The Blue Devils got behind early Saturday and couldn't make up the deficit after halftime.
Thanks to a ferocious 5-0 run in the first half, No. 8 Virginia defeated No. 4 Duke 13-10 at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The Blue Devils' first loss of the season prevented the squad from matching the program's first 10-0 start since 2006.
“Virginia played a great game today and executed a great game plan against us,” head coach Kerstin Kimel told GoDuke.com “We didn’t put ourselves in a position to respond the way I think we’re capable of playing. It’s unfortunate.”
The Blue Devils (9-1, 3-1 in the ACC) took an early 1-0 lead as freshman attacker Kyra Harney broke the deadlock 64 seconds after the opening faceoff.
However, the Cavaliers (6-4, 1-2) turned the game around by netting five goals in a seven-minute span. Virginia, just the second opponent to reach double-digits this season against Duke, was not going to look back for the rest of the clash.
Harney reduced the four-goal deficit with 12:22 left in the first half on a pass from senior midfieler Erin Tenneson. One minute later, freshman Kasey Behr registered her 17th goal of the season to stretch the Cavaliers’ lead again. Junior midfielder Maddy Acton notched a goal for the Blue Devils with 8:33 to play before halftime but senior Casey Bocklet responded with a score for the Cavaliers 30 seconds later, sending Virginia into the locker room with a commanding 7-3 lead.
Veterans Bocklet and Courtney Swan carried the Virginia offense in the first half, combining for five goals and one assist.
Despite making things interesting in the second half, the Blue Devils couldn’t cut into the deficit.
Swan scored her third goal of the afternoon with 28:23 to play in the closing period and junior attacker Kelly Boyd found the back of the net one and a half minutes later to stretch Virginia’s lead to 9-3.
These two goals put the Blue Devils in a deep hole and three veterans—seniors Tenneson, Kerrin Maurer and Chelsea Landon—stepped up to put a 4-0 run on the board in an eight-minute span to get back within striking distance.
It was suddenly a two-goal game, and Duke appeared to have the momentum.
But the Cavaliers netted two more goals in less than two minutes to give Virginia an 11-7 lead with 10:41 left. Despite outscoring Virginia 3-2 in the last nine minutes of the contest with one goal and one assist by Maurer, Duke’s second-half surge wasn’t enough to recover from a sluggish first half.
“We just had a lot of mental errors today that we can’t afford to make when we’re in ACC play,” Kimel said. “We’ve got to make sure that we get back in the saddle this week and we right that ship quickly heading into Syracuse next weekend.”
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