Durham, N.C. — The Virginia men’s lacrosse came across a road block in its undefeated season in Durham, as Duke defeated the Cavaliers 15-10 Saturday. The Blue Devils have won their last six meetings against the Cavaliers.
Duke is “a good lacrosse team. They have been very good the last few years; they are very good again this year,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “We’ve lost some close games to them; we’ve lost some games that haven’t been so close.”
The key of the game, senior defenseman Matt Kelly said, came down to speed and hustle.
“To be honest, they out-hustled us to the ball — the loose balls,” Kelly said. “We got mixed up on a couple things defensively.”
Though the Cavaliers (11-1, 2-1 ACC) recovered 35 ground balls to 31 by the Blue Devils (9-3, 2-1 ACC), Starsia said he felt it was a level of effort and toughness that his team lacked that cost them the game.
“The only piece I’m really disappointed in is that Duke made most of the tough plays,” Starsia said.
The game stayed within Virginia’s reach for the first half of the game, as the Cavaliers faced only a 6-3 deficit at halftime. As the third quarter started, though, Duke began to pile on.
“We came out in the second half on the back of our heels,” Kelly said.
The Blue Devils won three face-offs to start the second half and converted the possessions to three straight goals, bringing the score to 9-3.
Virginia got its first possession of the game with 10 minutes left in the third quarter and managed to make it interesting. The Cavaliers scored three consecutive times, two from senior attackman Danny Glading.
“I thought we had some chances to get back into it,” Starsia said. “I thought we showed some glimmers. But we just weren’t tough enough [Saturday] to sustain that for 60 minutes — too many mistakes.”
Though Glading notched four goals, it was not enough to dig the Cavaliers out of the hole they fell into during the third quarter. After Virginia’s three-goal run, Duke once again usurped control of the game, scoring five times in a row.
“You have to be tough the whole game; you have to be willing to take that extra step,” Glading said. “I think we continue to rush things the way we have been rushing things the past couple weeks.”
One of the indications of this rushed play came in the form of poor shots from Virginia compared to efficient shot selection by Duke. The Cavaliers outshot the Blue Devils 43-28 but still found themselves behind the Blue Devils by five when the final whistle blew.
“I give credit first and foremost to Duke,” Starsia said. “I thought they were flying around really on top of the game.”
Duke will face Army on senior night Saturday. Virginia will get another chance to face Duke, however; with the loss, the Cavaliers are now the three-seed in the ACC Tournament and will play the two-seed Blue Devils in the first round.
“I have to look at this one again to kind of pull this one apart, to see if there are things we want to fix and see whether or not there are things in terms determining the pace of play we want to adjust a little bit,” Starsia said. “I would just say in general, though, that we can play better.”
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