Heading into Saturday's contest at Virginia, No. 11 Duke was looking to build off a four-game winning streak and take momentum into postseason play.
Instead, the Blue Devils (11-7, 1-4 in the ACC) came out slow and lethargic, falling to the Cavaliers (10-8, 1-4) by the count of 5-3 Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville in front of a season-high crowd.
"I don't think we played well," head coach Beth Bozman said. "We had a pretty specific gameplan and if we had executed the gameplan we would have been fine. Everyone's taking responsibility for the loss."
From the beginning, Duke was playing catch-up.
Virginia scored two quick goals to take a 2-0 lead with just under 11 minutes left. The Blue Devils were able to claw back, though, as they notched a pair of goals in just over a minute to tie the game heading into halftime.
The Cavaliers broke the game open at the beginning of the second half, getting goals from Haley Carpenter and Kaars Sijpesteijn to put Duke in a 4-2 hole. And after Blue Devil sophomore Amie Survilla converted a short corner for her second goal of the afternoon, Virginia's Traci Ragukas slammed in a goal just 33 seconds later. Duke had two more short corner opportunities but could not put them into the net.
"The whole team was really slow," Survilla said. "We kind of didn't think that UVA was good as they were. We thought that because we were Duke, we would win."
Statistically, the Blue Devils had 14 shots and eight corners. But they were unable to turn enough of those chances into an advantage on the scoreboard.
The loss drops the Blue Devils into a three-way tie for last place in the ever-competitive ACC. Seeding for the tournament will occur following games on Oct. 28.
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