CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Blue Devils' success throughout the season has largely been attributed to their offensive talent-namely, Matt Danowski, Zack Greer and Max Quinzani. But when Virginia was able to stymie Duke's heralded attack in the ACC title game, the Blue Devils found themselves relying on a familiar, although sometimes forgotten, player.
Yes, the voters got it right. The ACC tournament's Most Valuable Player was goalie Dan Loftus, and his play was the difference between Duke's second straight ACC tournament championship and what could have been a disastrous meltdown in Sunday's contest.
"We kind of take it for granted how well he plays sometimes," Danowski said. "He made some great stops in close-stops that really changed the momentum of the game."
The Cavaliers outshot Duke 47-39, with more than half of their shots landing on target. But the senior turned away Virginia time and time again-collecting 17 stops in all-which allowed the Blue Devils to build what proved to be an insurmountable lead. The Cavaliers dominated virtually every statistical category in the first half, generating golden opportunities off busted Duke clears and 9-of-12 faceoff wins. When halftime rolled around, though, the Blue Devils were ahead 7-3, and Loftus was the reason.
On more than one occasion, the Cavaliers fired a shot that seemed so destined for the back of the net that the Virginia faithful had already risen to its feet to start celebrating. But too often for the host team, the cheers quickly turned into disappointing sighs as Loftus somehow produced yet another save.
As Duke started to pull away in the second quarter, Loftus kept Virginia at bay with two remarkable stops. After Cavalier attackman Shamel Bratton dodged from the right side and came free directly in front of the cage, he whipped it low, but Loftus made himself big and managed to block it with his foot. Just a few minutes later, Virginia bounced one from a couple yards away in hopes of squeezing it between the goalie's legs. Instead, the senior got his stick to the ball and knocked it down into the dirt just several inches short of the goal line.
"They could have gone on even more of a run than they went on without him making stops in the cage like that," Danowski said. "He's well deserving of tournament MVP, and he should have been All-ACC, in my mind."
Even in the nail-biting fourth quarter, when the Cavaliers nearly completed a ferocious comeback that fell just two goals short of erasing an 11-3 Duke lead, Loftus made just enough plays to help the Blue Devils hold on.
Playing with a tremendous amount of momentum, Virginia converted on all three of its man-up opportunities. But Loftus did register two saves in the final period, and his presence in the cage forced the Cavaliers to take some tough shots, including two that were meant for the corners but caromed off the posts.
When the game was finally over, Loftus was just happy to celebrate the tournament victory with the rest of his team.
"It was pretty stressful. I think anybody would be lying to you if they said they weren't a little nervous," he said. "I'm just proud of the team.... I just came out here today and do what I usually do."
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