BALTIMORE - In the ACC title game Sunday, the No. 1 Blue Devils trailed going into halftime for only the second time this season. But unlike its 11-10 comeback win over Notre Dame April 9, Duke fell apart in the second period and was unable to mount a charge to capture its second-straight ACC Championship.
First-seeded Duke (15-2, 4-2 in the ACC) was down 5-4 at halftime to second-seeded Virginia (15-3, 6-1). After the break, the Cavaliers took advantage of a 6-0 scoring run to topple the Blue Devils, 13-8.
"It's a combination of the things they do really well defensively, meaning they pretty much swarmed ball-side," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "And it's a combination of that style of playing defensively and we really didn't execute our game-plan offensively."
The Cavaliers handed the Blue Devils their only other loss on the season, 11-10, April 1.
"We didn't think we handled [Virginia's defense] very well the first time we played and our game-plan was to try do something different to combat it but we never really got there in our game," Kimel said.
The beginning of the second half Sunday was a disaster for the Blue Devils. Virginia controlled the ball in Duke's defensive zone for the majority of the half, which helped generate six straight goals for the Cavaliers in the first 20 minutes after the break.
Patiently swinging the ball around the Blue Devils' defensive arc early in the second half, the Cavaliers' attackers found senior midfielder Kim Connors. With an open shot, Connors rifled the ball into the back of the net for her team's first score of the half to put Virginia ahead, 6-4.
Virginia's offensive pressure did not let up. After Duke midfielder Carolyn Davis received a yellow card in the her own defensive zone on a check to the head of Virginia midfielder Blair Weymouth, the Cavalier freshman blasted a free possession shot past senior goalie Megan Huether to extend the lead to 7-4.
Weymouth and Virginia senior attacker Tyler Leachman, the tournament MVP, combined for the next four goals to cap the run and put Virginia ahead, 11-4. Weymouth tied an ACC title-game record with six goals on the game, and Leachman broke the ACC Championship record with 11 goals in the tournament.
The Blue Devils advanced to the title game after rolling over fourth-seeded Maryland Friday. Duke used a 7-1 scoring run in the second half to pull away and win, 19-9. Senior attacker Katie Chrest netted the 200th goal of her career and Huether recorded her 600th career save in the game.
Duke, however, was unable to mount a similar charge Sunday. In the time that the Cavaliers scored six straight goals in the second half, Duke managed just five shots.
"We weren't patient at all," Kimel said. "I felt like we forced lots of bad shots. We took a lot of high outside shots, which is not the best part of our game."
The Duke attack was not much more prolific in the first half. Even though the offense was able to effectively control the ball in the Virginia end of the field, the Blue Devils only registered four goals-matching their season low from the contest against Notre Dame for goals in a half.
Duke still had an opportunity to enter halftime tied. But with ten seconds remaining, the Cavaliers' Leachman single-handedly outmaneuvered the Duke defense and slipped a shot past Huether to take a one goal lead.
Virginia closed the second half by adding two Leachman goals to its earlier run. The Blue Devils managed to cut the lead on a pair of goals from freshman attacker Megan del Monte and scores from Leigh Jester, Davis and Chrest, but the desperate charge was too late.
Duke plays its final regular season game in preparation for the NCAA Tournament against Dartmouth Sunday. The NCAAs begin May 14, with Duke likely starting at home.
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