#8 UVA women’s lacrosse downs #4 Duke, 13-10

The No. 8 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (6-4, 1-2 ACC) earned a 13-10 victory over previously-undefeated No. 4 Duke (9-1, 3-1 ACC) on Saturday (March 21) at Klöckner Stadium.

Senior Casey Bocklet’s (South Salem, N.Y.) first-half hat trick helped Virginia build up a 7-3 lead before the break. Senior Courtney Swan (Vero Beach, Fla.) and junior Kelly Boyd (Baltimore, Md.) added two more goals in the first 3:09 of the second half to give Virginia a 9-3 lead. Duke went on a 4-0 run, cutting the deficit to two goals, 9-7, with 17:59 remaining, but an unassisted goal from senior Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) followed two minutes later by a shot from freshman Meghan Heick (Centreville, Va.) put Virginia back up 11-7. Bocklet’s fourth goal with just under four minutes left in the game gave Virginia a 13-8 lead. Duke scored twice in the final minutes, but Virginia held possession for most of the remaining time to secure the victory.

“This was an exciting game and an important win for us, beating a quality Duke team that came in undefeated,” Virginia head coach Julie Myers said. “I was so impressed with our maturity all over the field, our ability to make big plays and really keep Duke at bay. We made plays in so many different parts of the field, that it really turned [Duke] away a little bit heartbroken. I think our fight, our energy and our effort were spot-on.”

Bocklet finished the game with five points, scoring four goals with an assist. Swan scored three goals while also winning five draw controls. Blue had a goal, and assist and four draws.

Freshman goalie Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) logged six saves. Duke’s Kelsey Duryea made seven saves.

The Blue Devil’s Kerrin Maurer had five points, scoring a hat trick with a pair of assists.

Virginia had the slight edge in shots, taking 25 to Duke’s 24. Virginia also had a one-draw edge, winning that battle 13-12.

The Cavaliers have now tallied back-to-back-to-back wins over ranked teams, after downing No. 10 Princeton, 18-11, last Saturday (March 14) and earning a 14-12 road win at No. 12 James Madison on Wednesday (March 18). Duke was the sixth-consecutive ranked opponent the Cavaliers faced during a tough stretch of their schedule. Virginia is 3-3 against top-10 teams this season and 4-4 against top-20 teams. Eight of Virginia’s first 10 games have been against ranked opponents.

Up next, the Cavaliers play back-to-back road games, playing a midweek game on Wednesday, March 25 at William & Mary at 7 p.m. before returning to conference play with a Saturday, March 28 game at 1 p.m. at Boston College. Virginia returns home on April 1 to host Navy, the first of four-straight home contests to close out the regular season.

Single-game reserved seats are available for all women’s home games for $7. Single-game general admission adult tickets for women’s home games are $5, while youth (18 and under), seniors (60 and over), and UVa faculty and staff tickets are $4 each.