In their first top-five showdown of the season, the Blue Devils built a first-half lead before a second-half onslaught led to their first loss of the season.
This time around, a fellow ACC national title contender did not wait until after halftime to open the floodgates.
No. 4 Syracuse scored four goals off of penalty corners in the first 27 minutes to thrash No. 2 Duke 5-1 Friday evening at J.S. Coyne Stadium in Syracuse, N.Y. The Blue Devils never found their footing in the opening period, struggling to string passes together and allowing the high-powered Orange offense to find a rhythm quickly.
It was Duke's first ACC loss of the season since its earlier loss to North Carolina counted as a nonconference game.
“Syracuse executed well on their corners," Blue Devil head coach Pam Bustin told GoDuke.com. "They got the momentum and we were caught unraveling for a little bit."
Duke (10-2, 3-1 in the ACC) has dominated several opponents, even in many of its seven top-20 wins this year, but the Orange (11-1, 4-1) flipped the script Friday. Syracuse outshot the Blue Devils 11-2 and Duke gave up a season-high eight penalty corners in the opening 35 minutes to fuel the Orange offense.
Although Syracuse's three previous wins against the Blue Devils from 2013-2015 were one-goal, overtime victories, the defending national champions took control from the outset, with sophomore Roos Weers scoring off corners in the ninth and 19th minutes.
Duke redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sammi Steele came up with one of her five saves in the 21st minute, but Orange forward Emma Lamison was there to score on the rebound. The senior added a second tally less than six minutes later on yet another corner to essentially put the game out of reach with the Blue Devil offense—which entered the game averaging 3.7 goals per game—floundering.
Penalty corner defense has been one of the few areas of concern for Duke during the best start to a season in program history, but after the Blue Devils gave up three goals in quick succession to the Tar Heels earlier this year they struggled once again to clear the ball and get back on track.
“It’s frustrating," Bustin said. "We just got caught on the run defensively. We have to get back to our basics, the fundamentals of our team defense below the 50.”
Although Duke outshot Syracuse 8-3 and generated five penalty corners of its own in the second half, it was too little to late. Graduate student Aisling Naughton got the Blue Devils on the board in the 64th minute with a putback goal—her fourth of the season—but Lamison set up Elaine Carey on the other end as the Orange responded less than three minutes later.
With the loss, Duke's Oct. 22 tilt against the Tar Heels in Durham in the teams' conference matchup and ACC regular season finale becomes even more critical. North Carolina beat Syracuse earlier this season—though the Tar Heels dropped a contest to Boston College early in conference play—meaning that the Blue Devils still have a chance to snag one of the top seeds in the ACC tournament if they can avoid the lulls that have hurt them in their first two top-five games this year.
Well before turning its attention to North Carolina, however, Duke will face another top-15 test Sunday when it takes on No. 12 Princeton on the road looking to bounce back. The Blue Devils will then face No. 17 Wake Forest and No. 13 Old Dominion before seeking revenge against the Tar Heels and trying to show they belong with the ACC's and nation's best.
“We did a great job of coming back in the second half and keeping up our level of play, which will be important as the season goes on,” Bustin said. “As much as it hurts right now, and we certainly don’t like the score line, we’ve got some things we can learn from this one.”
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