Virginia has scored the most goals in the NCAA tournament and Syracuse has surrendered the fewest. But the No. 3 seed Blue Devils are the hottest team, having won their last nine contests and 13 of the past 14 games.

Duke hasn’t lost since March 17 when Cornell left Durham, N.C., with a 10-6 victory, and Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Ned Crotty said each win has been a shot of adrenaline for the team.

"Every game I think we get better," said the senior attackman, who recently told Insidelacrosse.com that he will return for a fifth year of eligibility. "I think if you look back from the losses to Maryland and Cornell up to now, we’re a totally different team. We’re constantly learning after the previous games, and I think that’s been one of our biggest building blocks here. We’re constantly trying to build off of our previous mistakes. I think we’ve grown from each game."

Saturday’s semifinal against Syracuse pits two teams that love to run and create scoring opportunities in unsettled situations. But the Orange is equally as adept in a half-field set, which puts the onus on the Blue Devils’ defense.

"We’ve been working very hard on our defense and people have accepted their roles," sophomore defenseman Mike Manley said. "It was really after the Cornell game where we looked at each other and said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to start doing this for each other. We’ve got to start having some fun.’ Guys started accepting their roles, and now we’re playing together. ... Do we think we’re a good defense? Yeah, we definitely think we’re a good defense, but we have to back that up."