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April 25, 2004

Final Stats

The Virginia defense held its ground once again in ACC play, holding top-seeded Duke to seven goals, including only two in the second half as the Cavaliers won the ACC title with a 17-7 victory over the Blue Devils. The Cavaliers (15-3) shut down Duke (11-5) in the second half, not allowing a goal until 21:23 had passed in the stanza, thanks in large part to five caused turnovers in the defensive arc, including three by Ashley Dodson, and seven saves by Andrea Pfeiffer. Amy Appelt led the Cavaliers offensively, scoring five goals and adding two assists to bring her season total to 99 points. Her second goal of the game, 3:43 into the second half that came as she took the ball from the top of the arc, was her 72nd goal of the season and set a new school record for goals in a season.

Duke won the opening draw and Meghan Miller took the ball from the top left and scored just 37 seconds into the game, but Caitlin Banks answered right back with a draw control that she took right to the cage and scored 13 seconds after Miller, tying the game at 1-1 50 seconds into the contest. Miller converted a free position shot six minutes later after six Duke missed shots, and less than a minute later Corrine Broesler took a Stefanie Sparks feed to the cage, giving Duke a 3-1 lead 7:16 into the contest.

The Cavaliers roared to life as Virginia as Amy Appelt won the next draw and the Cavaliers set up their attack. Virginia worked the ball behind and Appelt dumped the ball into Thalenberg, who scored to pull the Hoos within one. Morgan Thalenberg won the draw but an errant Virginia shot was picked up by Duke, who started a clear. Thalenberg caused a turnover on the far wing and scooped up the ball at midfield, giving Virginia a fast break going the other way. Banks fed the ball to Haas, who took the ball hard to the cage and scored, tying the game at 3-3 12:45 into the contest.

Kim Connors won the next draw for the Cavaliers and Virginia took the ball right upfield where it was knocked loose right in front of the Duke cage. An alert Haas picked up the ball and stuck it in the back of the net for a 4-3 Virginia lead they would not relinquish. A Duke draw control brought the ball to Virginia’s defensive third, but Elizabeth Pinney hustled to the win and made an amazing stick check that gave the Cavaliers possession yet again. Virginia transitioned the ball upfield where Banks was fouled going to the goal and converted the subsequent 8-meter shot for a 5-3 lead. Duke gained possession and tried to set up an attack but Courtney Young tipped a pass and Ashley Dodson scooped up the ground ball. Dodson passed the ball to Connors, who took the ball into the Virginia offensive zone where she passed the ball to Haas. Haas flipped the ball to Leachman, whose shot hit the far pipe and went into the net as Virginia doubled-up Duke 6-3 23:52 into the game.

Ashley Dodson won the next draw and got the ball to Nikki Lieb, who ran the ball upfield and passed it off to Molly Urlock on the other side of the restraining line. Urlock passed the ball to Leachman, who in turn hit Young at the top of the arc. Young took it to the goal and scored 31 seconds after Leachman to give Virginia a 7-3 lead. Lieb won the next draw control and Virginia took it upfield where Haas drew a foul on the 8-meter. She converted the free-position shot for an 8-3 Virginia lead 25:27 into the game. A Duke draw control and Chrest goal 23 seconds later stopped the 7-0 run and made the score 8-4.

Banks won the next draw and flipped the ball to Appelt, who took the ball from the restraining line right to the cage where she scored 26 seconds after Chrest to push the margin back to five at 9-4. Duke won the draw and tried to run their offense, but Urlock stripped the ball on the goal line extended and started a fast break that saw Banks hit hard by a Duke defender as she was streaking to the goal, but Banks nailed the goal to give Virginia a 10-4 lead. Again Duke won the draw but the Cavaliers caused a turnover right in front of the cage and attempted to clear the ball, but a turnover right in front of the Cavalier bench gave possession back to Duke, and Kristen Waagbo took the pass from Chrest right to the cage and scored with two ticks on the dock, making the halftime score 10-5 in favor of Virginia.

Duke won the opening draw of the second half but Pinney caused a turnover and Dodson picked up the ground ball and Virginia got the ball to Appelt, who took the ball straight to the cage and scored 3:43 into the contest, giving the Hoos an 11-5 lead. Appelt’s goal was the 72nd of her season and set a new Virginia record for goals in a season.

Pfeiffer made a point-blank save on the next Duke possession and Connors picked up the loose ball. She passed it off to Appelt at midfield, and Appelt took off for the Duke cage from the draw circle and scored her third goal of the game five minutes after setting the UVa record, giving Virginia a 12-5 lead.

Urlock then scooped up a Duke overthrown ball and started the ball going the other way where Appelt took the ball behind and waited for a wide-open Young in the arc. Young scored at 41:07. Pinney then picked up an errant Duke pass in the fan and started a transition where Leachman took a feed from Banks from behind and scored at 44:28, giving the Cavaliers a 14-5 lead. A Chrest 8-meter goal gave cut the 4-0 Virginia run and pushed the margin back to eight seven minutes later.

Pfeiffer made a save on an 8-meter shot on Duke’s next possession and Dodson picked the ball out of the air with a great reaction. Virginia cleared the ball and set a spread offense where Appelt took the ball to the cage from the wing, scoring with 5:38 to play. A Virginia draw gave the Cavaliers possession again and again Virginia spread their offense until Appelt rolled the crease for her fifth goal of the game which game at the 58:44 mark. A late Duke goal with 56 seconds to play pushed the margin down to nine, but Leachman scored with five seconds to play for the final score of 17-7.

For the second consecutive game, the Virginia defense held one of the top offenses in the nation to seven goals, and of the 14 goals scored on the Cavaliers this tournament, only three came in the second half while the Cavalier offense scored 13.

Pfeiffer’s first save in the second half was the 500th of her career as she becomes only the second player in Virginia history to record over 500 saves. She finished with eight saves, including seven in the second half.

Appelt notched seven points to give her 99 for the season, and she now has 256 career points and has moved into second-place on the all-time scoring charts at Virginia, passing Virginia All-American Lindsey Sheehan.

Ashley Dodson had seven ground balls in the game to lead both teams, and she added three caused turnovers and a draw control.

Banks, Appelt, Pinney and Haas were all named to the All-Tournament team.

The ACC title is Virginia’s first since 1998 and the sixth overall for the Cavalier athletics program in 2003-2004.

Virginia concludes its regular season with the ACC title and now awaits selection to the NCAA tournament. Selections will be announced on Sunday, May 9.

Linescore	1	2	F	recordsVirginia	10	7	17	(15-3)Duke		5	2	7	(11-5)

Scoring summary:0:37 D Miller 0-10:50 V Banks 1-16:37 D Miller (FP) 1-27:16 D Broesler (Sparks) 1-311:37 V Thalenberg (Appelt) 2-312:45 V Haas (Banks) 3-313:26 V Haas 4-318:37 V Banks (FP) 5-323:52 V Leachman (Haas) 6-324:23 V Young 7-325:27 V Haas (FP) 8-325:50 D Chrest (Broesler) 8-426:16 V Appelt 9-427:35 V Banks (Haas) 10-429:58 D Waagbo (Chrest) 10-533:43 V Appelt 11-538:45 V Appelt 12-541:07 V Young (Appelt) 13-544:28 V Leachman (Banks) 14-551:23 D Chrest (FP) 14-654:22 V Appelt 15-658:44 V Appelt 16-659:04 D Chrest 16-759:55 V Leachman 17-7

Goals: V: Appelt 5, Haas 3, Banks 3, Leachman 3, Young 2, Thalenberg 1 D: Chrest 3, Miller 2, Broesler 1, Waagbo 1

Assists: V: Appelt 2, Banks 2, Haas 2 D: Broesler 1, Chrest 1, Sparks 1

Goalies: V: Pfeiffer (58 mins, 8 saves, 6 GA), Ginger Miles (2 mins, 0 saves, 1 GA) D: Megan Huether (60 mins, 12 saves, 17 GA)

Draws: V 14, D 12Shots: V 25, D 22Ground balls: V 20, D 13Caused turnovers: V 12, D 6Turnovers: V 9, D 208-meter placements: V 4, D 68-meter shots: V 3, D 4Clearing: V 13-14, D 9-13

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