No. 16 UVA Women's Lacrosse Falls at No. 7 Duke 13-8

The Cavaliers lost to the Blue Devils in Durham on Saturday

Matt Newton | Apr 3, 2022

Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

No. 16 Virginia women's lacrosse suffered a 13-8 loss at No. 7 Duke on Saturday afternoon in Durham.

Duke scored the game's first two goals, but the Cavaliers responded with a 3-0 run to end the first quarter on goals by Morgan Schwab, Kiki Shaw, and Kate Miller. Shaw tallied a second goal to start the second quarter to put UVA up 4-2.

Virginia and Duke then traded two goals a piece, with Schwab finding Ashlyn McGovern to make it 6-4 in favor of UVA with just under seven minutes to play in the first half.

The Cavaliers certainly brought their A-game through the first 25 minutes of the game, but the Blue Devils finally settled in and showed why they are a top-10 team in the country. Duke scored the next seven goals and held Virginia scoreless through the rest of the second quarter, the entire third quarter, and a few minutes into the fourth.

Katie DeSimone scored all four of her goals for Duke in the second quarter, including two of the last three goals of the first half to give the Blue Devils a 7-6 halftime lead.

Duke continued the run in the third quarter, scoring four goals from four different scorers. Virginia put four shots on cage in the third period, but each were saved by Duke goalkeeper Sophia LeRose, who finished with nine saves versus eight goals allowed for a .529 save percentage. Ashley Vernon allowed 13 goals and saved eight shots in cage for the Cavaliers.

25 minutes after the last UVA goal, Kiki Shaw finally scored an unassisted goal to end the drought a few minutes into the fourth quarter. Morgan Schwab found the back of the net a minute and a half later for another Virginia goal to make it 11-8 Duke with just over ten minutes to play, plenty of time for the Cavaliers to mount a comeback.

LeRose and the Blue Devil defense continued to be up to the task down the stretch, though, and Virginia did not score again in the final ten minutes of regulation. Oliva Carner scored with 8:29 remaining to give Duke some more breathing room and then Caroline DeBellis put the finishing touches on the victory with another goal with just five seconds left on the clock.

Eight different Blue Devils scored in the game, led by Katie DeSimone with four goals and one assist and Abby Landry with three goals and one helper. Kiki Shaw had three goals and Morgan Schwab finished with two goals and an assist for Virginia, but only three other Cavaliers scored in the game. Freshman sensation Rachel Clark, who has scored three or more goals in nine of UVA's games this season, was held scoreless on six shots.

With the loss, Virginia drops below .500 with a record of 6-7 overall and 2-4 in ACC play. UVA returns home to face VCU on Wednesday at 7pm.

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