No. 12 Duke Shuts Down No. 7 Syracuse, 11-7

Saturday, April 19

Durham, N.C.

2 p.m.

Duke University

Syracuse

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 12 Duke Shuts Down No. 7 Syracuse, 11-7

4/19/2025 5:30:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score

DURHAM, N.C.— Duke attackman Eric Malever scored a game-high five goals, and the Blue Devils held No. 7 Syracuse to just seven goals in a thrilling 11-7 victory for 12th-ranked Duke in ACC men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium.

In the final regular season home game of the season, the Blue Devils held Syracuse (9-4, 2-1) scoreless in both the first and third quarters to improve to 10-4 on the season and 1-2 in ACC play. Short stick defensive midfielder Aidan Maguire had two goals and an assist to go with an outstanding defensive performance.

How it Happened

Duke jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes. Malever scored twice in the period with Max Sloat adding the third. Defensively, the Blue Devils held Syracuse to just seven shots in the quarter while forcing five turnovers.
Freshman Liam Kershis made it a 4-0 game early in the second period before Syracuse got on the board twice in 29 seconds to cut Duke's lead to 4-2 and added two of the next three goals to pull within one, 5-4, with 5:02 remaining.
The Blue Devils, facing a nine-minute scoring drought, regrouped on offensive and finished the quarter with a pair to head into the locker room with the 7-4 advantage. Malever had both markers with Maguire and McAdorey providing the feeds.
The third quarter was all Blue Devils as Duke held the Orange to only six shots while forcing six turnovers. Offensively, Duke notched three goals in 55 seconds to extend its lead to 10-4 early in the stanza. Maguire turned defense to offense with his second goal of the day two minutes into the period. McAdorey beat his man from X to tack on another while Mac Christmas found the cage 11 seconds later to get the Blue Devils to 10 goals for the day. Malever tacked on his final goal of the afternoon with 2:02 remaining to put the game out of reach.
Syracuse, looking to make a run, scored three goals on 14 shots in the fourth quarter to bring it to an 11-7 final. Patrick Jameison was outstanding in goal with seven stops in the period and 13 for the game.
Cal Girard turned in a solid performance at the faceoff dot, winning 8-of-14 faceoffs and picking up five ground balls. Duke won the overall ground ball battle 29-27 and forced the Orange into 18 total turnovers.
Joey Spallina led Syracuse on offense with two goals and three assists. Jimmy McCool had 15 saves in goal while John Mullen was 12-of-21 in the faceoff game.

Team Notes

Duke improves to 7-2 all-time at home against Syracuse.
For the eighth time this season and the third straight game, Duke held its opponent to single digits. The seven goals scored by Syracuse are 7.67 below its season average and match its fewest this season.
Duke held the Syracuse attack duo of Joey Spallina and Owen Hiltz to six points (3g, 3a). The pair came in averaging 9.33 points per game. Hiltz finished with one goal – just the second time this season he has not had multiple scores.
Duke held the Orange to a season-low 37 shots. Syracuse entered the contest averaging 48.80 shots per game.
The Blue Devils forced Syracuse into 18 turnovers, tying for the most this season by the Orange. Syracuse also had 18 giveaways at Utah. Duke has forced at least 15 turnovers in 13 of 14 contests this season.
Syracuse's scoring droughts of 20:29 (2-4) and 18:15 (1-2) mark the 17th and 18th time the Orange has held an opponent without a goal for at least 10 minutes. The 20:29 scoreless stretch is the fifth longest for a Duke foe this season.
Duke improves to 7-2 at home this season and 156-28 all-time under head coach John Danowski. Duke has registered at least 10 wins in each of Danowski's full seasons at Duke.

Player Notes

Eric Malever scored five goals – his third hat trick of the season and his fifth game with at least five points. The five tallies match his total in the previous five games combined.
Aidan Maguire registered a career-high three points from two goals and an assist. He notched his second career two-goal outing.
Charlie Johnson registered two caused turnovers and three ground balls. He now has 26 caused turnovers on the season to rank tied for fifth in Duke single-season history.
Andrew McAdorey finished with a goal and two assists to give him 169 career points, ranking 26th in Duke history.
Patrick Jameison recorded double-digit saves for the eighth time this season.
Mac Christmas tallied his seventh goal of the season, matching CJ Costabile's Duke-record seven in 2012.