Blue Devils managed just three second-half
goals and finished with their third-lowest scoring output of the
season.
Dropped passes, unforced turnovers and missed opportunities were
the order of the day for an offense that had averaged 13 goals per
game over the last 14 games.
"Their pressure was apparent right off the bat," said Duke
attackman Max Quinzani. "We dodged when we didn't want to dodge. We
dodged when we weren't in the sets we wanted. We were not efficient
with the ball. It's a testament to [Syracuse] that they made us
work so hard to get to the ball."
Quinzani and Zach Howell scored three goals each, but that was
about it for the Blue Devils' offense. The rest of the team
combined for one goal - scored by senior midfielder Brad Ross
midway through the second quarter.
The early deficit appeared to force the Duke out of its normal
routine, and the frustration only snowballed through the second
half. Duke finished the game with 17 turnovers.
"It's been a long time since we've been behind in a game, and I
believe we started pressing a bit," said Duke head coach John
Danowski. "We tried to force the ball and make plays."
Ned Crotty, Duke's offensive quarterback who entered the game
leading the nation in assists (53) and points (76), managed just
two assists. Nevertheless, he said that Syracuse didn't do anything
defensively that was unexpected.
"They were pushing out a little bit, but we've seen that plenty of
times before," Crotty said. "We didn't capitalize on opportunities
and they did and carried that momentum right into the second
half."
Syracuse's senior defenseman Sid Smith drew the assignment against
Crotty, the ACC's Player of the Year and a Tewaaraton Trophy
finalist, for most of the game.
"I didn't dodge as well as I would have liked or as much as I
should have, and that's on me," said Crotty. "But losing by that
much takes the nitpicking out of the equation."
Ultimately, Crotty said one team deserved to advance and the other
didn't.
"We played bad, they played good, and now they're going on," he
said.
