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Steele Stanwick had two goals and one assist against Duke. |
On Saturday night at Klockner Stadium, 8,000 fans packed the house for the Virginia-Duke men’s lacrosse showdown. A different eight became the story of the night, though. As in the Cavaliers’ eight straight losses to the Blue Devils.
Yes, despite a halftime lead, despite owning the nation’s No. 1 ranking and only undefeated record, and despite Duke’s 0-2 ACC mark entering the game, UVa’s head-scratching losing streak against the Devils continued as the visitors from Durham dominated the second half to win 13-9. The loss snapped a 15-game home winning streak (the nation’s longest) for the Hoos; it was also just their second defeat in 27 night games at Klockner.
Needless to say, the Hoos were disappointed in the outcome.
“Yeah, I think our defense needs to buckle down a little bit. I think we’ve got some things to look at,” Virginia’s Ken Clausen said. “Duke makes plays and they capitalize on possessions. … We’ve got some things to work on I think. It’s still early in the season. We have the ACC Tournament and playoffs coming up.”
The two squads swapped unanswered scoring runs in the first half with UVa posting the first three and last three goals of the half. Those two mini-bursts gave the Cavaliers a 6-5 advantage at intermission, but a disastrous third quarter not only erased the lead, it left the hosts reeling. Duke tied the score at the 13:00 mark and led again within five minutes thanks to four consecutive goals to open the half. Two of those goals came despite heavy defensive checks from UVa defenders.
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Virginia’s inability to secure ground balls has become a frequent problem when facing Duke. |
Virginia’s Steele Stanwick scored with 1:07 left in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 9-7, but the hopes of a dramatic fourth quarter proved short-lived. That’s because Duke won the fourth quarter’s opening face-off and scored in just 21 seconds against an unsettled Cavalier defense.
Of course, that was a second-half theme. The Blue Devils dominated the face-offs in the second half, winning 10 of 12 after intermission. The visitors won all six in the critical third quarter.
“A lot of that had to do with their play in the middle of the field. I would say the most valuable players in the game might have been their three long-stick middies [Tom] Montelli, [CJ] Costabile, and [Parker] McKee,” UVa coach Dom Starsia said. “I thought they rode us probably better than anybody has all year. We haven’t seen that kind of pressure and we didn’t stand up to it very well.”
By controlling the face-offs and the toss-up plays around the midfield, Duke owned many of the second half stats. The Blue Devils took 21 shots, while the Hoos took 11. The Blue Devils scooped up 16 groundballs while the Hoos grabbed 5. Virginia had won both of those categories in the first half.
Clausen said Duke came out with a lot of the 50-50 groundballs and that gritty effort made a difference.
“I think they were winning the tough groundballs and I think that’s something we have been very good with throughout the season and I think they might have had the edge there tonight,” he said. “That’s something that I’m sure will be a focus for us. I don’t think we have anything to hang our heads on – we’ve got something to work on and we’ve got one loss on the season. We can’t be too upset with that. We know we’ve got to pick it up and get back going.”
