College Crosse NCAA Tournament Recap: Virginia Beats Duke 13-12 In Doube Overtime

We knew we were in store for a couple great match-ups today, but I don’t know if anyone expected a double overtime thriller like the one we just had between Duke & Virginia. Both teams played valiantly and had chances to end the game in regulation and in the first overtime session, but it was UVA’s Ian Laviano who buried the game-winner to win it for Virginia by a final score of 13-12 in double overtime. This was Virginia’s 5th overtime game of the season and Duke’s 4th, but it was the first double overtime game for either team this year.

Virginia’s Ryan Conrad got the game’s first goal off of an assist from Dox Aitken. Duke was able to tie it up a few minutes later as Brad Smith scored his first of the game with 7:52 left in the first. Ryan Conrad scored again to put the Cavs back in the lead about three minutes later, however that would be it for goals for the rest of the period as the two teams mostly traded turnovers to close out the first quarter. UVA’s Alex Rode had a great first period for the Cavaliers as he finished with five saves in the first quarter.

It was all Duke in the second quarter however, as the Blue Devils went on a 4-0 run to take command of the game. CJ Carpenter tied the game up at two for the Blue Devils a minute and a half into the second quarter and then Duke’s Brad Smith scored his second goal of the game to give Duke the lead 3-2 roughly two minutes later; Nakeie Montgomery assisted on both goals. Duke continued its second quarter run when Joey Manown scored his first goal of the game to put Duke up 4-2 and then Joe Robertson helped Duke go into halftime up 5-2 as he scored his first goal of the game with a little over a minute left in the quarter. UVA had a tough time holding onto the ball the second quarter thanks to 7 turnovers in the period. Virginia had 13 turnovers total in the first half, as compared to only four for Duke.

While the first half was a bit choppy, the third quarter more than made up for the low scoring and sloppy play. Dox Aitken snapped UVA’s cold-shooting streak with his first goal of the day a minute and a half into the third quarter. Duke’s CJ Carpenter scored about two minutes later to put Duke back up by 3 goals. But then UVA’s Matt Moore scored his first goal of the day to cut the deficit to two.

Duke then responded thanks to Joe Robertson’s second goal of the game which put them up 7-4 and then the Blue Devils quickly scored again on the ensuing face-off as Brian Smyth stripped Petey Lasalla as Lasalla was scooping up a ground ball, sprinted past Lasalla after taking possession, and then rifled a shot past UVA’s Alex Rode to put Duke up 8-4. Petey Lasalla got his revenge on the next possession, though, as he cleanly won the face-off this time and raced forward to score about ten seconds after Smyth’s goal. Lasalla’s tally cut Duke’s lead to 8-5.

The scored stayed that way for the next several minutes until UVA’s Matt Moore scored his second goal of the game to get UVA within two with 2:15 left in the third quarter. It looked like that would be it for the third quarter but Ian Laviano scored with 5.3 seconds left on the clock to cut Duke’s lead to 8-7.

Duke promptly responded in the fourth quarter thanks to Brian Smyth who again scored off the face-off nine seconds into the third quarter. Duke got its tenth goal of the day off of an unassisted goal by Kevin Quigley to take a 3 goal lead on the Cavaliers with just under 14:00 left to play in the fourth quarter. However, Duke’s 3-goal cushion would not hold for long as Ian Laviano scored his second goal of the day with 10:50 left in the fourth quarter. But Duke’s Brad Smith scored with 9:49 left in the game to put Duke back up by 3.

Back came Virginia thanks to Dox Aitken who got the Cavs back within two. Aitken then got his third of the game almost a minute later to get UVA within one goal with 7:55 left to play. The teams traded possessions for the next few minutes until Duke’s Kevin Quigley scored his second goal of the game with less than 1 second left on the shot clock to give Duke a 12-10 lead with 1:56 left in the fourth.

UVA would not go down without a fight, though. After a Duke turnover, UVA’s Michael Kraus scored with less than a minute to play to put UVA within one goal. Duke lost the ensuing face-off and then Virginia’s Ian Laviano found the back of the net to tie the game at 12 with 14.4 seconds left in the game. Laviano’s equalizer was the first time the game was tied since 2-2 back in the first quarter. UVA almost ended it in regulation as Michael Kraus had a great look at the goal but his shot went just wide.

UVA won the face-off in overtime and then quickly called timeout. However, after play resumed, UVA turned the ball over and then Duke successfully cleared it. After a shot in transition, Duke retained possession, and then called timeout of their own with 1:53 left in the extra session. Alex Rode made a huge save but UVA was unable to clear the ball successfully, which gave the ball back to the Blue Devils.

However, while Duke was able to get another good look at the net, Alex Rode came up big with another huge save and this time Virginia successfully cleared the ball. UVA got a really good look in their final possession of the first overtime session, but the ball hit the side of the net and Duke was able to kill off the last seconds of the first extra session. Petey LaSalla won the face-off in the second overtime session and Ian Laviano sent everyone home with the game-winner with 3:09 left in the second OT session to beat Duke by a final score of 13-12.

UVA was led in scoring by Michael Kraus who had 5 points (1A, 4Gs). Ian Laviano (4Gs) & Dox Aitken (3Gs & 1A) chipped in with four points each as well. Alex Rode finished the game with 19 saves. Additionally, Petey LaSalla had a great game at the dot, as he won 18 out of 30, including going 9-3 in the fourth quarter and two overtime sessions.

Duke was led in scoring by Brad Smith who had four points (3Gs & 1A). Joe Robertson (2Gs, 1A) & CJ Carpenter were right behind Smith with 3 points each today.

UVA will play the winner of Penn State vs. Yale on Monday.