The field hockey team ended its regular season on a mixed note.
Duke (13-6, 1-3 in the ACC) defeated Richmond (9-9) 4-1 Friday in Richmond but went down to Virginia (12-6, 1-3) 3-2 in overtime yesterday afternoon in Charlottesville. The loss ends a six-game winning streak.
The two ACC foes entered overtime tied at 2-2. Despite their strong effort, the Blue Devils couldn't score, and UVa put the game away with a goal off a penalty corner.
"They have a really good overtime team," junior back Courtney Sommer said. "They have a lot of speed on their team and they have a really dangerous corner. So we wanted to come out and win it early and get corners.
"It was a tough battle and somebody had to win. They scored on a corner. It was a tough loss."
In the first half, the Cavaliers shut out the Blue Devils, who produced only one shot and gave up two goals.
"I thought the first half, we were flat," coach Liz Tchou said. "UVa came out very strong and were very energized."
After halftime, the Blue Devils came back with a vengeance. In the middle of the second half, senior Corey Ceccolini and freshman Chrissy Ashley both scored. During the final 20 minutes of play, Duke managed to hold off Virginia but failed to take the lead itself.
"We came out and definitely needed to pick it up," Tchou said. "We came back from a two-goal deficit and I was really happy with that. We played much stronger and had a much better passing game. We had our chances after we scored our second goal to score a third goal."
However, the the sting of the loss was somewhat offset by Duke's win against Richmond Friday afternoon. Duke ignited the offense early in the first half as junior Keri Dunn scored the first goal only seven minutes into the game. Ceccolini followed with a goal only five minutes later to put the Blue Devils up 2-0.
As the Blue Devil defense proceeded to shut out the Spiders the first half, Richmond could not muster enough consistency and momentum to mount an effective offense.
The second half remained scoreless until a burst of activity in the final 10 minutes. Ceccolini and Dunn both scored again to put Duke up 4-1.
"We did well," Tchou said. "We really took it to them."
Duke will have another chance to take on UVa this week at the ACC tournament. The Blue Devils play Thursday at 4 p.m. at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium.
"They're pretty upset and disappointed about today's match against UVa," Tchou said of her players. "So I really think they're going to come out strong Thursday. We're pretty angry about the game."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.