After falling into an 8-1 hole in the game’s first 20 minutes, Duke nearly managed a comeback against No. 1 Syracuse (8-0) last night.
But it was not to be, and the No. 3 Blue Devils (8-3) eventually fell 13-11 in the Big City Classic at New Meadowlands Stadium.
Despite statistically dominating crucial aspects of the game—faceoffs and ground-balls—from the very beginning, the Blue Devils were unable to break through against Orange goaltender John Galloway, who set an NCAA record by recording his 52nd career victory.
And in the early going, Galloway was a cut above his counterpart, Dan Wigrizer. Galloway allowed only two goals in the first half and racked up a save percentage of .778. By contrast, Wigrizer failed to notch a save until 11:37 remained in the second quarter, by which point he had already allowed seven goals.
Several of those scores came on unsettled opportunities, as the Blue Devils managed only four successful clears out of nine attempts in the first half, including a dismal 1-of-3 in the first period.
“I’m not sure whether people were making mistakes in the first half because of the big stage,” senior attacker Zach Howell said in the postgame press conference. “I’m not sure you could attribute it to any one thing, but we did make a lot of mistakes in the first half. Not just young guys, old guys too. So I’m not sure we could chalk that up to freshmen being scared or something like that.”
The lopsided 9-2 halftime margin was particularly strange, because Duke was so successful in the faceoff circle (9-for-13) and was able corral a majority of ground balls. In the third period, the Blue Devils extended their dominance in the hustle statistics by collecting 11 ground balls to only four for the Orange, while also winning 6-of-8 faceoffs. Still, the effort was only enough for the two teams to trade goals, and Syracuse kept a seven-goal lead as the final period began.
In the last quarter, Duke was finally able to parlay its dominance of possession into goal-scoring opportunities, out-shooting Syracuse 12-2. Although the Blue Devils took at least as many shots as their opponent in each of the first three quarters as well, the offense only started seeing quality looks toward the end of the game. Those chances helped Duke score four goals in just over eight minutes to cut the lead to 13-10 with around three minutes remaining.
Freshman Brandon Fowler won the ensuing faceoff and junior CJ Costabile picked up one of his 10 ground balls for the day. After racing into the attacking half to set up an unsettled opportunity for the Blue Devils, the ball ended up in the stick of Howell, who had scored the previous two goals and assisted on the two prior scores. Howell shot and missed high.
Duke retained possession, but Syracuse was able to force a Josh Dionne turnover and, following a successful clear, was able to draw a one-minute holding penalty against freshman defenseman Luke Duprey. The ensuing extra-man opportunity allowed the Orange to effectively kill the clock.
The Blue Devils lost, but the furious comeback has to give the young team some confidence moving forward. Wigrizer ended the game much improved on his start, saving 60 percent of the shots he faced after the initial seven-goal outburst he allowed in the game’s first 20 minutes.
The offense, after scoring only twice and failing on all four man-up situations in the first half, scored nine goals in the second half while going 3-for-5 on extra-man opportunities. The offense benefited enormously from the team’s success clearing the ball in the second half. It’s no coincidence that the fourth quarter, which the Blue Devils won 5-0, was the only one in which Duke was successful on all of its clear attempts.
Afterward, head coach John Danowski said that while the team clearly had work to do going forward, he was encouraged by its resilience.
“Regardless of the outcome of today’s game, we’re going to become a better team,” Danowski said. “But [I’m] really proud of our guys for continuing to play, and play the right way.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.