Seniors Lift No. 4 Duke Over No. 10 Virginia In Regular Season Finale

Saturday, October 28

Durham, N.C.

1:00 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Duke Opens Sixth In Sports Academy Directors? Cup Standings

Seniors Lift No. 4 Duke Over No. 10 Virginia In Regular Season Finale

10/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - The fourth-ranked Duke field hockey team closed out the regular season on Saturday at Williams Field with a 3-1 win over 10th-ranked Virginia, as three of four seniors playing in their last home game netted goals.

Duke got on the board at the 21:15 mark as senior Liz Floyd netted her first goal of the season to get things started for the Blue Devils. Sophomore Laura Suchoski tallied her fifth assist of the year on the play, as Duke went up, 1-0.

A penalty corner allowed Duke a scoring opportunity in the closing seconds of the first half, and senior Amy Stopford was able to convert and give the Blue Devils a 2-0 advantage going into the halftime break. The goal, scored off assists from freshman Brooke Patterson and junior Courtney Elliott, was Stopford's 12th of the season.

Duke's third goal came at the 43:35 mark, as senior Cara-Lynn Lopresti found the net for the fifth time this season on a rebounded shot to increase the Blue Devils' advantage to 3-0.

Virginia's Fenna Breitbarth slipped a shot past junior Blue Devil keeper Caitlin Williams with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest to put the Cavaliers on the board and make the score 3-1, but Duke's stellar defense would prevail once again and the Blue Devils came away with the 3-1 victory.

“I thought we were dominant in both halves,” said head coach Beth Bozman, who picked up her 70th win at the helm of the Blue Devils today. “We've been working on a game plan for this team and we knew that if we executed that plan, we would have an outcome like this. I thought we executed very well.”

Williams recorded two saves on the day, while Cavalier keeper Katherine Blair picked up three saves. Duke got off 18 shot attempts while allowing Virginia to just three attempts on the day, and the Blue Devils outcornered the Cavaliers, 9-3. Duke has been victorious in the last seven meetings with the Cavaliers.

Virginia falls to 12-5 (1-4 ACC) with the loss, as Duke improves to 14-4 (3-2 ACC). The 3-2 mark in conference play ties for the best regular-season ACC record in Duke field hockey history, as the Blue Devils equaled their win total in ACC action from 2005.

Today's game marked four seniors' final home game - Liz Floyd, Cara-Lynn Lopresti, Amy Stopford and Hilary Linton - as all three of Duke's goals were scored by seniors. Stellar defensive efforts were also provided by the Class of 2007.

Next up for Duke will be the ACC Tournament, held Nov. 2-5 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Quarterfinal action will begin on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 1 and 4 p.m., with semifinal play set for Friday at 4 and 7 p.m. The championship game will take place on Sunday at noon. Seedings for the tournament will be announced on Monday.

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