After falling to James Madison during the final seconds of last Wednesday's contest, the No. 5 Virginia women's lacrosse team rebounded Saturday by edging out ACC rival No. 3 Duke by a score of 8-7 on the road at Koskinen Stadium. With the win, the Cavaliers handed Duke its second loss on the season and snapped the Blue Devils' five-game win streak that dated back to March 6.
The narrow victory marks the second time this season that the Cavaliers (7-3, 2-1 ACC) have defeated a top-three team and the sixth time that the squad has come out on top against a ranked foe.
The team's hard-fought win against the Blue Devils (9-2, 1-2 ACC) largely can be attributed to the strong performance put forth by redshirt junior goalkeeper Lauren Benner and the rest of the Cavalier defense. Benner registered seven saves, improving her season record to 5-1 on the season. Sophomore defender Bailey Fogarty, meanwhile, forced a career-high five turnovers, and senior midfielder Brittany Kalkstein racked up three draws, helping the Cavaliers win the draw control battle by an 11-5 margin, which included only one draw control for Duke during the second half.
The team has maintained this particularly strong defensive performance throughout the past four games, during which the Cavaliers have limited opponents to 10 or fewer goals - an average of 7.75 goals surrendered.
On the offensive side of the field, the Cavaliers were led by Kalkstein, sophomore midfielder Julie Gardner and freshman midfielder Caroline McTiernan, who made her first career start against the Blue Devils. Each of these three players contributed two goals, some of which were key to the team's success, allowing the Cavaliers to pull ahead of their formidable conference foe.
Virginia will try to build momentum off the victory in a midweek matchup Wednesday against in-state rival Old Dominion at 7 p.m. at Kl
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