Duke Awaits in ACC Semifinals

2014 ACC Championship – #4 Syracuse (9-3) vs. #2 Duke (12-2)
Details	Friday, April 25 \| Chester, Pa. \| 5 p.m. Tournament Central \| Bracket \| Live Stats \| PPL Park \| Weather
Game Coverage	TV: ESPNU \| Radio: ESPN 97.7 FM (Syracuse) Cuse.com: Listen \| WatchESPN.com: Watch Twitter: @Cuse, @SUMensLax
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Notes \| Guide
Duke Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Notes \| Guide

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – In what is quickly becoming one of the premier matchups in college lacrosse, Syracuse (9-3) and Duke (12-2) square off in the semifinals of the 2014 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship Friday, April 25 at 5 p.m. at PPL Park.

The Orange has won five straight since a 21-7 loss to the Blue Devils in Durham March 23. The Blue Devils have won eight in a row since losing at Loyola March 9.

THE 2014 ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
Maryland is the top seed and will play No. 4 seed Notre Dame in the tournament's second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Duke and Syracuse are seeded second and third, respectively, and their game precedes the Maryland-Notre Dame contest.

The two semifinal winners meet at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 27 to decide who receives the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.

THEY'VE BEEN GREAT LATELY
Syracuse and Duke have combined to win four of the last six NCAA championships. The Orange brought home back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. Duke won the crown in 2010 and 2013. SU has three Final Four appearances since 2008. Duke has reached the NCAA semifinals every year since 2007.

SU IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
The Orange owns a 4-0 all-time record in conference tournament games. Syracuse defeated Villanova and St. John's in 2012 to win the inaugural BIG EAST Championship tournament. The following year, the Orange repeated as BIG EAST champs, beating Notre Dame and Villanova to win the title.

ORANGE AT PPL PARK
Syracuse is 1-0 all-time games played at PPL Park. In its only other PPL appearance, the Orange posted a 13-11 win versus St. John's on March 9, 2013 in the Whitman's Sampler Independence Classic.

A WIN AGAINST DUKE WOULD …
… Be the program's 856th victory, second all-time behind Hopkins (943).
… Improve SU's record to 95-23 since the start of the 2008 season.
… Be John Desko's 197th career coaching win.
… Put Syracuse in the ACC title game.
… Extend SU's winning streak to six games.
… Snap Duke's four-game series winning streak, and the Blue Devils' current eight-game winning streak.
… Increase Syracuse's record to 5-0 all-time in conference tournament games.
… Mark the Orange's sixth win this season versus a top-10 team.

PICK YOUR POISON
Attackmen Kevin Rice (26 goals, 28 assists), Randy Staats (23 goals, 19 assists) and Dylan Donahue (28 goals, 13 assists) all have more than 40 points this year. In addition, all three have recorded an eight-point game. Rice did it versus Siena (0-8) and St. John's (4-4). Staats achieved the feat versus Cornell (5-4) and Hobart (5-3), while Donahue also did it against Siena (8-1). The last time three different SU players posted eight-point games in the same year was 1990 (Gary Gait, Paul Gait, Tom Marechek).

Rice and Staats are the first Orange players since Ryan Powell and Liam Banks in 2000 to record multiple eight-point games in the same season.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
The Blue Devils are 12-2 this season and have won eight in a row. They rank second in the nation in scoring (14.36 goals per game), points (22.79 per game) and assists (8.43 per game).

All-ACC performer Jordan Wolf leads conference in goals (46) and points (67). In addition, first-line midfielders Deemer Class (27 goals, 25 assists), Myles Jones (25 goals, 12 assists) and Christian Walsh (17 goals, 18 assists) have sparked the Duke offense. The trio combined for 23 points versus Syracuse the first time around.

Faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler (207-339, .611) is having a another productive year. Fowler set the NCAA record for faceoff wins (339) in 2013.

Defensively, Luke Aaron (120 saves, 8.95 GAA) has cemented himself as the starting goaltender. However, the Blue Devils will miss LSM Luke Duprey (34 ground balls, 22 caused turnovers) who is out the rest of the year with an injury.

Coach John Danowski has guided Duke to the Final Four every year he's been in Durham. He has won two national championships and four ACC Tournament titles. Danowski is second among active Division I coaches with 342 career wins.

THE DUKE SERIES
SU holds a 6-5 advantage in the all-time series against Duke. The Orange won six of the first seven meetings, including five in a row from 1992-2011.The Blue Devils have claimed the last four pairings.

Friday's game marks the seventh neutral-site contest between the two teams. The Orange is 4-2 against the Blue Devils in the previous six neutral matchups.

Syracuse University Athletics

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