Women's soccer loses key ACC contest to UVa in OT

The last time Virginia came to Koskinen Stadium was at last year's ACC tournament. The first-round matchup between the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils proved to be a memorable one that Duke won on penalty shots.

Saturday night's contest picked up where last year's left off. In an aggressive and fast-paced contest, No. 13 Virginia (11-2-1, 3-1 in the ACC) defeated unranked Duke 2-1 (5-8, 0-5). After the game, coach Robbie Church was more disappointed for his players than anything else.

"I'm very proud of this team," he said. "A lot of teams would've folded after starting out 0-4 [in the ACC], but these girls just keep trying. We've a very tough group, and we're just going to hang in there."

The first half was very offensively driven. Duke and Virginia traded a combined seven shots on goal, as both squads raced up and down the field trying to take the lead. The goalies exchanged outstanding saves to keep the game notched at zero. Virginia's Meredith Rhodes ended the stalemate with a goal with just six seconds remaining in the half. Her strike came off a deflected Virginia shot that left Duke goalkeeper Thora Helgadottir helpless on the ground. Rhodes knocked the ball into the open net to give UVa a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

The Blue Devils began the second half in a flurry, playing tough defense and inspired offense. They played so aggressively, in fact, that senior Katie Heaps drew a yellow card at the 50:20 mark.

Duke's hard work finally paid off in the 71st minute after two consecutive corner kicks for the Blue Devils. The first came in the 70th minute, when a header by junior Brigid Bowdell was booted away by the Cavaliers defense. Duke made good on the second corner, a minute later, when senior Kasey Truman blasted a header into the right side of the net to tie the Cavaliers at one goal apiece.

As the second half wore down, each squad had great shots on goal--a strike from Duke senior Sarah Pickens in the 85th minute struck the top left corner of the post and flew out of bounds. Virginia quickly countered with a point-blank shot in the 87th minute that soared over the goal.

Duke's best opportunity to win the game came on a perfect pass from freshman Casey McCluskey to Pickens. Collecting the ball in the box, Pickens was preparing to shoot when she was tripped from behind and fell, allowing UVa to clear the ball. No penalty was called.