Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse vs Duke Film Breakdown
By: Adam Gotkin | @adam_gotkin
Syracuse men’s lacrosse got its third top-20 win in a row last night against #4 Duke. The Orange defense was incredible, allowing just four goals. The offense wasn’t at its best but ten was enough to get the job done and SU scored when it needed to.
First Syracuse Goal – Finn Thompson Man Up – 6:44 1Q
https://twitter.com/CuseMLAX/status/1770589990809956445/video/1
At the start of the year, the Orange really struggled on their extra man opportunities. SU was playing too slow and wasn’t feeding the ball inside enough. Here, the pass from Jake Stevens actually gets deflected but it was a great look because there was no one near Thompson. Inside, the Canadian excels in situations like that with his box background. Syracuse’s second EMO goal of the game came on an almost exactly similar play. Offensive Coordinator Pat March did a great job realizing that Duke wasn’t denying the man on the crease.
Second Syracuse Goal – Michael Leo Unassisted – 4:04 1Q
https://twitter.com/CuseMLAX/status/1770591828418462183/video/1
The one place where Syracuse has struggled all year long on offense is individual dodging. Michael Leo has been arguably the best dodger on the team this season and he does a great job on this play taking advantage of the mismatch. As a former attackmen, Leo feasts when he has a short stick guarding him at GLE. The sophomore does a great job of creating space with a bull dodge then spin and perfectly bounces the shot past the goalie.
Duke Second Goal – Andrew McAdorey from Brennan O’Neill – 11:36 2Q
https://twitter.com/DukeMLAX/status/1770596433093185670/video/1
One of the few mistakes all game long from the SU, defense Saam Olexo just simply plays too aggressive here. As Andrew McAdorey takes he pass from 10 yards out, Olexo just whiffs his stick check and the momentum of his body puts him out of position. Instead of running full speed at McAdorey, if he broke down and got his stick on the offensive players hands, it would have denied the shot and also not allowed him to then step towards the middle and get a better angle.
Syracuse Fifth Goal – Owen Hiltz Transition Shot – 13:27 3Q
https://twitter.com/CuseMLAX/status/1770604231872942397/video/1
Owen Hiltz has been dominating recently. He scored six goals two games ago against Delaware and had another hat trick last night. Hiltz’s shot is one of the best in the country and has been especially good lately. Jake Stevens does a great job of waiting until the perfect time to find Hiltz whos defender had just slid. When the Culver product gets the ball at five and five like that he’ll score every time.
Overall Takeaways
The Orange are officially back. The Blue Devils have struggled a lot this year and this was their first big game of the season. John Danowski made it clear postgame that his team’s focus wasn’t there and he was extremely disappointed. Syracuse played like a team that had been there before and was ready to dominate. The ‘Cuse still need to work on some things but it’s still just the middle of the season. Syracuse fans should be very happy with how the team looks right now.
ajgotkin@syr.edu | @adam_gotkin
