CARY, N.C. - This time, the penalty kicks went to Virginia.
In Duke's Oct. 25 regular season matchup against the Cavaliers, the Blue Devils stole a 1-0 decision in overtime on a Mike Grella penalty kick.
But on Wednesday night in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Virginia used the momentum from its game-tying second penalty kick to take down the fifth-seeded Blue Devils 4-2 at WakeMed Soccer Park.
In a frenetic 90 minutes of play, Duke (10-7-2) could not overcome two tallies from Virginia penalty-taker Matt Poole and two late goals from forward Brian Ownby.
"Both teams were very intent," Duke head coach John Kerr said. "I thought we played well tonight. I thought our aggression and application on both sides of the ball-defensively and offensively-were very good. We made a couple of crucial errors at the end when we were chasing the game trying to get back into it."
The Cavaliers (10-7-1) converted their first penalty kick 18 minutes into the game after Poole drew a foul in the box. The second penalty was awarded in the second half after the referees whistled senior defender Darrius Barnes for a questionable foul in the box.
"It is what it is," Barnes said. "It's a game. Calls go your way, calls don't go your way."
The Blue Devils responded gallantly after dropping the first goal. Off of a set piece and a beautiful Grella cross in the 31st minute, Barnes found the ball amidst the scramble and headed the ball past the keeper into the net.
Six minutes later, Grella lit up the scoreboard himself. Taking the ball from midfielder Cole Grossman, Grella sprinted ahead, passing two defenders and drilling the ball past the goalkeeper into the right corner for his 14th goal of the season.
Grella, who was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year Tuesday, seemed to put on his own personal clinic of brilliant passes and circus shots.
"Grella played outstanding," Barnes said. "That was one of the best games I've ever seen him play. He was holding the ball for us, he was running at people, putting pressure on their back line. He was unlucky to not get a couple of the goals."
Despite Grella's inspired play, Duke's feverish offensive attack would not yield any goals after halftime.
"When we were 2-1 up, we didn't get that elusive third goal to really punish them," Kerr said.
The Cavaliers succeeded where the Blue Devils could not.
After converting the penalty kick, Virginia had a couple good serves overhead to Ownby, who twice maneuvered ahead of Barnes and senior Pavelid Castaneda in almost identical fashion to shoot the ball past goalie Brendan Fitzgerald.
And although the game resulted in a loss, Kerr insisted that this loss was different from Duke's other losses.
"We showed up," Kerr said. "We were here. We played well, and, you know, just a couple of mistakes in form, and we got punished... but the effort and the attitude were spot on tonight. I have no problems with the way we played tonight."
The Blue Devils' loss was also spotted with injuries. Already down senior defender Graham Dugoni and rookie Kyle Bethel for the season and defender Ian Kalis for the game, the Blue Devils saw injuries to Matt Thomas and Joseph Pak, dealing even more adversity to a team has had more than its fair share of setbacks this season.
But now, Duke has a longer opportunity to rest and recuperate before the season's final stretch begins.
"We'll have time for guys who are sick and injured to get some rest, get some rehab and get back on the field to play," Barnes said. "It's always bitter to lose a game like this. You always want to win championships, but the next tournament we're in is the biggest one of them all, so hopefully we can get everybody back... stay sharp and healthy, and make some noise in the NCAA tournament."
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