Virginia’s lax team has not fared very well against Duke in the past several years, and going into this game the Hoos had lost nine of the last ten in the series.
Duke was up 1 at halftime and then Rhamel Bratton scored his 16th goal of the season to begin the second half to tie things up. But, the second half belonged to the Blue Devils, and their talented sophomore goalie Dan Wigrizer came up huge for Duke.
Now, Virginia has lost ten of the last eleven to the Blue Devils, and Virginia has dropped 3 of the last 4 games this season.
Virginia’s leading scorer Steele Stanwick is injured, and Coach Dom Starsia chose to rest Stanwick against Duke in order for him to get healthy for the postseason (which starts next weekend). Colin Briggs scored 4 goals for the Hoos on eight shots. Chris Bocklet and Chris LaPierre both scored two goals on the afternoon.
Duke’s Robert Rotanz scored 4 goals on 6 shots, and Zach Howell added 2 goals and 1 assist for the Blue Devils.
The statistics were very even for the game, and Duke’s goalie Wirgrizer only made eleven saves, but many of them were point-blank stops that frustrated the Hoos, and fired-up his teammates. Virginia’s crease defense was not solid (again), and did not give goalie Adam Ghitelman (12 saves) much of a chance on the afternoon.
Virginia (8-4) returns to action next weekend also down in Durham in the opening round of the 2011 ACC Tournament. The Hoos will get another opportunity to beat Duke (10-4) on Friday.