Top-Seeded Virginia Drops Heartbreaker to Fifth-Seeded Duke in Semifinals

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BALTIMORE, Md. – Chris Bocklet, Brian Carroll and Steele Stanwick tallied hat-tricks, but it wasn’t enough as the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (16-2) were defeated by the fifth-seeded Duke Blue Devils (15-4) on Saturday night, 14-13, in front of 44,238 fans inside M&T Bank Stadium. The crowd was the sixth-largest attended semifinal game in NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament history.

Duke won the shooting battle (46-42), faceoffs (19-11) and were 4-of-5 on extra-man possessions. UVa won the ground ball battle (37-33) and were more efficient clearing (18-of-21), compared to Duke’s 12-of-21.

Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.) started the scoring with his 50th goal of the season, becoming the first Cavalier to reach the plateau since Doug Knight scored 56 in 1996. Bocklet took a Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) offering at 12:47 on the extra-man possession.

Robert Rotanz knotted the score at 1-1, when he put Duke on the scoreboard via a Zach Howell pass at 11:35.

Virginia scored two-straight goals to take a 3-1 advantage. Stanwick started the run coming from X and dodging to his left for the unassisted goal at 4:55. Garett Ince (Oakville, Ontario) won the ensuing faceoff when Mikey Thompson (Richmond, Va.) picked up the ground ball and found Stanwick from 10 yards away for the score at 4:37.

Justin Turri scored at 2:46 on the extra-man via a pass from Jonathan Livadas to help Duke cut its deficit down to 3-2.

Shamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) capped the first quarter scoring with an unassisted laser from 15 yards out with six seconds left in the period, giving UVa the 4-2 lead.

Duke quickly scored on the extra-man at 14:41 in the second quarter when Turri found Will McKee for the score, cutting UVa’s lead to 4-3.

Bocklet found the goal again on a Matt Kugler (Fairfax Station, Va.) pass at 11:06, pushing the UVa advantage to 5-3. Duke then scored two-straight goals to tie the game at 5-5. Turri scored his second goal unassisted at 9:19, followed by another extra-man goal by McKee at 5:45 on a pass from Livadas.

Virginia scored two quick goals to go into the intermission leading 7-5. Colin Briggs (Narragansett, R.I.) scored unassisted coming out of a Virginia timeout at 2:25, while the combo of Brian Carroll (Towson, Md.) from Stanwick with six seconds left capped the first half scoring.

Bocklet opened up the second half like he started the game, scoring at 13:49 on a Rhamel Bratton (Huntington, N.Y.) pass, giving UVa the 8-5 advantage.

Duke scored four-straight to cap the third quarter scoring, taking the Blue Devils’ first lead of the game, 9-8. Max Quinzani scored at 8:59 unassisted, followed by Howell at 5:35 unassisted. Ned Crotty scored unassisted at 3:12 and Quinzani capped the run on a Crotty pass at 1:29.

Duke scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to cap a 7-0 Blue Devil run. CJ Costabile scored unassisted at 14:47, followed by a Turri unassisted goal at 13:46. Quinzani capped the run at 12:11 after a Mike Catalino assist, giving Duke the 12-8 advantage.

Virginia clawed its way back, scoring three-straight goals to cut its deficit to one goal 12-11. Rhamel Bratton scored on a Brian Carroll assist at 10:36, followed by a Bocklet goal on a Briggs assist at 8:56. Carroll capped the run at 6:55 with a goal on a Matt White (Ridgefield, Conn.) assist.

Howell snuck a goal in on a Steve Schoeffel pass at 4:27 to push the Duke lead back to two goals, 13-11.

Virginia worked quickly scoring two goals to tie the game at 13-13 with 1:21 left. Stanwick scored on a Chris LaPierre (Medford, N.J.) assist, followed by a third Carroll goal unassisted at 1:21. The goal placed Carroll in a tie with Pete Eldredge for the most career goals by a UVa midfielder with 94.

Duke made one last push as Quinzani put the go ahead goal in the upper right corner of the cage on a pass from Crotty with 12 seconds left, giving the Blue Devils the 14-13 advantage.

Virginia had one last shot with eight seconds left, but an offsides call on the Cavaliers sealed the game for the Blue Devils and a date with the Notre Dame Irish in Monday’s championship game.

Virginia finishes the season with 16 wins, the second-best mark in program history, trailing only the 2006 club’s 17-win campaign.