Upcoming Event: Men's Tennis versus ITA Regional Championship on October 16, 2025
Men's Tennis
vs ITA Regional Championship
No. 9 Duke Opens ACC Play with No. 5 Orange Saturday
3/25/2016 5:10:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse, Athletics
Game 11
No. 9 Duke (6-4, 0-0) vs. No. 5 Syracuse (5-1, 1-0)
March 26 | 12 p.m. | ESPNU
Durham, N.C. | Koskinen Stadium
Setting the Scene
- Duke is 6-4 overall and coming off of a 10-9 overtime loss to No. 20 Air Force Tuesday night.
- Justin Guterding leads all scorers with 42 points from 23 goals and 19 assists.
- Kyle Rowe has been outstanding at the faceoff X, winning 69 percent of his draws (113-of-163) and picking up 77 ground balls.
- Syracuse is 5-1 overall and recently suffered an 11-10 setback at Johns Hopkins.
The Series History
- Syracuse leads the all-time series 9-5. Duke is 1-3 against the Orange since Syracuse joined the ACC. The Blue Devils are 3-5 against Syracuse under John Danowski.
- Duke and Syracuse have split the past two regular season games with the 2014 and 2015 contests being decided by 14 and 12 goals, respectively.
By the Numbers
197 – Career points for senior Myles Jones, tops among active Division I players
.693 - Overall faceoff win percentage in 2016 for Duke junior Kyle Rowe (113-of-163)
.791 - Kyle Rowe's win percentage at the X since he returned from injury
.672 – Faceoff percentage for Syracuse's Ben Williams (88-of-131)
.416 – Shot percentage for the Blue Devils in their six wins this season
.296 - Shot percentage for Duke in its four losses this season
17.00 – Goals per game for the Blue Devils in their six wins this season
10.00 – Goals per game in Duke's four losses this season
8.00 – Goals allowed per game by the Orange this season, giving up more than ten twice
45 – Straight games both Duke's Myles Jones and Syracuse's Dylan Donahue have scored at least one point
10 – Number worn by the late Jimmy Regan who Duke will honor in conjunction with Military Appreciation Day this Saturday.
Duke to Celebrate Jimmy Regan & Military Appreciation Day
In honor of former Blue Devil Jimmy Regan and all military members, Duke will host Military Appreciation Day Saturday. All current and retired military personnel get one free ticket and family members can buy $5 tickets. Regan, a four-year letterwinner and 2002 graduate of Duke, was killed Friday, Feb. 9, 2007, in northern Iraq when his vehicle was struck by an explosive. Regan was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment stationed in Fort Benning, Ga. He was 26. Those who would like to support the Lead the Way Fund started in honor of Regan can do so by visiting www.leadthewayfund.org.
Last Time Out
- Chad Cohan scored three goals and four points overall, but a 7-1 run to end the game lifted No. 20 Air Force to a 10-9 overtime victory in Durham Tuesday night.
- Kyle Rowe was outstanding at the X yet again, winning 16-of-21 draws and picking up 13 ground balls.
- Duke's first midfield had eight of the team's nine goals. Air Force sophomore Chris Walsch had a game-high three goals and four assists in the win.
- Danny Fowler made eight saves in 63:50 and had two ground balls.
About Syracuse
- Syracuse is 5-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play thanks to a 14-13 win over Virginia. The Orange is coming off of an 11-10 loss at Johns Hopkins this past Saturday.
- Dylan Donahue leads all scorers with 28 points from 11 goals and 17 assists, while Nick Mariano has 14 goals and three assists for 17 points.
- Faceoff specialist Ben Williams is outstanding, winning 67 percent of his draws (88-of-131) and 44 ground balls. He has won at least 50 percent of his restarts in all six games this season.
- Brandon Mullins anchors the defense with 10 caused turnovers and 13 ground balls. Between the pipes, Warren Hill owns a 7.96 goals against average and a .476 save percentage. He has saved fewer than 50 percent of shots in three of the six games and had just five saves on 16 shots on goal against the Blue Jays.
- Offensively, Syracuse is scoring 13.67 goals per game and is shooting .327 for the year. The Orange has scored in double digits in five of six games.
- Defensively, the Orange is giving up eight goals per game and has given up double digit goals just twice. Syracuse is 2-1 against ranked opponents this season.
Home Sweet Home For The Blue Devils
- Duke rode a program-tying 21-game win streak, spanning from a March 8, 2013 win over Loyola through the March 7, 2015 victory before falling to Notre Dame April 4.
- The Blue Devils are 87-14 all-time under Danowski in Durham and 4-2 this season with setbacks to Richmond and No. 20 Air Force.
Last Time We Met
-Syracuse senior Kevin Rice registered three goals and four assists and the fourth-ranked Orange held off a late comeback effort from No. 6 Duke to win the 2015 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship.
- Jack Bruckner led all Duke scorers with five goals, while Myles Jones added three goals and two assists. Kyle Rowe was outstanding at the draw, winning 19-of-30 restarts and picking up a season-high 14 ground balls.
- Danny Fowler made six saves in the setback, while Syracuse senior Bobby Wardwell had eight stops.
- Dylan Donahue had a goal and an assist and four ground balls in the win for the Orange.
Lopsided Regular Season Games
-Duke and Syracuse's regular season meetings as ACC foes have been lopsided affairs, being decided by 14 and 12 goals in the past two respective seasons.
- In Durham in 2014, Deemer Class had 10 points from six goals and four assists, while Myles Jones had five in a coming-out party for the midfield duo.
-It was a reversal of fortunes for the Blue Devils in 2015 in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse jumped out to a 13-1 halftime lead behind the faceoff play of Ben Williams (14-of-22) and Kevin Rice's seven points. Dylan Donahue finished with five goals and two assists.
- The 12-goal loss was the worst for the Blue Devils since suffering a 13-goal setback at Johns Hopkins in 2003.
A Win Over Syracuse Would
- Be head coach John Danowski's 366th career win
- Be the program's 527th victory
- Make Duke 210-128 all-time in the month of March
Duke In The Month Of March
- Duke is 209-128 in the month of March.
- The Blue Devils always play a lot of games in March and will play six this season.
- Duke is 52-15 in March under John Danowski.
- Duke is 2-2 in the month this season and hasn't lost three games in March since 2004
Duke in One Goal Games
- Duke is 73-66 all-time in games decided by one goal in program history.
- The Blue Devils played a program-high seven one-goal games in both 1994 and 1997.
- Duke is 16-10 in one-goal contests under head coach John Danowski.
Battle at the X Looms
- Saturday will feature two of the game's premier faceoff specialists in Duke's Kyle Rowe and Syracuse's Ben Williams.
- Rowe is winning an ACC-best 69.3 percent of his draws and is averaging 11 ground balls per game, while Williams sports a .672 win percentage and 7.33 ground balls per game.
- Rowe has won 50 percent of his faceoffs in six of his seven games and has won 75-plus percent in four of those.
- Williams has won more than 50 percent of his draws in all six games, with the closest being winning 13-of-24 at Johns Hopkins.
- In the lone meeting of the two in the ACC Championship game last season, Rowe won 19-of-30 faceoffs.
Class and Jones a Dangerous Tandem
- The Tewaaraton Award nominees, Deemer Class and Myles Jones have become the highest scoring midfield tandem in Duke history.
- Jones holds the Duke records for single-season and career goals and points by a midfielder and both are the lone midfielders in Duke history to score 100 career goals.
- Combined, the pair has 221 goals and 146 assists for 367 points.
More Class and Jones Notes
- Deemer Class became the second Blue Devil midfielder in program history to score 100 career goals after scoring twice against Harvard.
- Class has 110 career goals, one behind Myles Jones, six hat tricks in 2016 and at least three points in nine of his 10 games.
- Myles Jones' lone goal at Jacksonville pushed him to the century mark, becoming the first Duke midfielder in program history to record 100 goals in his career.
- He currently ranks 12th in Duke history with 195 career points and is eighth at Duke in assists with 86.
Up Next
- ACC play continues for the Blue Devils next Friday against rival North Carolina. Faceoff is set for April 1 at 6 p.m., in Koskinen Stadium on ESPNU.
#GoDuke
Players Mentioned
M
/ Men's Lacrosse
M
/ Men's Lacrosse
A
/ Men's Lacrosse
G
/ Men's Lacrosse
A
/ Men's Lacrosse
M
/ Men's Lacrosse
Celebrating 10 Years of ACE!
Thursday, July 10
Celebrating 10 Years of ACE
Wednesday, July 09
Blue Devil 360: NCAA Champion
Wednesday, March 26
Duke Athletics - Top 5 Plays of February!
Thursday, March 13
