April 14, 2008

By Megan McDonald Cavalier Daily

April 14, 2008

Charlottesville, VA (UWIRE) -- Saturday night's record-breaking crowd of 8,000 began its exodus from Klöckner Stadium in the middle of the fourth quarter as the Duke men's lacrosse team prepared to hand the University of Virginia a 19-9 defeat, the Cavaliers' worst home loss in 21 years.

Having battled back to tie the game 9-all in the middle of the third, No. 3 Virginia (10-2, 1-2 ACC) appeared stunned by the Blue Devils' subsequent 10-goal spurt. After the game, Virginia coach Dom Starsia highlighted several areas where No. 2 Duke (12-1, 3-0 ACC) excelled.

"They are so good with the ball on the ground," Starsia said. "I really felt like that's where the game was won and lost, with the ball on the ground. Also, they were just so slick around the cage, and defensively we weren't as smart as we needed to be throughout the game. They took advantage of every unsettled opportunity."

From the first face-off, the game was one of shifting momentum. Duke scored just 16 seconds in and then proceeded to quickly score two more for a total of three goals in the first five minutes.

While initially the Blue Devils appeared to be running circles around Virginia, the Cavaliers settled down midway through the first period and slowly chipped away at Duke's lead. Early in the second, senior attackman Ben Rubeor tied the game four all.

Virginia never took the lead, however, and by halftime, four quick goals by the Blue Devils -- including three by senior attackman Max Quinzani -- sent them into the locker room ahead 8-4.

In the second half, the Cavaliers battled back as five different Virginia players -- sophomore Brian Carroll, junior Steve Giannone, seniors Peter Lamade and Will Barrow and junior Garrett Billings - scored to tie the game at 9-all.

"At that point I turned around to the other coaches and said 'Boy I don't know about this one,'" Duke coach John Danowski said. "They had the momentum and the huge crowd and they had us on our heels, there is no doubt about that."

The momentum shifted yet again, though, and stayed with Duke for the remainder of the contest. The night ended with Virginia suffering its first nighttime loss at Klöckner ever.

Saturday night's defeat drops Virginia to the third seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament behind Duke and Maryland. North Carolina rounds out the conference with the fourth seed.

Saturday's loss was particularly hard for Lamade. Having graduated last May from Duke, he chose to play at Virginia while pursuing a graduate degree in education. Last week, Lamade said he thought the game would be a weird experience, and Saturday he confirmed it was as strange as he had anticipated.

Duke senior Nick O'Hara, a good friend of Lamade, spent the majority of the game covering the Cavalier midfielder, and Lamade said O'Hara heckled him good-naturedly the whole time.

"The whole game my buddies were staying stuff to me, but that is to be expected -- it was all good-natured because I did not leave on any bad blood," Lamade said. "This is the worst we have lost all year, and that's really why the loss hurts -- not the fact that I was beaten by all my friends."

(C) 2008 Cavalier Daily via UWIRE