Cavs get Devils in semis

By Bart Isley

Published: April 24, 2008

Virginia had to wait until Thursday’s quarterfinals to find out, but the Cavs will take on Duke in the ACC semifinals today at 3 p.m at Scott Stadium. Not that it will matter much. In addition to a regular season battle each year, Virginia and Duke have locked up in the postseason the last five seasons, so familiarity won’t be a problem.
“We were saying as a team that we know them so well,” said Virginia coach Julie Myers. “But they’re so dangerous in so many spots that its still going to be a tough game for us.”
Despite the lopsided 19-6 final margin, Virginia Tech (4-14, 0-5) put a scare into Duke early on in Thursday’s quarterfinal when the Hokies reeled off four straight goals to take a 4-2 advantage early in the first half. Duke answered with a six-goal run of its own to open up an 8-4 lead at the half, including a nifty quickstick goal by freshman Emma Hamm from classmate Christie Kaestner with 50 seconds left in the first. Eventually, Duke’s run came to 14 straight goals.
“I felt like we were a little tight and we didn’t have a lot of great practice time before this game,” said Duke coach Kerstin Kimmel. “I was just really pleased that our kids were able to get themselves in a flow.”
Duke won the ACC regular season title for four straight years from 2004-2007, but dropped a pair of conference contests against Virginia and North Carolina in 2008 to finish third in the conference. On March 29, Virginia knocked off Duke 13-9, the Blue Devils’ first loss at home in 20 games.
Virginia’s dominance on the draw in the first half (eight draw controls to Duke’s three) helped spur the Cavaliers to an 8-2 halftime lead. The Cavs did all that without the explosive Blair Weymouth, who has been hampered by an ankle injury at times this season and missed the Duke contest. Weymouth poured in 11 goals in the last four games.
Unlike Duke, the Cavs are also coming into the tournament with some momentum after knocking off Johns Hopkins and George Mason in the last two regular-season contests.
In the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m. today, North Carolina and Maryland will lock up for the right to go to the tournament final Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Tar Heels avenged an early season loss to Boston College Thursday in the quarterfinals with a
12-8 victory. Erica LaGrow and Cory Donohoe led the way with a hat trick each. North Carolina built an 8-3 halftime lead and held on after the break.