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No. 2 Virginia Set for Rematch with No. 4 Duke in ACC Tournament Brawl
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – After a six-week stay atop of the national rankings, Virginia (11-1, 2-1 ACC) holds down the No. 2 position in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media and USILA coaches polls after falling to Duke (11-3, 1-2 ACC), 13-9, on April 17. UVa only has to wait six days for another chance at the Blue Devils in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in College Park, Md. Virginia, the No. 1 seed, draws the No. 4 seed Duke on Friday night, at Byrd Stadium on Capital One Field. Faceoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Live stats will be available on VirginiaSports.com.
The game will also be broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM with John Freeman calling the action and Doug Tarring doing the color broadcast. ACCSelect.com is doing a webcast of the semifinal contest with Russ Rubin doing the play-by-play and Chris Chase providing color analysis.
Virginia is 17-16 all-time in the ACC Tournament since the inception of the event in 1989. The Cavaliers are 6-5 against Duke all-time in the ACC Tournament and have faced the Blue Devils each of the last three tournaments. UVa faced Duke last year in the semifinal round also, marking at the time a first since 1998. The Cavaliers are 3-2 all-time against the Blue Devils in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament, with the last win coming in 1998 when UVa topped the Blue Devils 11-9 at Klöckner Stadium.
Friday marks the 72nd all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils, a series that began in 1938 and in which the Cavaliers own a 48-23 advantage. Facing each other every year since 1972 – save the 2006 season, UVa is looking to end an eight-game losing streak to Duke. Despite the current losing streak to Duke, UVa has won more games in program history against Duke than any other school.
Virginia opened up ACC play for the second-straight year 2-0, defeating then No. 4 Maryland (April 3) in College Park, Md., 11-10, and topping then No. 2 North Carolina (April 10) at the Big City Classic, 7-5, inside the New Meadowlands. Goalie Adam Ghitelman made 12 saves on 47 UNC shots taken, allowing only five goals, a season low for the Tar Heels. Ghitelman was named ACC Player of the Week for his exploits while Steele Stanwick scored a game-high three goals and four points. The victory over the Tar Heels cinched the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, despite falling to Duke on April 17.
Chris Bocklet leads Virginia with 33 goals, while Stanwick holds the team lead with 21 assists and is second on the team with 21 goals. The sophomore tandem share the team lead with 42 points. Brian Carroll is tied for third on the team with 16 goals with Rhamel Bratton, while freshman Matt White has 13 goals and has tallied at least one point in every game of his young collegiate career. Ken Clausen has a team-best 40 ground balls and his 2.17 caused turnovers per game ranks No. 7 nationally. Ghitelman is saving 53.8 percent of the shots against him, while posting a 7.90 goals-against average.
Duke head coach John Danowski is in his fourth season at Duke and returns 31 letterwinners and seven starters from last year’s NCAA semifinalist team that went 15-4. The Blue Devils are currently ranked No. 4 in the coaches poll and share the No. 5 spot in the media poll with Princeton.
Max Quinzani leads the Duke attack with 47 goals and 55 total points. Ned Crotty ranks No. 2 nationally with 2.79 assists per game, assisting 39 scores. Zach Howell has also poured 34 goals and 12 assists into the Blue Devil offensive books this season. Dan Wigrizer is saving 54.3 percent of shots on goal, while registering a 9.16 goals against average between the pipes.
The victor of Friday’s contest will return to Byrd Stadium on Sunday to face the winner of No. 2 seed North Carolina versus No. 3 seed Maryland. The ACC Championship final will faceoff at 3:30 p.m.