May 21, 2000

Baltimore, Md. - The seventh-seeded Duke men's lacrosse team saw its season end with a 10-9 loss to defending national champion and second-seeded Virginia in NCAA quarterfinal action Sunday afternoon at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field. It marked the third season in a row the Blue Devils lost in the quarterfinals.

The Cavaliers opened the game scoring with an empty-net goal, when Ian Shure intercepted a Duke pass and fired it 20 yards into the net. Virginia went up 2-0 over seven minutes later. But Duke responded with two goals of their own in the final two and a half minutes of the first quarter, as seniors Nick Hartofilis and T.J. Durnan both hit solo shots into the net.

Duke then went up 4-2 in the second quarter, as freshman Kevin Cassese scored on an unassisted shot with 10:07 left in the half. Junior Hunter Henry scored his first goal of the season, as he picked up the ground ball on a faceoff and took it all the way to the goal.

But the Cavs responded with with two more goals to make it 6-4 at the half. UVa's Hanley Holcomb scored his second goal of the game at the 4:22 mark, then Drew McKnight added another 18 seconds later.

Duke's Henry added his second goal of the game early in the third quarter, again on a solo shot. Duke had possession of the ball for most of the third quarter, but was unable to find the net for the remainder of the period. Virginia was held scoreless in the third quarter until the final five seconds, when McKnight added his second goal of the game.

Virginia then went up 8-5 early in the fourth, and held on to that lead for nearly eight minutes. Duke seniors Jared Frood and Craig Schubert then scored one goal each to reduce the Cavalier lead to one. After Virginia went up 9-7, Duke tied it up with two straight goals from Hartofilis and Greg Patchak. Twenty-three seconds later, Duke goalkeeper Matt Breslin saved a McKnight shot, but McKnight caught his own rebound and went around the back of the net, firing in the game-winning goal from the other side.

With 2:21 remaining, the Blue Devils had a couple of opporunities to score, but their final shot hit the pipes. The Cavaliers recovered and held on as time expired.

Duke's Breslin had another outstanding game, tallying 16 saves. The teams were nearly even in shots (Virginia 46-44) and the Cavs had 40 ground balls to Duke's 30. After the Blue Devils took four of the first five faceoffs, Virginia went on to take 13 of 23 for the game. Neither team was able to score on their EMOs (Duke 0-3, UVa 0-2).

Duke closed out its season 11-4, marking the eighth year overall and fourth consecutive season it has recorded at least 10 wins.