Duke Visits Virginia Friday for ACC Lacrosse Showdown

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (10-1, 2-0 ACC) hold the top spot in the nation, ranking No. 1 this week in the USILA coaches and Nike/Inside Lacrosse media polls. UVa returns home to host the Duke Blue Devils (10-3, 1-1 ACC), who are ranked No. 7 in both the coaches and media polls, and winners of seven straight. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m., inside Klöckner Stadium. The winner will claim the regular season ACC title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC Championship in Charlottesville. Live stats are available at VirginiaSports.com.

There will be a live radio broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM, which will be simulcast as an audio webcast on VirginiaSports.com through Cavaliers Live. John Freeman will bring the play-by-play, Doug Tarring will provide the analysis and Jack Bird will roam the sidelines. ESPNU will televise the game live in HD with Eamon McAnaney bringing the play-by-play and Quint Kessenich providing color analysis. There will be a webcast of the ESPNU broadcast live on ESPN3.

Public parking for men’s lacrosse and baseball’s contest versus North Carolina (6 p.m.) will be available in the University Hall, JPJA and McCue parking lots as well as the Emmett/Ivy Garage. With capacity crowds expected for the baseball and men’s lacrosse games, fans are encouraged to arrive early.

Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets for the contest in advance to guarantee admission as capacity crowds are expected. Tickets can be purchased at any time online at Virginiasports.com, in person at the main Virginia Athletics Ticket Office located in Bryant Hall (Scott Stadium) between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday, or by phone by calling 800-524-8821 between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.

Tickets for the game may be purchased on Friday online at VirginiaSports.com until 3 p.m. or in person starting at 4 p.m. from the Klöckner/Davenport Ticket Booth. A temporary ticket booth, accepting cash only, will also be located in the corner of the John Paul Jones Arena parking lot at the intersection of Copeley and Massie Roads and will open at 4 p.m. for ticket sales.

Virginia men’s lacrosse single-game tickets are $8 (adult General Admission) and $6 (youth, seniors, faculty/staff General Admission). All Reserved Seats are sold out for the 2012 men’s lacrosse season. Tickets for groups (20+) are $5 each for Friday’s game.

The contest on Friday represents “Senior Day” for the Cavaliers, as 11 seniors will be honored before they take the field for the final regular-season home game of their careers. Ryan Benincasa, Chris Bocklet, Chris Clements, Rob Fortunato, Matt Kugler, Matt Lovejoy, Brian McLinden, Wyatt Melzer, Jarrid Puzes & Steele Stanwick will all be honored.

Friday marks the 76th all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils, a series in which the Cavaliers own a 49-26 advantage since 1938. The 49 victories equal the most UVa has against any opponent in program history (matches 49 victories against UNC), but the Blue Devils have won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including the last three.

Stanwick, the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row, leads UVa with 37 assists and 54 points. His ratio of 3.4 assists per game ranks No. 1 in the nation. Chris Bocklet leads UVa with 28 goals, while six other Cavaliers are already in double figures. Rob Emery and Stanwick are No. 2 and No. 3 on the team with 19 and 17 goals, respectively. Chris LaPierre leads UVa with 47 ground balls, which is the second-most by any player in the country who is not a faceoff specialist. Rob Fortunato is saving 59.9 percent of shots against him and posting a 7.85 goals against average in between the pipes.

Duke head coach John Danowski is in his sixth season at Duke and returns 32 letterwinners and eight starters off of last season’s NCAA semifinal team that went 14-6. Jordan Wolf leads the Blue Devils with 20 assists and 44 points, while Robert Rotanz paces Duke with 26 goals. Wolf and Josh Dionne both have 24 goals, tied for second-best on the squad. CJ Costabile is winning 54.7 (88-of-161) of his faceoffs and has a team-best 84 ground balls. Dan Wigrizer leads the Duke goalies in starts with seven, and is saving 51.9 percent and posting a 9.20 goals against average in between the pipes.

UVa will return to action on April 20 in the ACC Championship semifinal round. The Atlantic Coast Conference will announce the tournament pairings following Friday’s game. The game times for the tournament are 5 and 7:30 p.m. and all games during the ACC Championship will be televised live on ESPNU in HD.

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