No. 11 Syracuse (9-4, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) survived a late-game push from Duke (6-6, 0-5) to escape Sunday afternoon with a 10-9 victory in Durham, North Carolina.

Down one goal with under a minute remaining, the Blue Devils had possession with the shot clock turned off. But a turnover by Duke attack Kyra Harney with 11 seconds left gave the ball — and the game— to the Orange.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak and marked SU’s second win in its past six games. It’s also the first time the Orange has ever topped the Blue Devils in Durham, and now has won four of its last five against Duke.

The matchup was just the third time all season the Orange has scored 10 goals or fewer. To win, SU relied on its sometimes-shaky defense to hold Duke at bay in the low-scoring battle.

Duke’s leading goal scorer, Maddie Crutchfield, was held to only two goals and had two turnovers in the Blue Devils’ loss.

SU goalie Asa Goldstock had seven saves and allowed nine goals, good for a 43.8 percent margin. The freshman had been shaky in the first half of the season but used Sunday’s unranked opponent in Duke to get her game back on line.

Sunday was just the second game in Goldstock’s past six that her save percentage was above 40 percent, and thanks to her defense holding the Blue Devils to only 22 shots, the freshman wasn’t forced to face many shots on the afternoon.

Riley Donahue, Neena Merola and Alie Jimerson tallied two goals apiece for the Orange, which led the Blue Devils 6-4 at the half.

SU never led by more than three goals and the game was tied three different times over the course of the afternoon. The Orange’s tenth goal came with 5:06 remaining in the game, on a Donahue assist to Devon Parker. The assist was Donahue’s 50th of her career and gave the Orange a two-goal edge heading into the final minutes of the game.

But the remaining five minutes were scoreless for the Orange, which held off a late-game push from the Blue Devils. Duke midfielder Stuart Humphrey fired a free position goal with 1:29 left and the Blue Devils nearly found the net again with under 20 seconds remaining. They passed the ball around the front of the net with the shot clock off.

With four seconds left, Kelsey Youmell picked up a ground ball at the foot of Duke attacker Harney, sealing the win for SU. Syracuse plays next at Loyola on Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore and returns home next Sunday to host Virginia Tech.

Published on April 2, 2017 at 5:24 pm

Contact Matt: mjfel100@syr.edu