FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Stephen Keogh shook his head back and forth in disbelief as he stood outside the Syracuse locker room after SU’s final four matchup against Duke. Keogh said he didn’t expect this.

Defeating Duke by 10 goals didn’t seem possible to Keogh. He thought the final score would be much closer.

But for the second-seeded Orange, coming out victorious against the third-seeded Blue Devils was too easy. Syracuse dodged, scored and dominated as Syracuse prevailed 17-10 Saturday at Gillette Stadium in front of 36,594 in attendance, sending the 2008 defending national champions back to the title game Monday for a chance to win back-to-back titles and the program’s eleventh overall championship.

‘We have so much depth on our team, it doesn’t really matter who has the ball,’ attack Keogh said. ‘I don’t think their defense was ready for how many people can step up.’

With nine different players scoring, Syracuse’s depth proved too much for Duke to handle. The Orange (15-2) led 8-4 going into halftime and never looked back. All of the Orange’s normal suspects scored Saturday, which boosts Syracuse’s confidence going into Monday’s game, Keogh said.

Everything clicked on the field. Attack Kenny Nims scored four goals, receiving the assists this time, instead of his usual role which prompts him to deal them out. At 9:54 in the fourth quarter, Jamieson found Nims, who jumped up in the air and scored from the left pole, putting the Orange up 15-6. By then, the game had already been decided.

‘I didn’t expect to beat them the way we did,’ said midfielder Dan Hardy, who tallied three points. ‘We were clicking everywhere on the field today. It was pretty obvious that all the guys played great today. … It was a great effort by everyone on the team.’

SU head coach John Desko said his team’s ability to score in ‘unsettled and settled’ situations propelled Syracuse to a win. Desko uses several different types of offensive sets, and the changeup confused Duke (15-4) early.

‘We seemed to be out of sorts today,’ Duke head coach John Danowski. ‘But maybe it was Syracuse making us out of sorts, opposed to saying it was us.’

Desko rotated Keogh, Jamieson, Chris Daniello and Tim Desko through the attack, giving Syracuse different looks and keeping the Blue Devils’ defenders guessing. Nims was the quarterback for the SU offense, but the other four players came in at staggered times to fill different roles, Desko said.

Of the four attack, excluding Nims:

Keogh finds the open space to score, as he did in his lone goal of the game. Jamieson is like a left-handed Keogh, making SU dangerous on both sides of the net with two goals and an assist. Daniello scores efficiently – he scored the first goal of the game. And Tim Desko gives Nims a break from holding the ball, while Syracuse still retains the possession.

Add all of those characteristics together, and Syracuse cruised to a 10-goal victory. The Orange used all of its offensive tools to its advantage, making the Orange nearly unstoppable on offense

Desko even had plays to get his midfield more involved. Senior midfielder Pat Perritt scored four goals, tying Nims for game-best. Perritt found the open-spots and had a career best day to give SU a boost from the first-midfield line when it needed it.

‘I think it’s just the fact that we are so deep,’ Nims, who tallied five points, said. ‘We have about 10 guys who are capable of putting up big numbers. Any given day someone new can have a huge day. That’s been the story of our season pretty much all year and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone new stepped up and had a huge game on Monday.’

Immediately after the game, as the Syracuse players walked into their locker room they cheered and shouted. A 10-goal blowout going into the championship game raised sprits, making the Orange ‘a tough team to beat’ on Monday, Nims said.

As countless television recorders and recorders swarmed Nims outside the locker room fresh off the victory, he said his work isn’t done.

‘I want one more ring.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on May 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm