Late in the first half of the Virginia women’s lacrosse team’s March 23 game against then-No. 6 Duke, Cavaliers sophomore attacker Casey Bocklet juked her defender and found the back of the net against Blue Devil freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea for her 26th goal of the year and second of the day. Bocklet’s score brought then-No. 9 Virginia within one at halftime of an eventual 13-7 home loss, a result that dropped the Cavaliers to 5-5 and 0-3 in conference play.
“I think that there were a couple of times we just broke and made a couple of mistakes and just came up really empty [and] gave Duke, who’s a really disciplined team and really well-organized team, too many opportunities,” Virginia coach Julie Myers said.
Thursday afternoon in Chapel Hill, Virginia (8-8, 1-4 ACC) will play Duke (11-4, 2-3 ACC) for a second time, this time in the ACC Tournament’s first round. The winner will face No. 1 Maryland, the tournament’s top seed, in Friday’s semifinal.
The Cavaliers have fallen to a season-low No. 19 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll and only earned the conference tournament’s fifth seed last week with a 10-5 win against Virginia Tech in their regular season finale. Considering Virginia’s slipping ranking and season-long struggles against top teams, the Cavaliers’ play against Duke may well determine their NCAA Tournament prospects. Virginia has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of Myers’ 17 years as coach.
“I think we beat Duke and we’re maybe a step inside the bubble in terms of being able to get in,” Myers said. “I think we beat Maryland and we get the job done…So, I think one win at the ACC’s is hopefully enough; two would definitely … do it.”
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils come into the game ranked No. 7 in the country and have won seven of their last 10 games. The team has benefitted greatly from Duryea’s presence in goal. The freshman did not enter the starting lineup until the second half of Duke’s 15-6 loss to the Terrapins on Feb. 24. Since her first start, a March 2 win against Vanderbilt in Durham, the Blue Devils have posted a 7-3 record. Duryea’s .522 save rate has translated to Duke’s ACC-best 8.40 saves per game.
A focus for Virginia against the Blue Devils may be the scoring threat from Bocklet. As the Cavaliers’ leader in goals and assists with 32 and 18, respectively, Bocklet has cooled in the weeks following Duke’s visit to Charlottesville. She averaged 2.6 goals per game in Virginia’s first 10 contests of the year but has scored only three goals in the past five games. The Northwestern transfer did not score in losses to No. 20 Boston College and the No. 4 Wildcats.
Another key to the game will be limiting Blue Devil senior attacker Mackenzie Hommel and junior midfielder Maddy Morrissey, who combined for seven goals and two assists when the teams played at Klöckner Stadium. Hommel ended the regular season with a team-high 41 goals, and her 2.73 goals per game ranks fifth in the ACC.
The last time Virginia and Duke played, junior Liz Colgan was in the cage for the Cavaliers. Colgan, who backs up senior goalkeeper Kim Kolarik, recorded six saves in the second of her seven high-quality starts as Kolarik recovered from a broken hand. Kolarik finally returned to the lineup in the April 17 win against Virginia Tech.
“It’s been hard, after starting for two and a half seasons, to break my hand and have to sit, but now I’m back and it is great,” Kolarik said after the game. “This week in practice has been really good. I feel like it is getting better every day. I’m 100 percent and I’m happy because it is just in time for ACCs.”
Myers has coached the Cavaliers since 1996 and assisted Cavalier great Jane Miller, a two-time NCAA Championship winner, from 1992 to 1994. Her years in Charlottesville have included clutch victories and untimely defeats, and in that respect, Thursday’s game is by no means uncharted territory.
“I mean, I’m a really positive, optimistic person, and I mean, I think we can do it,” Myers said. “I think we’re going to beat Duke on Thursday.”
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