Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse — Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Virginia Flummoxed by Duke Again in 17-8 Loss

The Cavaliers looked out of sorts on the road at Durham and suffered their 15th-straight regular season loss against the Blue Devils

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Apr 14, 2022 4:05 PM EDT

Even in a season in which the on-paper resumes of these two teams would suggest that Virginia should have no problem beating Duke, the Blue Devils once again proved to be kryptonite for the Cavaliers. Brennan O'Neill recorded four goals and four assists and Mike Adler made 20 saves, as No. 6 Virginia was outplayed by No. 14 Duke from start to finish in a 17-8 loss on Thursday afternoon in Durham.

Virginia has not struggled against ACC opponents this season, winning their previous four conference games by a combined 24 goals, while Duke has had some head-scratching losses to Jacksonville, Loyola, and Syracuse. But, there were some factors coming in that suggested an outcome like this was possible.

On Virginia's side, the previously unflappable Connor Shellenberger is in the midst of a rare shooting slump over the past few games. UVA also had to deal with injuries to faceoff man Petey LaSalla and fifth-year attackman Matt Moore, who both played in the game but were not nearly 100% healthy.

For John Danowski's Blue Devils, it seemed only a matter of time before the enormous talent on the roster found a rhythm and put it all together. And what better game for that to happen than against a Virginia team whose number Duke has had for nearly two decades. Duke has won each of the last 15 regular season meetings against Virginia dating back to the 2004 season.

The first quarter was a goalie battle, with both UVA's Matthew Nunes and Duke's Mike Adler making six saves in the opening period. After nearly ten minutes of scoreless lacrosse to start the game, Brennan O'Neill was able to beat Nunes on a couple of sharp-angle shots to give Duke a 2-0 lead. Virginia finally got on the board with less than a minute left in the first quarter as Peter Garno ripped the back of the net on a man-up goal. The Cavaliers did not score an even strength goal until 24 minutes into the game.

Brennan O'Neill attacked his matchup with two-time ACC Defenseman of the Week winner Cole Kastner and was utterly dominant, putting four goals on the board in the first half. On a couple of the goals, Nunes got a piece of the shots but they still found their way into the back of the net. And when Virginia sent help to double-team O'Neill, he made the right passes and set up his teammates for goals. O'Neill finished with four goals and four assists.

Adler continued to be stellar in cage for the Blue Devils, but Nunes did not match that level of success and did not record another save until well into the third quarter. Matt Moore scored a goal to make it 4-2 with six minutes left in the second quarter, but Duke scored three straight to end the half up 7-3. Moore, playing with an obvious limp after suffering a lower-body injury against Richmond two weeks ago that caused him to miss last Saturday's game against North Carolina, finished with two goals on six shots but was pulled from the game in the second half.

Mike Adler was phenomenal in cage, but that had as much to do with him making great stops as it did with Virginia not taking good shots. The Cavaliers did not win their individual matchups, did not share the ball, and settled for low-quality shots that Adler saved easily.

Connor Shellenberger, who was shooting above 50% on the season as of a few weeks ago, failed to score a goal against Duke on Thursday. Shellenberger scored one goal on 10 shots in the loss to Richmond, one goal on six shots against UNC, and did not find the back of the net on any of his seven shots against the Blue Devils.

Besides O'Neill's production, the UVA defense had been doing a fair job containing the Duke offense in the first half to keep the game close. In the third quarter, things went off the rails for the Cavaliers.

Five different Blue Devils scored goals and Duke outscored Virginia 6-2 in the period, despite UVA having a 14-9 advantage in shots. Duke seemed to feed off the performance of Adler, who made nine saves in the third quarter, matching the amount of saves Virginia had in the entire game.

While the Blue Devils were able to score in bunches, the Cavaliers did not score back-to-back goals until the fourth quarter, when the game was already out of reach and both teams' bench units entered the game.

Matthew Nunes finished with eight saves versus 15 goals allowed, while Adler had 20 saves versus eight goals allowed. Petey LaSalla won 14 of his 23 draws at the faceoff x and Duke turned the ball over 19 times, but the UVA offense failed to cash in on the possession advantage.

John Danowski is now 20-2 against Virginia as head coach of Duke and the Cavaliers have not defeated the Blue Devils in the regular season since April 17th, 2004. UVA's last win against Duke came in the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Virginia falls to 8-3 overall and 4-1 in ACC play. UVA returns home to face Quinnipiac this Saturday (4/16) at 8pm at Klockner Stadium.

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