Second-Half Rally Not Enough As Duke Falls To Virginia, 4-3

Saturday, November 1

Durham, N.C.

1:00 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Second-Half Rally Not Enough As Duke Falls To Virginia, 4-3

11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The No. 4 Duke field hockey team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the score, but eventually fell, 4-3, to No. 13 Virginia Saturday afternoon at Jack Katz Stadium in the regular-season finale. The Blue Devils drop to 14-4 (2-3 ACC) with the loss, while Virginia moved to 12-7 (2-3).

The visiting Cavaliers scored three goals in the first 13:26 of the game before Duke responded with a score 14 minutes in from senior Marian Dickinson, which is where it remained at the half. Dickinson's goal came off an assist from Laura Suchoski in front of the cage to get the Blue Devils on the board.

Duke struck again six minutes into the second half, when Suchoski netted her third of the year, an unassisted goal that she fired from the top of the circle past the Virginia keeper to bring the Blue Devils within one.

Sophomore Susan Ferger posted Duke's third tally at the 51:26 mark, tipping in a hard long-range shot from Suchoski into the cage to knot the score. Suchoski ended with two assists on the day.

But UVA got back on top five minutes later, with a score from Floor Vogels off the assist from Inge Kaars Sijpestei and Kaitlyn Hiltz off a penalty corner. Duke was unable to rally again and fell for just the fourth time this season, bringing their eight-game winning streak to a halt.

"We played better after halftime, but we talked all week about the first 15 minutes of today's game being crucial, and they scored three goals in that time," said head coach Beth Bozman. "That speaks to how the game went."

Duke held the edge on shots in the contest, 16-14, and on penalty corners, 9-4. Blue Devils keeper Samantha Nelson recorded seven saves in the cage for Duke. Dickinson's four shots led the Blue Devils, as Lauren Miller added three. Four different Cavalier players found the scoring column for Virginia.

The team honored its three seniors ? Dickinson, Suchoski, and Ashley Pultorak ? after the game.

The game also gave freshman Tara Jennings a chance to match up against her triplet sister, Rachel, who plays midfield for Virginia. Their other sister, Erin, is on the field hockey team at Princeton.

Today's game closed out the regular season for Duke, which will host the 2008 ACC Championships next week, Nov. 6-9 on campus.

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