Duke's wishes for a chance to advance to the second round of the ACC tournament were granted thanks to a certain freshman.
Katie Grant scored three consecutive goals for the Blue Devils and assisted on two more to lift Duke (13-7) 5-2 over Virginia (9-11). The Blue Devils are undefeated against the Cavaliers in 2002, having defeated them 4-2 earlier this season. Grant scored one goal in that contest.
"She certainly didn't look like a freshman," fourth-year head coach Liz Tchou said. "She's improved a lot since the beginning of the season on her skill and getting her shots off earlier in the circle and mixing it up. I'm really proud of her today... she was virtually unstoppable."
Her first unassisted score came at the 10:17 mark off a shot from right inside the circle. Just seven minutes later, the forward scored off a rebound after Virginia's goalkeeper Emily White dove to the ground to save a cross shot. Grant ran behind White and nailed the ball into an open goal from about ten feet out to build on Duke's early lead.
With 14 minutes left in the half, Grant almost found the goal a third time, when she dribbled through a pair of UVa defenders, but barely missed the goal.
Virginia managed to put some points on the board before the half, when Cara Unterkofler scored off an assist from Shannon La Vigne.
At the 43:45 mark Grant scored her third unassisted goal on a dribble past the goalie, tying her for the ACC Tournament individual single game goal record. It was also her eleventh goal in 2002.
The offense continued to revolved around Grant, when nearly horizontal with the goal, she found an open Kim Van Kirk who slapped the ball in the net for a 4-1 lead. Less than a minute and a half later, the two successfully executed the same exact play for Duke's fifth and final goal. For Van Kirk, it was her team-leading twelfth score on the season.
Virginia's Sara York countered with a score on a breakaway just over fourteen minutes later off an assist by Unterkofler.
"I'm kinda still surprised at my performance a little bit," Grant said. "I'm really happy that I can contribute to the team. We worked so well together and it wasn't just me, it was the passes that got to me and it was our whole team working together. It was just amazing to be out there and it was fun."
The Blue Devils certainly dominated from the opening minute of play, playing inspired hockey as they shut down the Cavalier attack and penetrated the Virginia defense with surprising ease.
Duke's strong defense was led by Kim Gogola and Suzanne Simpson, who had several key blocks throughout the course of the game. This is evidenced by the Blue Devils outshooting UVa 17-6 and having five more corner shots.
White notched five saves on the day, while Duke's freshman phenom Christy Morgan had two.
In the end, Virginia head coach Jessica Wilk had nothing but praise for the opponents.
"They're a very fundamentally sound team," she said. "They play well as a unit, they have good skill, they have good speed. Defensively, I thought they did a very nice job coming up with the ball. I think they're a very, very good team, so I think it's going to be a battle tomorrow."
The Blue Devils play top-seeded and No.3 Wake Forest Friday night at 7 p.m. at Williams Field. The Demon Deacons manhandled Duke earlier this season in Winston Salem, N.C. to the tune of a 3-0 shutout.
"We just all have to be mentally in the game [against Wake Forest] for 70 minutes," Gogola said. "It's going to be a battle, but I feel good about it. It's nice to have home field advantage."
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