Durham, N.C. — Sergio Salcido barreled toward the net with one goal in mind: “make him make a save.” In Salcido’s four attempts prior, Duke goalie Danny Fowler hadn’t been able to as the small, speedy midfielder found the back of the net each time.

Another goal would have given the Orange a 16-15 lead with just 12 seconds left in the game.

Salcido wanted to shoot nearside to the left post, but was checked from behind. As he fell to the ground, the ball sailed out of his stick and carried out of out of bounds.

“The ball kind of slipped out and just didn’t hit the net,” Salcido said.

Salcido had a career day, scoring four goals, dishing out two assists and tallying six points — all career-highs. He jumped up to second on the team with 14 goals and 21 points. But it wasn’t enough. His two last-second chances fizzled out and the No. 5 Orange (5-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 11 Duke (7-4, 1-0), 16-15, at Koskinen Stadium for SU’s second overtime loss in a row.

“He’s just playing great individually,” SU attack Dylan Donahue said. “He’s a great player and he’s going to continue to do that.”

On Salcido’s first goal just five minutes into the game — the first of the game — he jogged into the offensive zone undefended, caught a Nick Mariano pass and converted on the outside shot. A Duke defender had lost his stick, leaving Salcido open.

The next one came a little more than a minute later when Salcido took a quick step past Duke’s Garrett Van de Ven and bounced in shot before the defense could slide to help.

Just six minutes into the first quarter, he had already tied his career-high of two goals.

“The ball kind of fell on my stick and I got some good shot opportunities earlier and kind of got off to a good start,” Salcido said.

Salcido was drawing Duke’s short stick midfielders and abusing them with his speed. He either ran past them for an open shot or drew the double team and passed to an open teammate.

He made a swim move past his man near the restraining line in the closing seconds of the third quarter for his final goal of the game.

With 3:29 left, he back peddled to the left of the net, drawing the attention of two defenders, before tossing a pass to Syracuse midfielder Derek DeJoe, who tied the game at 15.

“We couldn’t be happier with what he’s doing,” Orange head coach John Desko said.

A couple years ago, Desko “wasn’t sure” Salcido would ever play for SU. Salcido was a scout team player that played in 13 and 14 games, respectively, in his first two seasons, scoring zero goals and recording five assists over the two years.

But with 11 seconds left in regulation, right after Salcido’s first miss, Desko called timeout and put the ball in the junior’s stick again.

Salcido cut to the right of the net and lofted a pass toward DeJoe on the other side of the field. His chance at one more assist and one more point in an already career day evaporated, though, as the pass flew over DeJoe’s head just before time expired.

“I figured I just need to pass over the top and maybe someone will make a play,” Salcido said. “Unfortunately, I threw it a little bit too high.”

The most impressive performance of his time at SU fell just short of carrying the Orange past Duke.

Published on March 26, 2016 at 4:50 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus