Record crowd sees record UVa defeat

By Whitey Reid

Published: April 12, 2008

Bud Petit took a knee behind the Virginia bench. One by one, teammates walked by him and slapped him on the back.
Finally, after staring down at the grass for several minutes, the fifth-year senior goalie slammed his helmet down in disgust.
It was only the third quarter.
Yes, it was that kind of game for the UVa men’s lacrosse team.
Playing in front of a record crowd of 8,000 at Klockner Stadium on Saturday night, Virginia was hammered by No. 2 Duke, 19-9. It was UVa’s worst home loss in the 15-year history of the facility.
The third-ranked Cavaliers were outscored 10-0 over the game’s final 19:18.
“They can score so quickly and in such bunches,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “I said to [my players] after the game that we don’t want to be pretty good. We want to be really good. And that team [Duke] is really good right now. That’s where we have to get to.”
Duke was led by sophomore Max Quinzani’s seven goals. The Blue Devils’ dominating performance was reminiscent of those by the 2006 Virginia NCAA championship team.
“They beat us in every aspect of the game today,” said UVa senior Ben Rubeor, who led the Cavs with two goals. “I think it starts with the small things. If you can’t get groundballs, you’re not going to come back, especially against a team that’s that talented.”
Virginia (10-2, 1-2 ACC) never led in the game. Before the crowd - which was capped at 8,000 due to safety concerns - could settle in, Duke led 3-0.
UVa would tie the game at 4 on a goal by Ben Rubeor early in the second quarter, but the Blue Devils (12-1,
3-0) answered with four straight goals - the last coming by Quinzani as time expired - to take an 8-4 lead at the half.
When Quinzani scored less than a minute into the third quarter to put Duke up 9-4, the game looked all but over. However, Virginia responded with five goals over the next six minutes to tie things up.
“I turned to one of my assistant coaches and said, ‘Boy, I don’t know about this one,’” said Duke coach John Danowski. “They [had] momentum, huge crowd and were playing well. They had us on our heels.”
But it was all downhill for Virginia from there.
Duke, buoyed by its efficiency on key groundballs and faceoffs, dominated the final 19 minutes of the contest.
“They are so good with the ball on the ground,” Starsia said. “I really feel that’s where the game was won and lost. If I was them, I’d throw it on the ground periodically. They’re so good. When the ball’s on the deck, they were able to pick it up and [convert] on unsettled opportunities.
“They were just so slick around the cage and I think defensively we weren’t as smart as we needed to be.”
After Brad Ross scored to put Duke up 13-9 with 1:36 seconds left in the third quarter, Starsia replaced Petit - who was hobbled by a hip flexor injury - with sophomore Mark Wade.
It made little difference. Duke, which locked up a No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, continued its onslaught and left the capacity crowd looking glum.
“They’re a real good team and they capitalized on our mistakes,” said UVa defender Ken Clausen. “If you want to beat a good team, you can’t make some of the errors we did.”