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The drought is over.

Virginia won an ACC game Saturday for the first time since 2014, defeating North Carolina 15-12 behind big-time performances by attackmen Mike D’Amario (four goals) and Michael Kraus (three goals, four assists).

It was 3-3 early in the second quarter before D’Amario twice converted feeds by Mikey Herring on consecutive possessions, nonchalantly whipping a shot behind his head with a walking stride to put the Cavaliers ahead 5-3.

Virginia ended the second quarter on a four-goal run to jump ahead 9-4 at halftime.

D’Amario’s fourth goal made it 10-4 with 9:38 remaining in the third quarter before little-used attackman Matt Gavin gave the Tar Heels a jolt. Gavin, a freshman, scored two goals in 38 seconds—the first two goals of his collegiate career—and would add another with seven seconds left in the third quarter to pull North Carolina within four at 13-9.

The back-and-forth scoring continued in the fourth quarter until Tar Heels long pole Jack Rowlett again made it a four-goal game with a long-range rip.

Tanner Cook’s only goal of the game with 1:02 remaining made for the final margin.

The Cavaliers’ last ACC regular-season win was March 1, 2014, against Syracuse. Coming into Saturday, they were 1-21 in the conference dating back to 2013. Their only other win against an ACC foe during that span came in the showcase game of the conference championship April 26, 2014.

blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">

FINAL: @UVAMensLax 15, @UNCMensLacrosse 12

Wahoos win first @ACCMLax regular season game since March 1, 2014. D'Amario 4G. Kraus 3G, 4A.

Tar Heels have lost six straight since starting 6-0, falling all the way back to .500 pic.twitter.com/YXUd9xXlIq

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 8, 2018

Virginia’s ACC losing streak wasn’t the only one snapped Saturday. North Carolina attackman Chris Cloutier saw his 30-game goal scoring streak come to an end. An apparent fourth-quarter goal was waived due to a crease violation. Cloutier was limited to two assists. The Tar Heels have lost six straight games after starting the season 6-0, falling all the way back to .500.

 

Duke Smothers Notre Dame

Duke’s defense rediscovered its dominance Saturday, shutting out Notre Dame in the second half as the third-ranked Blue Devils toughed out an 8-2 victory over the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish in South Bend.

Notre Dame was without two of its biggest offensive threats, as attackman Brendan Gleason (injury) and midfielder Bryan Costabile (undisclosed) both were sidelined. It showed, as the Irish went more than 25 minutes without a goal in the first half and then were blanked entirely in the second half.

Midfielder Pierre Byrne’s unassisted goal with 2:48 remaining in the second quarter pulled Notre Dame within 4-2, but it was all Duke from there. Blue Devils midfielder Sean Lowrie scored the first two goals in the third quarter, which, given the Irish’s shooting (2-for-25) and extra-man (0-for-3) woes, provided more than enough cushion.

Duke (10-2, 2-1 ACC), which struggled on defense against Syracuse (15-14 loss) and North Carolina (11-10 win) after allowing just two of its first nine opponents to reach double figures, never let Notre Dame (5-4, 1-2) back in the game.

“After the last two weeks, the [defensive] guys were a little disappointed in their performance,” Blue Devils coach John Danowski said afterward on ESPNU. “We also knew Notre Dame was without some people today. They were going to have to play more conservatively and they did, but I’m certainly delighted with the overall performance.”

Duke allowed its fewest goals in an ACC game since a 17-2 win over Virginia in 2005.

Tewaaraton candidate Justin Guterding scored two goals and moved past Jordan Wolf to No. 2 among the Blue Devils’ all-time leaders with 185 career goals.

Hilburn’s Heroics Keep BU in Patriot League Picture

Ryan Hilburn scored the game-tying and winning goals and Boston University erased a three-goal deficit to defeat Army 8-7. Goalie Joe McSorley kept the Terriers within striking distance with a 16-save performance, and BU finished the game on a four-goal run.

Hilburn’s equalizer came off an end-line restart with Black Knights goalie AJ Barretto unable to recover after chasing down a loose ball behind the cage. Hilburn then drew a short-stick matchup on the final possession and went to work with numerous dodges, scoring as he fell in front of the goal with 30 seconds remaining.

Navy is in first place in the Patriot League with a 6-1 conference mark after its 12-10 victory over Colgate on Saturday. Loyola, which picked up a big 16-10 road win at Lehigh, and Bucknell are tied for second at 5-1 in league play. Lehigh fell to fourth place at 5-2.

After that, Colgate, Army and BU sport 2-4 conference records. The top six teams advance to the Patriot League tournament.

Nike/US Lacrosse
Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 3 Duke 8, No. 11 Notre Dame 2
No. 5 Yale 17, Dartmouth 7
No. 6 Johns Hopkins 13, Ohio State 10
No. 10 Loyola 16, No. 15 Lehigh 10
No. 12 Virginia 15, North Carolina 12
No. 13 Cornell 15, No. 18 Harvard 11
No. 14 Bucknell vs. Mount St. Mary’s – 7 p.m. ET
Brown 10, No. 19 Penn 9
No. 20 Georgetown 8, Providence 4

Complete Scoreboard