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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gary Gait resorted to drastic measures not even a full quarter into Syracuse’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals matchup with Duke. For the first time since he joined SU ahead of 2023, goalie Will Mark was benched for poor performance.

How could it be that a Tewaaraton nominee gets pulled amid a career year in the most consequential game of the season? According to Gait, the results spoke for themselves.

The Orange trailed 8-2 to the Blue Devils just over 12 minutes into the contest. Mark faced nine shots on target, and could only muster one save. A swap was inevitable.

“You know … it was tough,” Gait said with a subtle smirk postgame. “You’ve got to try something to change momentum. You can’t keep doing the same thing when it’s not going your way and at some point you (have to change).”

As the game clock struck 2:40 in the first quarter, Mark was replaced in net by sophomore Jimmy McCool. The adjustment from Gait defined No. 2 seed Syracuse’s (11-5, 3-1 ACC) 18-13 defeat to No. 3 seed Duke (12-4, 1-3 ACC) in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Mark exited with a career-worst 11.1% first-quarter save percentage against the Blue Devils, while McCool didn’t fare much better, totaling a 37.5% save rate.

Gait blamed the damping loss on the Orange’s “rusty” start, not on Mark. He said Duke was “ready from the opening whistle” yet his squad was more lackadaisical, partially due to a 13-day layoff from Syracuse’s previous game, Gait hypothesized.

Still, nothing summed up SU’s rust more than its uncharacteristic shortcomings between the pipes.

“I thought I gave (Mark) plenty of opportunity to try and get back (in rhythm) and see the ball,” Gait said of his decision to switch goalies. “I certainly don’t put it all on him.”

Mark couldn’t have been thrust into more dire circumstances. Syracuse failed to possess the ball for the game’s first five minutes. Mason Kohn and John Mullen won zero of their first six combined faceoffs against Duke’s backup faceoff man Cal Girard, who was starting in place of an injured Jake Naso. So, Mark faced an onslaught.

Though Mark was stable out of the gate. Andrew McAdorey fired a wraparound attempt for the first shot of the game, which Mark easily sent away. Then a shot from Josh Zawada rattled off the left crease, yet Mark quickly slid to Zawada’s side and blocked off his shooting lane.

But Gait said the most apparent difference between Friday’s result and Syracuse’s 10-4 victory over Duke on March 20 was the Blue Devils’ much-improved shooting. In the previous meeting, Mark accumulated a SU-best 77.8% save percentage despite the Orange going 6-for-17 at the faceoff X.

Yet for a side that Gait called “one of the best shooting teams in the country,” it spelled doom for Mark once Duke began to shoot with precision.

Just over two minutes into the opening quarter, Brennan O’Neill fed Dyson Williams on a cross-crease pass and the latter had a one-on-one against Mark. Williams fired a low, bouncing shot to the right side of Mark, who couldn’t adjust as his right foot slipped out from under him. Williams found twine to put the Blue Devils up 1-0.

Every shot on target that Mark faced from then on, he let in a goal.

Forty-two seconds later, McAdorey cut from X and beat his defender, Caden Kol, to gain an open look at the net. Mark had his eyes on McAdorey, but the Duke midfielder snapped his head left and whipped a quick release that he buried into the top left corner of the cage. Mark was too slow to react. He let in another goal less than a minute later, this time on a step-down shot by Zawada that squeaked by Mark’s low right side.

As SU continued to lose faceoffs, Mark’s troubles grew. McAdorey and Max Sloat each earned point-blank opportunities versus the goalie within the succeeding minute of play, and both netted their shots past Mark to give Duke a whopping 5-0 lead.

Syracuse’s short sticks consistently lost their matchups and its long poles were constantly burned behind the net to spur close-range chances. Even for an established goalie like Mark, he couldn’t pick up the slack by himself.

“What we need to do is get pressure on shots so that he can get a feel for the ball,” Gait said when asked about Mark’s struggles. “He hadn’t seen a game shot in a couple of weeks.”

A five-minute lull ensued where Mark never faced a shot. In that time, the Orange cut into their deficit to trail 5-2. Yet any momentum was stalled once Duke started pelting Mark again.

McAdorey buried a goal in the top left shelf. Then, a scorching lefty rip from O’Neill barely elicited a movement from Mark. A man-up goal by Williams, where he bounced it through Mark’s legs, was the last straw. Gait promptly pulled Mark for McCool.

McCool had his hardships as well, totaling just six saves while facing 16 shots on target. He was subject to a litany of close opportunities and pinpoint shot placement by the Blue Devils, like Mark, but SU was initially outscoring Duke 4-2 after the change was made.

A 6-0 second-half run for Duke to make the score 17-7 silenced any inkling that Syracuse’s switch to McCool would pay dividends. Per Gait, though, McCool was one of the few positives he could draw from the loss.

“It’s tough to get thrown in there, and I thought he played pretty well,” Gait said of McCool, “which is good for a guy that hasn’t had much game experience. So we were happy about that.”

Mark now enters the NCAA Tournament with less stability. Gait proved he’s willing to take his best players out when necessary. But for a tranquil Mark, who prioritizes meditation and mindfulness in his daily routine, Gait believes he will be just fine going forward.

“He’s a competitor,” Gait said of Mark. “He’s going to work incredibly hard to make sure he’s ready for the next one.”

Published on May 4, 2024 at 1:15 am

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews