CHAPEL HILL - For Superman, there's Lex Luthor. For Batman, there's the Joker. For Sherlock Holmes, there's Professor Moriarty.
For the women's lacrosse team, there's Virginia.
The second-ranked Cavaliers defeated No. 5 Duke (10-4) for the second time this season Saturday, 10-9. This time, it was in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
"We gave a good effort [Saturday]," coach Kerstin Kimel said. "But when you play in a conference as good as the ACC, you can't afford to make the mistakes we made out there and turn the ball over like we did.... It was just a tough game and a disappointing loss for us."
The Blue Devils trailed the Wahoos 10-7 with only 1:30 to play in the game, but two goals over the next minute cut the Virginia lead to one. Duke then controlled the ensuing draw and moved the ball up the field. Tricia Martin found an open Courtney Rodgers on the left side of the net with just five seconds remaining, but Cavalier goalie Francis Segarra blocked the final shot to preserve the victory for her team.
Virginia, which has won seven consecutive games, got on the board first when Jessica Hull received a pass at midfield and sprinted down the turf, netting a goal just 57 seconds into the contest.
The Blue Devils answered with 23:17 remaining in the first half on a free position score by Kelly Dirks. The Cavaliers returned the favor, notching four straight goals over the next 13:41 for a 5-1 lead.
"Virginia got some good goals early on," goalie Shannon Chaney said. "We took a timeout and made sure that we made them earn their shots every time."
Dirks converted another free position opportunity and Amy Noble netted her first of three goals on the day to cut the Wahoo lead to 5-3 with 6:05 left until half.
The two teams exchanged scores to start the second half before Duke rallied once more. Scores by Noble and Rodgers over a 1:13 span trimmed the Cavalier lead to only one at 8-7 with 19:19 to play.
The following 11 minutes may have been the difference in the game. Virginia stymied the Duke attack in its many efforts to even the score, as the teams traded chances to turn the tide of the game.
"That stretch was really just defense versus defense," Chaney said. "Neither offense seemed to play at 100 percent."
The Wahoos' Jamie Haas finally slid a shot past Chaney with 8:06 to play for the 9-7 lead on Virginia's first score in nearly 15 minutes.
Hull tacked on another score for the Cavaliers at the 5:44 mark, giving Virginia a 10-7 lead that Duke could not overcome.
"Virginia played great high-pressure defense," Kimel said. "It's one thing for Virginia to step up and strip us of the ball; it's another when we get the ball down there and don't catch a pass that's thrown right to us, or we throw a bad pass to an open player. And that happened to us too much on Saturday."
On this day, the Blue Devils were constantly hampered by little mistakes. Nearly everyone seemed to have trouble catching a pass cleanly, which often slowed the attack and sometimes led directly to a turnover.
"I thought our defense played really well," attacker Kate Kaiser said. "We made some tough turnovers, especially in the midfield. It seemed like Virginia had possession of the ball almost the whole game."
Draw controls were another key. When Duke got the ball near the net, it was usually successful in converting the score, but Virginia did not often allow that to happen.
"Obviously, we really needed to get more draw controls and pick up more ground balls in the midfield," Chaney said. "You have to get the ball before you can take it to the goal and score. We never really got in a good rhythm, but overall I thought we played pretty well."
Duke was once again denied its first win over Virginia and first ACC tournament victory. Virginia advanced to its third consecutive ACC championship game, but Maryland defeated the Wahoos 13-5 yesterday.
The Blue Devils return to action Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Davidson at the Duke Lacrosse Stadium.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.