Syracuse held on in the final seconds to defeat Duke 9-8 Sunday afternoon, to capture the ACC championship at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
The victory finished an impressive weekend for SU, topping the top-seed, Notre Dame, Friday, and gaining revenge against the Blue Devils after an 11-7 loss in Durham April 19.
Here are three takeaways from the championship victory:
Syracuse had just enough defense down the stretch to win a one goal game.
Led by tournament MVP goalie Jimmy McCool, the Orange defense held off one final Duke sequence with 8.4 seconds left on a shot that whizzed wide right of the net, to hold on for the win.
Payton Anderson's second goal of the game gave the 'Cuse a 9-6 lead with 10:54 in regulation, which turned out to be just enough of a margin, thanks to the defense..
McCool finished with 10 saves on 35 Duke shots (18 on goal), and the interior "D" of Michael Grace, Ryan Figueiras, and Billy Dwan III was outstanding all day, the latter two players were named to the all-tournament team.
Crisp passing on offense led to six players scoring the nine SU goals.
When the Orange offense is in sync, everybody on the field gets involved. Owen Hiltz again opened the scoring as he did in Friday's semifinal win, and he was joined by Anderson and Finn Thomson with multiple goal games.
Hiltz, Thomson and Joey Spallina made it a sweep for the starting attack named to the all-tourny team, and that unit combined for five goals and two assists.
Johnny Mullen was steady winning 14 of 20 faceoffs to get the offense plenty of opportunities, in fact it was missed chances (16 turnovers and 14 shots not on goal) that kept things close to the final seconds.
An ACC title is another step in the program's progress under Gary Gait.
After a historic losing season in 2022, getting over .500 in '23, and then making the NCAA quarterfinals last season, the Orange won their first ACC title under Gait in his fourth year.
The win over Duke likely secures a top eight seed and home game in the first round of the NCAA tournament next weekend. The NCAA bracket will be revealed Sunday night (9:30 p.m. ET / ESPNU).
"It's big for us," Joey Spallina said on the field among his celebrating teammates. "We've made steady progress since I have been here, the guys sensed this was their time, and made the most of it. We're ready to keep playing."
----
Chat about this story and all things Syracuse and Syracuse recruiting on our premium message board, Cuse Classified!
Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnline, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.
Tips/questions/concerns? E-mail Recruiting Analyst Charles Kang here.
Not a subscriber to The Juice Online? Join today for access to all our premium content and message board community.
