No. 15 Duke Tops Virginia, 11-8; Wins Fourth Straight

Saturday, March 26

Durham, N.C.

3:30 PM

Duke University

Virginia

No. 15 Duke Tops Virginia, 11-8; Wins Fourth Straight

3/26/2016 6:47:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

WLAX vs. Virginia: Maddie Crutchfield Hat Trick WLAX vs. Virginia: Kerstin Kimel Postgame Interview WLAX vs. Virginia: Kyra Harney Scores Four WLAX vs. Virginia: Kelci Smesko Hat Trick WLAX vs. Virginia: Maddie Crutchfield Postgame Interview MLAX vs. Syracuse: Duke Mounts 4th Quarter Comeback WLAX vs. Virginia: Kelsey Duryea Postgame Interview Photo Gallery Season Statistics Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke sophomore attacker Kyra Harney tallied four goals and an assist and senior goaltender Kelsey Duryea made 12 saves to lead 15th-ranked Duke to an 11-8 win over No. 13 Virginia in women's lacrosse action at Koskinen Stadium Saturday afternoon. The win is four straight for the Blue Devils.

Duke improves to 8-4 overall and 3-0 in ACC play, while Virginia drops to 5-6 and 0-4 in league action.

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 7-1 lead thanks to a balanced scoring effort. Sophomore Maddie Crutchfield, Harney and senior Kelci Smesko all had two goals apiece inside the first 20 minutes, while senior Maddy Acton added the seventh to give Duke the six-goal cushion late in the half.

Virginia got one back after an 18:58 scoring drought, but Crutchfield answered for the Blue Devils with 1:09 on the clock to give Duke the 8-2 halftime edge.

“Our defense did a good job of limiting the kinds of looks they were trying to create in the first half,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “We forced them to take some of those outside shots which Kelsey was really ready for, which was great. Kelsey had a really good game. You've got to make saves, and she made big saves when we needed her to make them.”

The Cavaliers, behind the play of Posey Valis, roared back with three straight and four of the first five to start the second half and bring Virginia within three, 9-6, with 16 minutes to play.

Smesko and Harney responded for the Blue Devils, with Harney's goal capping another solid defensive stand. The Cavaliers won three of the last four draw controls for the contest and added a pair of unassisted tallies by Kasey Behr and Mary Alati in the final five minutes, but a final save by Duryea sealed the win for Duke.

“This week, we really focused on how fast of an offense they are,” Duryea said. “They've scored a lot of transition goals this season, so we really we working on staying on our matchup, but also moving on a string and playing good transition defense as a unit. I think I was given a lot of shots I was able to save. Our defense played outstanding in order for me to make those saves.”

Duryea made seven of her 12 saves in the second half and tallied four ground balls while junior defender Maura Schwitter had three to go along with three draw controls and a caused turnover. Crutchfield accounted for the team's other four draw controls in the contest.

Virginia outshot the Blue Devils 22-17 and also led in draw controls (14-7) and ground balls (17-13). The Cavaliers were 10-of-13 on the day in clear attempts while Duke was 15-of-16.

Behr and Valis both turned in hat tricks for Virginia in the loss and goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk tallied three saves.

“At this point in the season and with our team, we're really happy to have won an ACC game,” Kimel said. “The ACC is an absolute dogfight this year. Because of who we are this year, it is one game at a time, one performance at a time. We'll take a good, hard look at what we didn't do well against Virginia and try to take two steps forward without taking a step back next week.”

The Blue Devils hit the road next weekend, traveling to Syracuse for a 12 p.m. ACC meeting Sunday at the Carrier Dome. The matchup will be broadcast on ESPN3.

#GoDuke