From press releases -- DURHAM, N.C. – After Syracuse erased a four-goal second quarter deficit to tie the score at five, No. 3 Duke answered with five of the next six goals to eliminate the SU men’s lacrosse team in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament, 12-9 on Saturday at Koskinen Stadium. The Orange, which received two goals apiece from Kevin Drew and Scott Loy, finishes the season with a 9-8 record overall.
Dukes generated a majority of its offense in the game from its 17-of-24 performance at the faceoff X. Justin Turri, Robert Rotanz and Christian Walsh all recorded hat tricks for the Blue Devils, combining for 11 points in the game. Duke also held a 32-24 edge in ground balls as each time was 1-of-4 on the man-up. C.J. Costabile had a game-high eight ground balls for the Blue Devils.
Duke opened the scoring 2:10 into the contest as Turri dodged a Syracuse defender to the right of the cage before sending a shot into the top left corner for an early 1-0 Blue Devil advantage. Jordan Wolf made it 2-0 Duke one minute later with a low shot through traffic that beat SU goalkeeper Bobby Wardwell (10 saves) five-hole.
After Blue Devil goaltender Dan Wigrizer (12 saves) stoned Bobby Eilers from 10 yards out, Duke made it 3-0 as Turri picked up his second of the afternoon, prompting a Syracuse timeout with 10:12 left in the opening quarter.
SU got on the board with less than one minute left in the first quarter as Tommy Palasek sent a pass from behind the net up to Loy, who buried a shot past Wigrizer for his third goal in as many games.
The Blue Devils regained its three-goal edge with 12:51 left in the second quarter when Rotanz fired a low shot from the left side to beat Wardwell.
After killing off its third penalty of the afternoon, Duke made it 5-1 as Turri hit Walsh with a pass for a quick shot by Wardwell with 8:07 left in the first half. Syracuse answered with a goal from Henry Schoonmaker just 68 seconds later when he sent a shot through a Duke defender and past Wigrizer, and Eilers cut the deficit to two with a bounce shot into the back of the net following a huge defensive play from Brandon Mullins behind the SU cage.
Tim Desko scored Syracuse’s third straight goal with 1:20 left in the second when he took a pass from Palasek, and converted on a whirling shot from just outside the crease for a 5-4 Duke lead.
Just 25 seconds into the third quarter, Syracuse knotted the score at five as the Orange caused a turnover off the faceoff, and Drew fired a shot on goal that hit Wigrizer and trickled across the goal line for the score.
The Blue Devils, however, would counter with a four-goal run of its own on back to back goals from Rotanz 1:16 into the quarter and then another with 11:13 left just as an Orange penalty expired. Josh Dionne and Walsh would add goals 50 seconds apart to make it 9-5.
Loy picked up his second goal of the game with 5:55 left when he batted in an entry pass from Desko, but Duke fired right back with a tally from Turri to regain the four-goal Blue Devil lead.
With 2:18 left in the third, Drew netted his second of the game when he sped into the attacking zone, dodged a defender and sent a low shot through Wigrizer, but Duke answered off the ensuing faceoff as Walsh completed the hat trick six seconds later for an 11-7 advantage.
The Orange attempted to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter as Derek Maltz and Palasek connected for a man-up goal with 10:07 remaining in regulation to cut the deficit to three, but that’s as close as Syracuse would get as Dionne scored with nine minutes left and Wigrizer made big stops down the stretch to hang on for the win.
