Second-Ranked Blue Devils Suffer First Loss of the Season to No. 4 Virginia 11-10

Saturday, April 1

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Second-Ranked Blue Devils Suffer First Loss of the Season to No. 4 Virginia 11-10

4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

Durham, N.C. - No. 2 Duke saw its school-record nine-game winning streak snapped on Saturday with an 11-10 loss at home to No. 4 Virginia, despite Megan Huether breaking Duke's all-time saves record.

The loss also snapped Duke's nine-game home winning streak. The last loss the Blue Devils at Koskinen Stadium came last season on March 16 in a 7-4 loss to No. 1 Princeton. Duke is now 9-1 on the season and 3-1 in the ACC while the Cavaliers improve to 11-2 and 3-1 in conference play. There is now a three-way tie atop the ACC standings with Duke, North Carolina and Virginia all at 3-1 in conference games.

The Blue Devils had two chances to tie the score in the last four minutes of the game. After Caroline Cryer scored off an assist from Megan Del Monte to bring Duke to within a goal at the 3:52 mark, Laura Anderson won the draw control and at the 3:19 mark Katie Chrest fired a shot on target, but Virginia's goalie Ginger Miles made the save and the Cavaliers gained possession. Virginia held the ball until the one-minute mark when Blair Weymouth tossed an errant pass out-of-bounds giving the Blue Devils the ball back. Kaitlin Hancock drove towards the net and had her shot blocked but Duke retained possession and with 19 seconds left Chrest had another shot at the tie but Miles came through again with her 12th save of the game and the Cavaliers would get the ball and run out the clock.

Duke scored the first two goals of the contest. Chrest put the Blue Devils on the board just over one minute into the game and Michelle Menser made it 2-0 with her eighth goal of the season two minutes later. Virginia answered with three straight goals. They scored their first of the game at the 21:30 mark when Tyler Leachman found the net for her 33rd of the season. Duke responded with three straight of their own taking a 5-3 lead on Waagbo's 25th goal of the year at the 6:40 mark. Each team would add a goal to make it 6-4 at halftime. The Blue Devils held a 17-9 advantage in total shots in the opening stanza.

Chrest put Duke up by three goals just over a minute into the second half off a pass from Rachel Sanford. However, Virginia would score six of the next seven goals over the next 12 minutes to take a 10-8 lead with 16:22 left in regulation. Carolyn Davis cut the lead in half with her second goal of the contest at the 13:18 mark but the Cavaliers' Jess Wasilewski took a feed from Megan O'Malley for what would be the game-winning goal with 6:40 left on the clock.

Virginia was led by Weymouth with three goals and an assist while Whitaker Hagerman recorded two goals and two assists. Chrest led the Blue Devils with three goals. Waagbo and Sanford each tallied a goal and two assists in the contest. Megan Huether had five ground balls and two caused turnvovers to go along with six saves in the game. Her six saves move her past Shannon Chaney for the career record at Duke and puts her in second on the ACC career list behind Maryland's Alex Kahoe.

The Blue Devils will face another top-five team next week when they host the undefeated defending national champions, No. 1 Northwestern, Friday night at 7 p.m.