In ACC lacrosse, there's Virginia, and then there's everyone else.
The No. 2 Cavaliers (8-1) clinched the ACC regular season title with a 15-10 win over No. 11 Duke (5-5) Saturday in Charlottesville. Virginia finished 3-0 in the conference, while Maryland, North Carolina and Duke all concluded 1-2.
Virginia extended its winning streak to seven games by scoring the last four goals of the contest. Duke was down 11-8 heading into the fourth quarter, but goals by Duke midfielders Dan Chemotti and Kevin Cassese cut the deficit to one with 12:42 to go.
Instead of panicking, Virginia put the Blue Devils away. Virginia midfielder Trey Whitty stole a Duke pass and fed a streaking Nick Russo. Russo bounced a shot past goalie A.J. Kincel and made the score 12-10. This goal was followed by freshman Jared Little two minutes later. Russo and Whitty finished off the scoring, extending the final margin to five.
The result was not that surprising--the Cavaliers have beaten the Blue Devils nine of the past 11 games, and 23 out of the last 25 times in Charlottesville. What was surprising was Virginia's 15-goal outburst. Before Saturday, the most goals Duke had given up this season was 11, and in the past eight games of the series, both teams had held each other to 12 goals or less. But Virginia used 10 different goal scorers to break through the barrier this time.
"Every game, we try to hold a team to single-digits," attackman Kevin Brennan said. "We gave up a few more than we wanted to."
Duke took its only lead of the game just over two minutes after play began when Michael Satyshur scored his first goal of the season. The Blue Devils' success quickly ended as the Cavaliers scored the next five goals. Virginia would extend its lead to 9-4, but Duke scored twice just before intermission to make the halftime score 9-6.
"We came out ready to play," Brennan said. "They put a couple goals on us early but we fought our way back. We chipped away at the lead goal-by-goal just like we wanted to, but we just couldn't close the gap all the way."
Duke dominated the face-off circle, gaining possession 22-of-28 times. But this advantage was negated by Cavalier goalkeeper Tillman Johnson, who recorded a season-high 14 saves.
"Tillman is playing the way Tillman is supposed to play," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "He's one of the top goalies in the country. I'm not trading him for anybody. We just expect this kind of play out of Tillman."
Duke's next opponent will be determined Monday, when a blind draw will decide who receives the bottom three seeds for next weekend's ACC tournament in Durham. Regardless of seed, Duke will play Friday night at 8:30. In all likelihood, the Blue Devils will need at least one win to remain in contention for a postseason bid.
"Despite this loss, we still control our own destiny," Brennan said. "It's hard to keep the winner of the ACC Tournament out of the national tournament."
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