April 21, 2008

• 2008 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship Site

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Duke's Ned Crotty and Virginia's Ben Rubeor share this week's Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Co-Players of the Week accolade for the period ending on Sunday, April 20. Crotty netted three goals on Saturday as second-ranked Duke defeated eighth-ranked Army, 10-6, while Rubeor gave the fourth-ranked Cavaliers four goals and two assists in Virginia's 11-7 win over Dartmouth.

Crotty's third hat trick of the season and second in three outings came at the Lacrosse Day of Champions, an event held to pay homage to former Blue Devil Jimmy Regan. Regan, an Army Ranger who was killed in Iraq last year, was a high school All-America at Chaminade High School and went on to play at Duke from 1999-2002.

Two of the midfielders' three goals came on back-to-back opportunities, as Crotty put the Blue Devils ahead by a 4-0 count with just 24 seconds remaining in the first period. The junior scored again just 45 seconds in the second period to give Duke a 5-0 lead.

Rubeor helped the Cavaliers rebound from a big loss to Duke the previous week with a 4-goal, 2-assist performance against Dartmouth on Saturday. The senior attackman scored two goals and added an assist to help Virginia rally from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 6-2 lead midway through the second quarter. Dartmouth cut the lead to 6-4, but Rubeor tallied two more goals in the final three minutes of the first half to put UVa ahead 8-4. Rubeor added an assist early in the fourth quarter to help the Cavs extend their lead from 8-6 to 9-6 with fewer than 10 minutes to play on the way to the victory.

Both Virginia and Duke will compete next in the upcoming ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship, which will take place on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. The Blue Devils locked in the number one seed in the upcoming ACC two-day event and will face on fourth-seeded North Carolina on Friday, April 25 at 5 p.m. ET in semifinal action, while No. 2 seed Maryland and No. 3 seed Virginia will square off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Klockner Stadium.