Duke tops Orange despite Palasek's 4 goals

Former Rocky Point star Tommy Palasek was playing on another level for Syracuse for most of Sunday's game against Duke. But late in the fourth quarter, with a chance to tie the score, the senior attack kept the ball on the same plane.

It was a subtle difference, but it was enough for his shot to bang off the helmet of Blue Devils goalie Dan Wigrizer with 3:38 remaining. Duke advanced the ball quickly downfield, and 33 seconds later, Jake Tripucka scored to clinch the No. 8 Blue Devils' 12-10 victory over the No. 14 Orange in the second game of the Big City Classic men's lacrosse tripleheader at MetLife Stadium.

"I didn't change my plane on the shot. I faked high and I shot high on the near side," Palasek said. "It hit his helmet. It was a good save, but I had a great look. As a player, you'd like that opportunity. You want to bury it. If I had to do it again, I would've faked high and shot low."

That was about the only thing that didn't work for Palasek Sunday. He had four goals and an assist and leads Syracuse with 21 points (10 goals) in eight games. But except for Tim Desko (two goals, two assists, giving him 13 goals, 18 points), few other teammates are having big offensive seasons.

Syracuse (4-4) lost its second game in a row for the first time since 2007. The back-to-back national champions (2008-09) will have to battle just to make the NCAA Tournament.

Duke, the 2010 champion, has rebounded from a 3-3 start to win its last six. Robert Rotanz raised his team-high goal total to 25 with four, including the eventual winner. He took a feed from Jordan Wolf (two goals, three assists) and broke a 10-10 tie with 12:04 left.

"The defense had already slid when Jordan made the pass. I just shot it," Rotanz said. "I was in the right place at the right time."

So was Wigrizer on Palasek's late shot. But the goalie left the game late in the third after Syracuse scored three straight goals to tie it at 9. Wigrizer had to leave because he had been accidentally spiked in the ankle and was bleeding.

"I can't say we weren't thinking about a change before that," Duke coach John Danowski said. "But Danny is our guy. In the fourth quarter, he made all the saves he needed to."

Danowski, a former Hofstra coach, enjoyed beating the 11-time NCAA champion Orange, whom Duke will play every year when Syracuse switches from the Big East to the ACC.

"When you play Syracuse in our sport," he said, "that's like playing Notre Dame, the Yankees and the Boston Celtics all rolled into one."

Irish beat St. John's. No. 6 Notre Dame broke open a tight game with seven consecutive second-half goals to defeat St. John's, 13-6, in the opener of the Big City Classic.

The Fighting Irish (7-1) won their sixth straight. They scored with six seconds left in the third quarter, then exploded with six unanswered goals, three in a row by Jim Marlatt, to start the fourth.

"In our offense, we just put guys in good position to make plays," said Marlatt, whose natural hat trick made it 10-5. "I was the guy in the fourth quarter."

Steve Murphy (Floyd) added a goal and an assist from second midfield for Notre Dame. For St. John's (5-4), Kieran McArdle (Connetquot) had a goal and two assists, Terence Leach (St. Dominic) a goal and an assist and Harry Kutner (Garden City) a goal.