Duke Beats Virginia To Win ACC Tourney

CHARLOTTESVILLE, April 27 -- Fifth-year senior Virginia goalkeeper Bud Petit often celebrated his saves against Duke in the ACC men's lacrosse tournament title game Sunday with a fist-pump and, once, with a head-butt to a teammate. Duke fifth-year senior Dan Loftus was much more reserved; he rarely showed any emotion until he was named the tournament's most valuable player following Duke's 11-9 victory before 3,758 at Klockner Stadium.

Such a close outcome did not seem likely late in the third quarter. At that point the Blue Devils (15-1) led 11-3 after an extra-man goal by fifth-year senior Matt Danowski. Around then, dozens of fans began heading for the exits.

To that point, No. 3 Virginia (12-3) had used an offense so patient that it was warned three times for stalling.

Coach Dom Starsia scrapped the game plan and went to a more desperate approach. Namely, he paired freshman brothers Rhamel and Shamel Bratton on the first midfield with fifth-year senior Peter Lamade.

His logic was that the Brattons are the team's most athletic players, and Starsia wanted them to pressure second-ranked Duke's defense.

"I felt like it was a game where we needed to go by people," Starsia said. "And they're two of our more dynamic athletes. We hoped we could create things. . . . If Brian Carroll gets his hands free he's deadly, but they were putting a short on him and we weren't able to go by there so easily."

The move paid off when Rhamel Bratton scored to cut Virginia's deficit to 11-7 with 8 minutes 56 seconds to play. It was 11-8 following an extra-man goal by sophomore Carroll with 1:42 left. And it was 11-9 after senior Ben Rubeor scored on a fast break 10 seconds later.

After the next faceoff, which Virginia lost following a pushing infraction, Duke Coach John Danowski called timeout. As the home crowd cheered and stomped on the aluminum bleachers, Danowski had a simple message for the team: Relax.

"Get back to basics, get back to fundamentals," Danowski said he told them. "Play like it's practice and this is just, you have to go out and play right."

Duke had two turnovers after the timeout, but Virginia did not take advantage. Its last chance came after Petit got a loose ball with 50 seconds left and tried a long outlet pass. But he overthrew it, Duke's fifth-year senior defenseman Tony McDevitt got the loose ball near midfield and the Blue Devils ran out the clock.

Matt Danowski had three goals, all in the second half, and junior midfielder Ned Crotty added two goals and two assists for Duke. Rubeor and Carroll each had three goals for the Cavaliers.

"Yeah, we'd like to have another shot at them," Rubeor said. "They put a lot of pressure on you, and they force you to play in pressure situations. That can bring out the best in you or the worst in you, and at times today it brought out the worst in us."

Loftus finished with 17 saves; at least five were on point-blank shots, including one that had almost every Virginia player and coach on the sideline throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

"Danny has been good for us all year," John Danowski said. "He was calm, he stayed between the pipes."

· ACC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP: Junior Ashley McCulloch scored the winning goal with 3:08 left in overtime as Virginia defeated Maryland, 10-9, at Scott Stadium. Senior goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty (St. Stephen's/St. Agnes) was named the tournament most valuable player for the second consecutive season. She finished with eight saves Sunday and also had eight in a 10-9 victory over Duke in a semifinal Friday. McCulloch (W.T. Woodson) had two goals and two assists for the Cavaliers (14-3). Senior Dana Dobbie had three goals and one assist for the Terrapins (15-2).

· PATRIOT LEAGUE WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP: Colgate outscored American 6-1 in the second half of its 13-8 victory at Jacobs Field in Northwest. The Red Raiders (10-9) advance to face Marist in the play-in game for the NCAA tournament. Gina Ibello, who scored the winning goal in the semifinals against Navy, had two goals for the Eagles (8-10). Jackie Lane also scored twice.