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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 4 Cavaliers travel to Durham, N.C. for a pivotal ACC match-up Saturday afternoon against No. 5 Duke. Both squads have already dropped a conference contest, as the Blue Devils most recently fell to North Carolina, and the Cavaliers lost at Maryland. Duke, though, brings a 19-game home winning streak into the contest. The game will be shown live and on-demand at www.ACCSelect.com.
Thanks to winning the first eight meetings of the series (1996-2000), Virginia holds the all-time record of 15-6 over Duke. The Blue Devils won their first contest over the Cavaliers in 2001, with a 14-10 win in Charlottesville, but Virginia responded with a 18-6 win in Durham the following year.
The two squads have faced each other at least twice every year since then, with Virginia dropping the regular-season meeting each of those years, but winning the post-season battles. The Blue Devils and Cavaliers faced three times in 2005, with Duke winning the regular-season and ACC Tournament contests, before Virginia knocked the Blue Devils out of the NCAA Tournament.
Last year, Virginia set an NCAA record for the largest comeback in the NCAA Championships history, scoring the final 10 goals of the semi-final game, en route to a 14-13 victory over Duke. Then-sophomores Blair Weymouth and Ashley McCulloch led the Cavaliers in the contest with five points each. Weymouth had four goals and an assist, while McCulloch had a goal and four assists.
Leading the Blue Devils this season is Carolyn Davis. Davis has 28 goals and 10 assists, and earned ACC player of the Week honors on both Feb. 18 and March 4. In goal, Kim Imbesi has posted a 10.38 goals against average and a .426 save percentage.
For the Cavaliers, McCulloch paces the offense, tallying 31 points on 11 goals and 20 assists, and leads the league in assists per game. Sophomore Brittany Kalkstein leads the attack with 18 goals and 26 draw controls, while in goal, senior Kendall McBrearty is allowing a league-best 7.67 goals per game and stopping .496 percent of shots faced.
Duke will mark Virginia’s fifth top-10 opponent this season, with the Cavaliers holding an even 2-2 mark against those previous four opponents. Virginia won its battles over No. 4 Syracuse and No. 7 North Carolina at home, but fell to two top-five contenders on the road; No. 5 Maryland, 5-8, and No. 4 Princeton, 7-8.
Following this game, Virginia will return home to play host to four of its final five regular-season games. Old Dominion will visit Charlottesville on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game and Boston College will come to town for the Cavaliers’ final ACC match-up on Saturday and 1 p.m.