CARY -- Eleventh-ranked Virginia advanced to the second round of the ACC tournament Thursday, literally pummeling Duke 4-1.
An absolute slobberknocker of a contest, the game was fought evenly in the first half as the two sides played to a 1-1 tie at halftime. The final 45 minutes were very different, however, as Virginia slide-tackled, punched, kicked, clawed, thwacked, mauled and squashed Duke into submission. The second half was as cordial as a Mike Tyson-Tonya Harding-Lorena Bobbit slumber party.
And though the Cavaliers avoided chomping on ears, breaking knees or severing appendages, Virginia thrived on extremely rough play which added up to 23 fouls, five yellow cards and one red card.
"I wouldn't say [the played] as much rough as dirty," senior co-captain Donald McIntosh said. "These guys, they come out here and I think over 50 percent of the time they're not even going after the ball, and it's just frustrating. I'm just trying to go out there and play the game of soccer, and these guys aren't even trying to play."
The Blue Devils were clearly frustrated throughout the game, but stayed even by matching the Cavaliers' aggressiveness.
"First half we matched Virginia step-for-step," Owoicho Adogwa said. "They gave us an elbow, we gave them an elbow back."
An elbow for an elbow, a goal for a goal. At least, that's how it went in the first half when Adogwa tied the game with a masterful goal in the 36th minute.
Virginia retaliated with two quick goals in the second half, breaking Duke's spirits, although they appeared to be trying to break everything but.
"It was a very physical game, let me put it that way," head coach John Rennie said. "If it was handled in the first half [by the referees], I think it would have settled down. But it got out of hand."
The closest Duke came to losing its cool was in the second half when Adogwa hit Jacob LeBlanc in the face with an inadvertent elbow while jockeying for possession of the ball. No foul was called on the play, much to the chagrin of senior Kenny Arena, who followed the referee around yelling and waving his arms. When play resumed, Adogwa was advancing with the ball directly in front of the Duke sideline when Arena chased him down from behind and thrust his right forearm into his back, shoving Adogwa onto the ground.
Adogwa immediately jumped up, only to find Cavalier Matt Oliver in his face. Duke's bench erupted, but maintained its composure as the team attempted to pacify Adogwa and Oliver, who were jawing at each other in an ugly manner. Rennie ran onto the field, making certain that his players avoided the fray.
"I was just concerned with our guys getting away from that and not getting dragged down to that level," Rennie said.
UVa's final infraction came in the 82nd minute, when a red card was expeditiously awarded to Sean Feeney after he shoved McIntosh onto the ground while he was trying to get back on his feet.
Asked to comment on his team's belligerent play, UVa coach George Gelnovatch spoke succinctly and unashamedly, shrugging off culpability by saying that such physical play was typical for the caliber of competitiveness in the ACC.
"I don't think my team's dirty," he said.
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