CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Talk to any coach and they will list at least one facet of their respective sport that separates the champions from the also-rans. Football and basketball coaches stress turnovers, baseball depends heavily on strong defense up the middle and in women's lacrosse, draw controls often dictate the level of a team's success.
At the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in Charlottesville this past weekend, it was indeed the draw controls that cost No. 10 Duke in its semifinal matchup versus third-ranked Virginia. The Cavaliers held a marked 13-4 advantage in draws, which translated to a 13-3 win, the same score by which they had downed the Blue Devils just eight days earlier.
"UVa did a great job of controlling the ball off the draw," said Duke coach Kerstin Kimel. "[Draw controls] are key for any team at this level-to be able to control the ball off the draw and then further possess it on their end. And [Virginia] did a great job."
In fact the Blue Devils only managed to control one draw in the first half-a statistic that surprised yet pleased Virginia coach Julie Myers.
"We got off to a great start," Myers said. "We won almost every draw, and that was a big factor for us today."
Unfortunately for Duke, its inability to control the draw was only one of several problems. It also had problems clearing the ball as well as picking up ground balls. The Blue Devils successfully cleared just 58 percent of the time, compared to UVa's 79 percent. On top of that, they were simply atrocious on ground balls; UVa collected 20 more for a marked 34-14 advantage. The biggest problem, though, was the offense-Duke managed only three goals on just 10 shot attempts.
"I would have liked to have had a better effort on offense," said Kimel, referring to her team's lackluster performance. "[Last week] we worked a lot on our offense and our transition. Our transition struggled in practice and it showed in the game. But give Virginia credit, we played into their hands."
The sloppy transition play was most evident at the beginning of the second half. Trailing 6-2 Duke had two easy fast breaks but blew both opportunities and the chance to cut the Cavalier lead to two.
Karen Sutton added a goal for Duke with 2:40 left in the first half on a run from the restraining line cutting the UVa lead to 6-2. Sutton picked up an assist when she fed Kate Soulier for Duke's third and final goal with 22 minutes left in the second.
Tricia Martin began the Duke scoring with an unassisted goal midway through the first. Her blast from the right side quelled a 4-0 run by the Cavaliers, but Duke would get no closer. UVa added back-to-back goals for a 6-1 lead before Sutton's goal capped the first half of scoring and cut the UVa lead to four.
Duke still has three games remaining before NCAA Tournament invitations are issued starting on the road against Richmond Wednesday.
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