No. 2 Virginia Advances to ACC Championship Game with Triumph Over No. 4 Duke

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Seven starters, including goalie Adam Ghitelman, tallied at least one goal to help the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers (12-1, 2-1 ACC) topple the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils (11-4, 1-2 ACC), 16-12, in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament Friday night on Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. UVa, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Blue Devils, the No. 4 seed.

Virginia won a season-high 22 faceoffs out of 32 attempts, as Brian McDermott (Cortland, N.Y.) had a career-high 17 wins out of 19 attempts. Duke won the battle of shots (36-30) and ground balls (38-33) and had fewer turnovers (12-15).

“These games against ACC opponents are always our toughest games,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “To have to come back out against one of the best teams in the country after playing them six days ago at home, I am real proud of our players, especially because we fell behind early and looked listless. The difference overall between the last game and this game was the play in the middle of the field. The ground ball play in the middle of the field was really good.”

Duke stormed out to a 4-0 lead when Ned Crotty assisted Steve Schoeffel at 12:45 and Mike Catalino at 10:09. Will McKee took a Justin Turri pass at 7:37, followed by an unassisted score at 5:28 by Jonathan Livadas capped the 4-0 run.

The Cavaliers stormed back to take a 5-4 lead. Matt White (Ridgefield, Conn.) put UVa on the scoreboard at 4:45 via a Brian Carroll (Towson, Md.) pass. McDermott scored his second career goal after winning the ensuing faceoff. Chris LaPierre (Medford, N.J.) fired the ball back to McDermott for the assist at 4:37. Rhamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) scored unassisted at 2:28, while White scored again at 1:03 on a pass from John Haldy (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) to cap the first quarter scoring. Shamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) scored from 20 yards out to finish off UVa’s 5-0 run with 13:42 left in the second quarter.

Duke scored the next two goals to take a 6-5 lead. Crotty assisted Max Quinzani at 10:46 and Robert Rotanz tallied a score unassisted at 6:17.

Virginia then finished out the opening half on a 4-1 run to take a 9-7 lead into the intermission. Steele Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) ran around the cage and deposited an unassisted goal at 4:59. Chris Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.) streaked in front of the cage at 4:01 and scored via a pass by Shamel Bratton.

Duke scored its last goal of the first half at 3:16, tying the score at 7-7, when Crotty tallied his fourth assist of the game on a pass to Zach Howell.

Carroll scored his 85th career goal, tying him with Chris Rotelli for third all-time among UVa midfielders, via a White pass at 2:28 on the extra-man chance. Bocklet finished the first half by scoring his goal with 46 seconds left on a Shamel Bratton assist.

Rhamel Bratton started off the third quarter scoring with an unassisted score at 13:47, giving UVa the lead by three goals, 10-7.

Quinzani scored his second goal of the game at 11:57 on a Howell pass, cutting the Blue Devils’ deficit to 10-8.

The Cavaliers then reeled off four-straight goals, taking a 14-8 lead. Haldy scored unassisted at 4:22, followed by a Shamel Bratton unassisted goal at 3:48, capping the third quarter scoring.

Stanwick scored on a Rhamel Bratton pass to open up the fourth quarter scoring at 12:47. Bocklet capped the run after picking up a ground ball off a save of a George Huguely (Chevy Chase, Md.) shot. Bocklet, in one fluid motion, grabbed the ricochet in front of the cage and deposited the ball into the goal unassisted over his left shoulder at 11:29. The shot capped the UVa sprint.

Howell scored unassisted at 6:38 to cut the Duke deficit to 14-9. UVa scored two more times to solidify the win. Shamel Bratton scored his final goal, unassisted, with 4:21 left in the game. Then goalie Adam Ghitelman (Manhasset, N.Y.) scored his first career goal when he heaved a shot 55 yards at the open net. It was Ghitelman’s third career point, having assisted two prior shots in his career. The goal gave UVa the 16-9 lead.

Duke scored the final three goals of the game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome. Rounding out the final Blue Devil run was a Schoeffel score on a Quinzani assist at 1:58, followed by a Sam Payton unassisted score at 1:49. Howell finished all scoring with an unassisted score with 43 seconds left bring the tally to the final score, 16-12.

Ghitelman saved 12 shots after facing 36 attempts in the cage for UVa. McDermott picked up a team-best five ground balls. Dan Wigrizer saved five shots and allowed 14 goals for Duke. Mike Rock saved three shots and allowed two goals.

Virginia returns in the ACC Championship game on Sunday versus No. 5 Maryland, the No. 3 seed and host. Faceoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

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. The game will be televised by regional sports networks.

Duke 4-3-1-4-12
Virginia 4-5-3-4-16
Att-TBA

Scoring (G-A) – V: Shamel Bratton 3-2, Chris Bocklet 3-0, Rhamel Bratton 2-1, Matt White 2-1, Steele Stanwick 2-0, John Haldy 1-1, Brian Carroll 1-1, Brian McDermott 1-0, Adam Ghitelman 1-0, Chris LaPierre 0-1 D: Zach Howell 3-1, Max Quinzani 2-1, Steve Schoeffel 2-1, Will McKee 1-0, Robert Rotanz 1-0, Sam Payton 1-0, Mike Catalino 1-0, Jonathan Livadas 1-0, Ned Crotty 0-4, Justin Turri 0-1

Goalie Summary – V: Adam Ghitelman 60 mins., 12 saves, 12 goals allowed D: Dan Wigrizer 44:43 mins., 5 saves, 14 goals allowed, Mike Rock 15:17 mins, 3 saves, 2 goals allowed


Shots: V-30, D-36

Ground Balls: V-33, D-38

Clearing: V-18×19, D-13×16


Faceoffs: V-22, D-10

Penalties: V-3-1:30, D-2-1:00


EMO: V-2×2, D-1×3