Virginia Heads to Tobacco Road for Friday Night Tilt with No. 7 Duke

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (5-6, 0-2 ACC) are receiving votes in both the USILA coaches and Nike/Inside Lacrosse media polls, marking the first time since March 15, 2004 that UVa is not ranked in the Top 20. The Cavaliers conclude ACC play on Friday against the Duke Blue Devils (9-4, 1-1 ACC), ranked No. 7 in the USILA coaches and No. 8 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media polls. The game will be contested at Duke’s Koskinen Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 6 p.m. Live stats will be 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 for a subscription cost on VirginiaSports.com through Cavaliers Live. John Freeman will bring the play-by-play and Doug Tarring will provide the game analysis. ESPNU will televise the game live in HD with Eamon McAnaney bringing the play-by-play and Quint Kessenich adding color commentary. There will be a web simulcast on ESPN3.

Friday marks the 77th all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils, a series in which the Cavaliers own a 49-27 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 12 of the last 13 meetings, including the last four. Virginia’s last win in the series was in the 2010 ACC Tournament and its last win at Koskinen Stadium was during the 2003 regular season, an 11-8 triumph.

Virginia will try to halt a five-game losing streak, which is its longest during the NCAA Championship era (est. 1971) and first since 1966. Heading the offensive attack for Virginia is Nick O’Reilly who has 18 goals and 21 assists for a team-best 39 points. Mark Cockerton is No. 2 in the nation with 32 goals, while Rob Emery and Matt White round out the top scorers with 15 goals each. Owen Van Arsdale and White also own double figure assist marks with 14 and 10, respectively.

UVa has two options in goal with Rhody Heller and Dan Marino. Heller, who started the last three games, is saving 48.6 percent of shots against him and has an 11.23 goals against average. Marino has posted a 9.09 goals against average and has saved 45.5 percent of shots in between the pipes.

Duke head coach John Danowski is in his seventh season at Duke and returns 31 letterwinners and eight starters off of last season’s NCAA semifinal team that went 15-5. Leading the offense for Duke is Jordan Wolf, the ACC’s second-ranked player in points (50). Wolf leads the Blue Devils with 33 goals and 17 assists. Josh Dionne has 22 goals and David Lawson owns 20 scores. Case Matheis is second on the team with 30 points (17 goals, 13 assists). Brendan Fowler is winning at the faceoff X at a 64.7 percent (196-of-303) clip. After staring the season 2-4, Duke went to Kyle Turri in the cage and have won seven in a row. Turri is saving 54.4 percent of shots against him and posting an 8.05 goals against average.

Virginia returns home on April 20 for its senior day festivities when Bellarmine comes to Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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