The Syracuse men's lacrosse team showed Sunday why it's No. 1 and unbeaten.
Playing in the Carrier Dome before an announced 11,408, the Orange (7-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored on four of its five possessions en route to a 13-1 halftime lead and 19-7 win over No. 4 Duke (7-1, 0-1). It was the worst loss for the Blue Devils since they lost by 13 to Johns Hopkins in 2003.
Syracuse senior Kevin Rice and junior Dylan Donahue each had seven points for the Orange, while Ben Williams won 14 of 22 faceoffs. Justin Guterding had two goals for Duke, and Deemer Class (Loyola Blakefield) had a goal and an assist.
The Blue Devils took just four shots in the first 15 minutes, with Case Matheis scoring the only goal.
Leading 6-1 after the first period, Syracuse scored a pair of goals in a seven-second span in the first minute of the second period to build its first-half lead. The Orange outshot Duke 34-12 and won 13 of 16 faceoffs in the first half.
Nation women
No. 6 Northwestern 11, No. 5 Syracuse 10: Wildcats senior defender Jess Carroll kept the Orange's Kayla Treanor, the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, scoreless in a narrow home victory.
Northwestern also got a big game from senior goalkeeper Bridget Bianco, whose 10 saves included one on a penalty shot that could have tied the game at 11.
The Wildcats (5-2), coming off a 15-day layoff, got four goals from freshman Selena Lasota and five from senior Kara Mupo, back after missing two games with an injury.
Northwestern faces unbeaten No. 1 Maryland on Thursday night.
—Philip Hersh, Tribune Newspapers
No. 7 Florida 19, Vanderbilt 10: In their first-ever Big East Conference game, the Gators cruised to an easy road win.
Senior Shannon Gilroy led the way for Florida (7-4, 1-0) with a career-high nine points on seven goals and two assists.
The Gators used an 8-0 first-half run to put the game out of reach after Vanderbilt (3-6, 0-1) had a 2-1 lead.