No. 2 Virginia Set for Top-3 Showdown at Duke

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 2 Virginia (10-1, 1-0) travels to No. 3 Duke (10-3, 0-2) for the Cavaliers’ first ACC road contest and highest ranked matchup of the 2024 season on Sunday (April 14). Opening faceoff from Koskinen Stadium is set for 2 p.m. as Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (analyst) will have the call on ACC Network.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

4 – Payton Cormier (200 goals) needs only four goals to tie Chris Gray (Boston U/North Carolina) for No. 5 all-time on the NCAA Division I career goals list.

18 – Virginia has lost the last 18 regular-season meetings against Duke dating back to 2005.

876 – Jack Boyden (337), Connor Shellenberger (292) and Payton Cormier (247) combine for 876 career points. No other team in the nation has three active players on its roster who combine for that amount.

SERIES HISTORY

• Virginia leads the all-time series over the Blue Devils, 50-38, but Duke leads the series in Durham, 23-19, and has won 15 of the last 16 meetings overall.
• The last time the two teams met was on April 15, 2023, at Koskinen Stadium, when the then third-ranked Blue Devils defeated No. 2 Virginia, 15-14. Duke led by as many as seven goals [10-3] in the first half, and UVA outscored the Blue Devils 6-3 in the fourth quarter, but ultimately ran out of time to mount a comeback.
• Ian Laviano’s double overtime game-winning goal in the 2019 NCAA Tournament semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field marks the last time that the Cavaliers defeated Duke.
• The Hoos have dropped their last 18 regular-season meetings against Duke. UVA’s last regular-season win over the Blue Devils was a 13-4 victory on April 17, 2004.
• Virginia’s last win in Durham was an 11-8 victory on April 12, 2003. The Cavaliers have lost the last 12 meetings held at Koskinen Stadium.
• UVA and Duke have different all-time series records due to the fluidity of when a program was a “varsity” sport up until the conclusion of WWII. UVA lists its “varsity only” record against Duke above.

LAST TIME OUT

• In its ACC opener at Klöckner Stadium last Saturday (April 6), Virginia dominated North Carolina, 14-6, on the way to its sixth consecutive win of the series against the Tar Heels.
• The win also marked UVA’s seventh consecutive of the season.
• On the defensive end, the Cavaliers were led by Cole Kastner (2gb, 3ct), Chase Yager (1gb, 4ct) and ACC Defensive Player of the Week Noah Chizmar (2g, 4gb, 2ct).
• Chizmar scored his first of two goals on the game’s opening possession only 11 seconds in.
• Kastner held his matchup – attackman Owen Duffy, the No. 1 prospect in the 2023 signing class according to Inside Lacrosse – to one goal and two assists.
• UVA’s defense kept the Tar Heels off the scoreboard for 26:43 in the second half, and forced six failed clears, while remaining perfect going the other way.
• Offensively, the Hoos received goals from 10 different players. Connor Shellenberger (2g, 3a) led the charge with five points.

A WIN FOR THE CAVALIERS WOULD…

• Give Virginia an 11-1 overall record, its best start through the first 12 games of the season since 2010.
• Tie for UVA’s longest win streak since winning eight straight games in 2019.
• Snap an 18-game losing skid in the regular-season series with the Blue Devils, which began in 2005.
• Deliver UVA’s first win at Koskinen Stadium since 2003.
• Be Virginia’s seventh win over a top-3 team under Lars Tiffany.
• Give Tiffany his second career win over the Blue Devils.

VIRGINIA IS ONE OF THE NATION’S HOTTEST TEAMS

• Virginia is one of four teams nationally with an active win streak of at least seven games.
• Only Georgetown (8), Saint Joseph’s (7) and Sacred Heart (7) are currently riding win streaks of seven games or more.
• Virginia’s most recent loss was against then-No. 7 Johns Hopkins on March 2 in a 16-14 decision at Klöckner Stadium.
• The last time UVA rode a seven-game win streak was during the 2019 regular season. The Cavaliers won three consecutive overtime games over Princeton, Syracuse and Brown to kick off the streak.

CAVALIERS AMONG THE NATION’S STATISTICAL LEADERS

• For games played through April 10, Virginia leads the nation in assists (10.09), caused turnovers (11.64) and win percentage (.909).
• The Cavaliers are second in points (25.27), third in ground balls (39.18), fourth in man-up offense (.524) and scoring margin (5.45), fifth in scoring offense (15.18), and seventh in shooting percentage (.331).
• Among all Division I players this season, Payton Cormier is currently No. 1 in goals (3.73) and 16th in points (4.64). Connor Shellenberger is ninth in assists (3.00) and 13th in points (4.82). Matthew Nunes is sixth in save percentage (.583) and ninth in goals-against (9.54) and Cole Kastner is 16th in caused turnovers (1.82).

VIRGINIA IN THE POLLS

• 2 Virginia has been ranked in the top 5 of the USILA Coaches poll in 336 weeks all-time including in the most recent edition of the poll.
• Virginia has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in 70 all-time polls.
• UVA has been ranked in 528 out of 549 (.962) total USILA polls all-time.
• The USILA Poll began in 1973.

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers continue their two-game road stint when they travel to Syracuse (9-4, 1-1), which is ranked No. 9 in the most recent USILA coaches poll, on Saturday (April 20).
• Opening faceoff from the JMA Wireless Dome is set for 2 p.m. on ESPNU.