Balanced Attack Leads No. 15 Duke to 15-9 Victory at Virginia Tech

Saturday, March 21

Blacksburg, VA

12 PM

Duke University

7-4,4-2

Virginia Tech

7-5,2-4

Duke

Virginia Tech

Photo by: Nat LeDonne / Duke Athletics

Balanced Attack Leads No. 15 Duke to 15-9 Victory at Virginia Tech

3/21/2026 3:05:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

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BLACKSBURG, Va. – A balanced attack by the Duke (7-4, 4-2 ACC) women's lacrosse team spearheaded the 15th-ranked Blue Devils to a 15-9 ACC road win over Virginia Tech (7-5, 2-4 ACC) Saturday afternoon at Thompson Field.

Sophomores Avery Doran and Sadie Stafford each notched hat tricks, with redshirt junior Ava Biancardi and freshman Quinn Whitaker tallying braces to lead nine different Duke goal scorers. The trio of redshirt junior Eva Pronti (4), junior Bella Goodwin (3) and Biancardi (2) combined for the Blue Devils' nine assists, with Pronti also posting a team-high five points on the day.

Junior Ellie White had a strong day at the draw circle with 10 draw controls – her sixth game this season with double-digit draw controls. Senior Madison Beale and sophomore Mabel Overbeck each produced a team-best two caused turnovers, while senior Sydney Smith scooped up a team-leading three ground balls. Redshirt freshman Hope Schoudel turned in a strong performance in the net for the Blue Devils with 10 stops to log her second double-digit save outing of the year.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Stafford opened the game scoring with a goal at the 12:47 mark of the first, then junior Caitlin Barrett found the back of the net just a minute later to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
Pronti connected with redshirt freshman Kaitlin Robinson for another Duke goal just past the midway point of the opening stanza, before finding Stafford shortly after for the sophomore's second goal of the period, extending the Duke advantage to four.
After being held scoreless by the Blue Devils for nearly 14 minutes of play, the Hokies broke through with a pair goals late in the period to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Blue Devils pushed their advantage back to four early in the second period courtesy of back-to-back strikes by Doran, with the scores assisted by Biancardi and Goodwin, respectively.
Virginia Tech responded with consecutive scores of its own, capitalizing on a man-up and free position opportunity to pull within two, 6-4.
Biancardi cashed in a goal with just under three minutes to play in the opening half to push the Blue Devils' edge back to three, with the redshirt junior receiving the feed from Pronti before going bar down to beat the VT keeper.
The Hokies were able to get one back at the 1:34 mark, however, cutting the Duke advantage to 7-5 at the break.
After a pair of tallies by the home team deadlocked the score at seven apiece, the Blue Devils countered with four unanswered to reclaim an 11-7 edge.
Pronti linked Biancardi for a strike to break the 7-7 tie, then Biancardi found Whitaker for a man-up goal at the 5:26 mark to give Duke a two-point lead.
Sophomore Maddie MacDonald added a free position goal two minutes later, before Whitaker slotted one into the back of the cage after scooping up the ground ball following her own free position attempt, extending the Blue Devil cushion to four with 1:08 left in the third.
The Hokies trimmed their deficit to three with a goal midway through the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils answered with two markers of their own to gain a five-point cushion – the largest of the game. Goodwin converted a free position shot, then found Stafford 90 seconds later for a score and a 13-8 Duke lead.
Virginia Tech got one back at the 2:29 mark, but the Blue Devils iced the game with late tallies by Doran and Pronti to secure the 15-9 victory.

NOTES:

Duke improves to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in ACC play this season, while Virginia Tech drops to 7-5 and 2-4 in conference action.
The Blue Devils push their lead to 26-4 in the all-time series against the Hokies, including an 11-1 mark in road games.
Head coach Kerstin Kimel earns her 371st career victory and her 367th win at Duke.
The Blue Devils featured nine different goal scorers against the Hokies – Avery Doran (3), Sadie Stafford (3), Ava Biancardi (2), Quinn Whitaker (2), Caitlin Barrett (1), Bella Goodwin (1), Maddie MacDonald (1), Kaitlin Robinson (1) and Eva Pronti (1).
Doran posted her seventh hat trick of the season, while tallied her third.
With her 10 draw controls against Virginia Tech Saturday, Ellie White eclipsed 200 career draw controls and now owns 209 as a Blue Devil. White becomes just the fifth Duke player all-time to reach the benchmark.
Pronti dished out a team-best four assists and finished with a team-high five points against Virginia Tech. The redshirt junior has five games this season with four-plus dimes and has finished with at least five points six times.
Netminder Hope Schoudel recorded her second game this season with double-digit saves, finishing with 10 stops against the Hokies. She improves her ledger to 7-4 on the year.
Quinn Whitaker scooped up a career-high two ground balls against VT while Sydney Smith matched her career high with three ground balls.
Kaitlin Robinson scored a goal for the second straight game and now has two in three games played this season.

UP NEXT:
The Blue Devils continue their road swing with a trip to Elon for a Mar. 23 non-conference tilt against the Phoenix. Opening draw is set for 5 p.m., with the game streaming on FloCollege.

For more information on Duke women's lacrosse, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeWLAX."

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