CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Some things never change.
As sure as the autumn leaves turn orange and fall softly to the ground, late October finds Virginia primed for another run at the NCAA men's soccer championship.
And even in the midst of an uncharacteristic midseason slump, the seventh-ranked Cavaliers (10-2-2, 4-1-1 in the ACC) proved the road to Richmond still runs through Charlottesville, rallying for two goals in the last eight minutes to stun No. 3 Duke 3-2 in front of 2,909 fans on a sunny afternoon yesterday at Klockner Stadium.
Walk-on attacker Rob Wright scored the game-winner for the Cavs with just 12 seconds left in regulation, and Virginia stole a win in another epic battle between the two winningest programs in ACC history.
The Blue Devils (14-2, 4-2), who were looking for their first win over the Cavaliers since a historic 3-1 upset in the 1995 NCAA semifinals, missed out on a chance to clinch the ACC regular-season title and a first-round bye in next month's ACC Tournament.
Duke led 2-1 late in the second half after sophomore Ali Curtis capitalized on a bad clearance by Virginia's Marshall Leonard. Curtis intercepted the errant pass, made a nifty move to open up a shooting angle and blasted a left-footer past Cavs' keeper Brock Yetso that clipped the left post and spun in.
But Virginia fought right back, tying the game on a soft volley from leading scorer Chris Albright. Minutes later, Albright won a loose ball and set up Wright with a one-on-one opportunity in front of the Duke goal.
The freshman from Virginia Beach, who walked on for the Cavaliers in August and isn't even listed in the team's media guide, slid the ball off of Duke keeper Atli Knutsson's outstretched leg and into the net.
"The [loose] ball was bouncing around and we all went up for the header," Duke senior Jay Heaps said. "We just couldn't find it, but Albright did and he made a good pass. Wright did well [to finish]."
The goal set off a mad celebration which saw two Virginia players cautioned by the referee for removing their shirts. Meanwhile, Knutsson and several teammates slumped to the ground while the rest of the Blue Devils shook their heads in disbelief.
Heaps said it was one of the toughest losses of his playing career.
"We battled the whole game and we had a chance to put them away, but we missed that chance," he said. "It would have been a nice win, but we let it slip through our fingers."
With a total of 40 fouls whistled, the physical battle was a both a steppingstone to the postseason and a prelude to a possible rematch in the ACC-or NCAA-Tournament.
"It was a championship environment and good experience for both teams," Duke coach John Rennie said. "Neither team wants to lose, so they're going to play [physically], and that's the way it should be."
Virginia got on the board first, when Albright made a deep run into the Duke penalty area and sent a soft cross to forward Mark Totten, whose one-time volley easily beat Knutsson to make it 1-0 just five minutes into the first half.
Duke had missed out on its best scoring chance of the half moments earlier, creating a golden opportunity to the left of Yetso's net, only to have Curtis' point-blank shot cleared off the goal line by a diving Cavalier defender.
The Blue Devils finally broke through in the second half, tying the game on a beautiful long ball from midfielder Noah Lewkowitz that found Heaps behind Virginia's last defender and one-on-one with Yetso. Heaps beat Yetso with a shot to the far post for his fifth career goal against the Cavs.
"I would say for 60 or so minutes, Jay Heaps wasn't really much of a factor," UVa coach George Gelnovatch said. "Just before they got that goal the momentum changed, and he started to pick it up. He's a good enough player that regardless of how you defend him, he's going to be dangerous."
After Albright's goal made it 2-2, Heaps nearly put the Cavs away, drawing Yetso out of the net and feeding Troy Garner for a clear shot from 12 yards out. But the junior forward couldn't find the handle immediately, and his shot spun just wide of the empty net.
"We had our chances," Heaps said. "It's still a great rivalry, the breaks just don't seem to have gone our way the last couple of years. But a team doesn't win on breaks."
For Virginia, it may have seemed like a good case of déjà vu. The Cavs, who had lost two of their last three matches, used a 2-0 win over Duke to snap a similar skid last year and ended up making a run to the NCAA Finals.
Meanwhile, Duke is looking to get back to the tournament for the first time since that magical 1995 campaign. Heaps knows getting there may well mean squaring off against Virginia at least once more this year.
"It would be nice to play them one more time in the ACC Tournament," Heaps said. "Our goal is still to win the ACC championship, so if we had to play them, it would be even better."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.