Daddio starts strong, wins final faceoff against Fowler to help Orange beat Duke
Logan Reidsma | Staff Photographer
Chris Daddio (right) wrestles at the faceoff X with Brendan Fowler (left). Syracuse beat Duke 16-15 on Friday night, and Daddio's faceoff win in the last minute set up the game-winning goal.
Brendan Fowler has had Chris Daddio’s number the last few times Syracuse and Duke have squared off.
But at the beginning and end of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals on Friday night, it looked as if Daddio was the one with the NCAA faceoff records, not Fowler.
In the first quarter of No. 4 Syracuse’s (10-3, 2-3 ACC) improbable 16-15 victory over No. 2 Duke (12-3, 4-1), Daddio won a staggering 6-of-8 faceoffs in the first quarter and kept his team within striking distance throughout. Then he won the game’s biggest draw that led to Dylan Donahue’s last-second goal that clinched an Orange win.
“I was just confident,” Daddio said. “I came out and just trusted my move and knew that I didn’t really have a choice with the way I’ve played against him in the past.”
On March 23, Fowler won 24-of-31 faceoffs – six against Daddio before SU’s starter was replaced – as the Blue Devils blew out the Orange in Durham, N.C. When the two teams met in last year’s national championship game, Fowler won 20-of-28.
And after Daddio was hot in the first quarter the matchup reverted back to its old form.
In the second quarter, Fowler won nine draws. But despite Daddio only winning 2-of-11 in the second quarter — Duke’s Charlie Payton took and won one — the Orange hung on and gave Daddio a chance to redeem himself.
Daddio did that, winning just enough first-half faceoffs to help the Orange go into halftime down 10-8.
“Fortunately, we got a couple goals and Chris started heating up at the faceoff X,” Syracuse attack Kevin Rice said.
Then Fowler won all four draws in the third quarter and 6-of-9 in the fourth.
But one of those three Daddio wins came with 14 seconds to go to set up the dagger — even if Duke head coach John Danowski thought he jumped the whistle.
Said Danowski: “I don’t want to comment on the one with 14 seconds to go. I think you should watch the replay and I think we’ll all watch it and you can make your own decision on that one.”
Published on April 25, 2014 at 11:03 pm
Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu
