Men’s lacrosse: UVA drops ACC contest on Senior Day to No. 13 Duke

UVA (6-7, 0-4) dropped its final ACC contest of the season to No. 13 Duke (8-6, 2-2 ACC) on Sunday afternoon, 14-8, inside Klöckner Stadium. With the loss Virginia won’t make the ACC Tournament and will face No. 5 Brown in the ACC – Brown Showcase on April 30, which will be played at Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga.

“It was a physical lacrosse game,” said Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia. “It was two ACC teams going after it. I thought it was a well-played game and a hard game. I thought we played hard throughout, but what has hurt us throughout the year is we just aren’t quite sharp enough when we need to be. We had opportunities, it just seems like we can’t get a goal when we need it. They were sharper shooting the ball and finishing overall.”

The first half was a deadlocked affair. Duke took an early 1-0 lead on a Jack Bruckner goal at 11:32 in the first quarter. UVA responded with a 3-1 run, giving the Cavaliers a 3-2 lead after one quarter of play. Ryan Lukacovic, AJ Fish and Greg Coholan all scored during the spurt. Coholan’s goal with 4:00 left in the quarter capped the run.

Case Matheis scored on a Myles Jones helper with 14:23 left in the second period, tying the game at 3-3. James Pannell scored back-to-back goals for the Cavaliers, giving UVA a 5-3 advantage with 10:02 left in the first half.

Duke scored four straight goals and never looked back. Deemer Class scored twice, tying the game at 5-5 heading into the intermission. Coming out of halftime Bruckner and Justin Guterding scored to give Duke a 7-5 lead.

Mike D’Amario brought UVA within one goal, 7-6, on his man-up goal with 8:49 left in the third quarter, but Virginia never got any closer. Duke finished the game on a 7-2 run, securing a key ACC game.

Virginia won the battle of shots (47-36) and faceoffs (14-11), while Duke won the battle of ground balls (30-25), saves (13-11) and had more turnovers (11-9).

The Cavaliers return to action on Saturday when UVA travels to Washington, D.C., to face the Georgetown Hoyas. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.