Duke Falls to Virginia in ACC Semifinals, 16-12

Friday, April 23

College Park, Md.

5:00 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia (Semifinals)

Men's Lacrosse: No. 4 Duke vs. No. 2 Virginia, ACC Semifinals

Duke Falls to Virginia in ACC Semifinals, 16-12

4/23/2010 7:00:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Duke men's lacrosse team had its six-game ACC Tournament winning streak snapped as top-seeded and second-ranked Virginia upended the fourth-seeded and No. 4 Blue Devils, 16-12, in the semifinals of the 2010 event at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. Duke had won the previous three league tournament championships.

Duke falls to 11-4 on the year while Virginia improves to 12-1. The Blue Devils had won the previous eight meetings with the Cavaliers including a 13-9 decision last Saturday night in Charlottesville.

"Obviously we're disappointed with the result today," head coach John Danowski said. "We lost to a very good Virginia team and my hat goes off to them for their effort out there. We still have one game left in the regular season so it's time to go back and get ready for our game against Sacred Heart."

Zach Howell spearheaded the Duke attack with three goals and one assist while Ned Crotty handed out four assists. Parker McKee scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls.

Shamel Bratton led the Cavaliers with three goals and two assists while Chris Bocklet added three goals. In goal, Virginia's Adam Ghitelman was credited with 12 saves.

The first half was a flurry of goals as the two top-five squads combined for 16 goals in an opening 30 minutes that featured four ties and three lead changes. The Blue Devils and Cavaliers traded four-goal runs in the first quarter to head into the first break even at four apiece.

The Blue Devils got off to a fast start, going ahead 4-0 before the Cavaliers responded with four unanswered. The game's first tally came from the stick of senior Steve Schoeffel off a feed from Crotty from behind the cage. Just over two minutes later, Crotty threaded the needle again, finding senior Michael Catalino on the doorstep for the 2-0 advantage at the 10:09 mark. Duke seniors Will McKee and Jonathan Livadas both added goals to make it a 4-0 game before Virginia started its run.

Virginia grabbed its first point of the game at the 4:45 mark with Matt White finishing a pass from Brian Carroll. Just eight seconds later, Brian McDermott hooked up with Chris LaPierre to make it 4-2 and Rhamel Bratton got his first score of the game two minutes later to pull within one. The Cavaliers closed out the first session with White earning his second marker of the evening to tie the game.

Riding a four-goal run, Virginia added a fifth unanswered from Shamel Bratton just 1:18 in the second quarter before Duke senior Max Quinzani tied the game with a low shot past Ghitelman with 10:46 remaining in the first half. Duke sophomore Robert Rotanz gave the Blue Devils a 6-5 lead four minutes later with an unassisted effort.

The furious scoring pace continued as the two teams combined for five goals in a span in the final 4:59. The Cavaliers posted four of the five tallies to take a 9-7 advantage into the locker room. Bocklet tallied two of the goals to key the final spurt.

Virginia came out of halftime and garnered its largest lead of the contest with an unassisted goal from Rhamel Bratton. After being held scoreless for 9:20, Quinzani pulled the Blue Devils within two as he handily slipped a behind-the-back shot past Ghitelman for his second score of the contest.

The Cavalier offense continued to roll, adding a pair of unanswered scores to stretch its lead to four, 12-8 with 3:48 left in the third quarter. Duke garnered the last possession of the third quarter, but could not connect as it headed into the final session trailing by four.

Sporting a 2-3 record this season when trailing after three quarters, the Blue Devils were unable to stop the Cavalier offense. Virginia opened the fourth quarter with three goals in the opening 3:31 to go ahead by six, 14-8. Howell scored from 12 yards out at the 6:58 mark to pull Duke within five goals, but Shamel Bratton answered just over two minutes later for the Cavaliers.

Ghitelman tossed in a 60-yard empty net goal with 4:21 on the clock to push the Cavalier advantage to 16-9. Quinzani fed Schoeffel for a goal at the 1:58 mark to make the score 16-10, and nine seconds later, Sam Payton found the back of the net to trim the lead to five goals.

Howell's third marker of the day came with 43 seconds remaining and accounted for the final margin.

Virginia's play at the face-off X was instrumental as the Cavaliers won 22-of-32 draws. Individually, McDermott won 16-of-18 restarts while contributing one goal and five ground balls. The Wahoos also converted 18-of-19 clear opportunities and scored on both of their man-advantage chances.

The Cavaliers tallied their 16 goals on just 30 shots while the Blue Devils managed 12 goals on 36 shot attempts.

In the Duke net, starter Dan Wigrizer made five saves in 44:43 of action while backup Mike Rock had three saves in 15:17.

Duke will close out the 2010 regular season at home against Sacred Heart on May 9 at 2 p.m.