In their semifinal ACC Championship matchup on Friday, Virginia (12-4, 2-2 in the ACC) dominated the game early and, never relinquishing their lead, defeated Duke 12-9. Playing in Charlottesville, Va., the Cavaliers controlled the tempo of the game and dominated the time of possession to tire the defense of the Blue Devils (11-3, 2-2).
Virginia's Cary Chasney opened the scoring 3:29 into the contest. The goal came in transition after a Duke turnover was picked up by Kim Connors. She then advanced the ball to Lauren Aumiller who then fed Chasney for the tally.
Next, Virginia's Lauri Kenis intercepted a Blue Devil pass leading to another scoring opportunity for the Cavaliers. Amy Appelt was fouled driving to the net and scored from the 8-meter mark.
Continuing to be patient on offense and careful with the ball, Virginia put two more shots in the back of the net. Head coach Kersten Kimel was forced to call a timeout at the 9:18 mark.
"We were kind of sitting back defensively and not being aggressive," Kimel said. "We are really good defensively when we are the aggressor but we were just sitting back. We were turning the ball over in uncontested situations and weren't being smart."
Down 4-0, another concern for the Blue Devils was a number of careless turnovers on offense. The mistakes, along with the careful and calculated Virginia attack, were putting a lot of pressure on the Blue Devil defense.
"The first half we just didn't have the ball," Kimel said. "Its hard to ask our defense to play that hard against such a good offense both physically and mentally."
Duke came out of the timeout and quickly cut into the Virginia lead. Katie Chrest scored from the top of the circle for the Blue Devils' first goal. Then,Katie Laschinger fed Lauren Gallagher from behind the net for her first of four goals on the afternoon.
Virginia added two more scores before halftime, however, going into the intermission with a four goal advantage.
"When we went into halftime I felt like our group was just down," Kimel said. "The last 15 minutes I felt we had a great comeback."
As they did after the timeout, the Blue Devils looked like they were prepared to mount a charge in the early moments of the second period. Gallagher scored just 28 seconds into the half as Duke pulled to within three.
Still, Virginia held a 12-6 advantage with 4:34 remaining in the contest. The Blue Devils would go on to score three times in the next 96 seconds, however, Virginia was able to take enough time off the clock and prevent the Blue Devils from pulling any closer.
While the loss was disappointing for the Blue Devils, they understand that the pains of Friday can be erased with a trip to the final four in May.
"We now realize that we cant assume anything and we have to be ready to play anybody at any time," senior captain Kate Kaiser said.
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