CHARLOTTESVILLE -- One moment the game was tied, and the record crowd was roaring. An instant later, it seemed, Duke had blown this ACC men's lacrosse game open.

"Those goals happened so quick," said University of Virginia defenseman Ken Clausen, a one-time Duke recruit. "It was 9-9, and all of the sudden on the sideline, you look and it's 19-9."

That was the final score. The second-ranked Blue Devils scored the last 10 goals to stun the third-ranked Cavaliers before a capacity crowd of 8,000, the largest to see a lacrosse game at Klockner Stadium.

Duke (3-0, 12-1) clinched the No. 1 seed in the ACC tourney, which will be held late this month at Klockner. Virginia (1-2, 10-2) will be seeded No. 3.

Yesterday's loss was the most one-sided ever for U.Va. at Klockner, which opened in 1993. This is Dom Starsia's 16th season as the Cavaliers' coach, and he's rarely had to address his players after such a pummelling. His postgame message?

"I tell the team I'm with them the whole way," Starsia said. "These kind of things happen. We didn't stop fighting. We came out in the third quarter, and I thought we got right back into it. But [Duke] can score so quickly and in such bunches. What I said to them after the game was, 'We don't want to be pretty good. We want to be really good. And that team is really good right now, and that's where we've got to get to.'"

Because of the NCAA's decision to award an extra season of eligibility to Duke players affected by the school's cancellation of the team's 2006 season, the college careers of such stars as attackman Matt Danowski, defensemen Tony McDevitt and Nick O'Hara and goalie Dan Loftus were extended. So was the career of midfielder Peter Lamade, who transferred from Duke to U.Va. to attend graduate school.

The Blue Devils' late spree didn't shock Lamade.

"Experience is something you can't coach," he said, "and they have a lot of it."

Twice U.Va. battled back from substantial deficits to tie the game. Three straight goals pulled the Cavaliers to 4-4 early in the second quarter. Duke went into halftime up 8-4 and scored the first goal of the third quarter, only to see the Cavaliers rally again.

Virginia never claimed the lead, however, and Duke's game-ending deluge began with a Zack Greer goal that made it 10-9 with 4:18 left in the third quarter. About three minutes later, Starsia substituted Mark Wade for goalie Bud Petit. A Collegiate School graduate, Petit was slowed by a hip flexor that worsened as the game went on.

The final quarter was a comedy of errors for Virginia, which struggled to pass and catch.

Sophomore attackman Max Quinzani led Duke with a career-high seven goals. The Devils got three from junior midfielder Steve Schoeffel, a graduate of the nearby Covenant School.

"It was a bit surreal coming back here," Schoeffel said after his first game at Klockner. "I watched a lot of games here when I was growing up."

Duke ------------------------- 4
Virginia ------------------------- 1

4

6

5 -- 19

3

5

0 -- 9

Goals: Duke: Quinzani 7, Schoeffel 3, Greer 3, Danowski, O'Hara, Ross, Catalino, Ward, Howell. Virginia: Rubeor 2, Gill, Billings, B. Carroll, Barrow, S. Bratton, Lamade, Giannone.

Assists: Duke: Danowski 3, O'Hara, Payton, Quinzani. Virginia: Barrow, Billings, B. Carroll, Gill, Glading, Ince, Rubeor.

Goalies: Duke: D. Loftus (52 minutes, 46 seconds; 9 goals allowed, 12 saves); Schroeder (7:14, 0 goals allowed; 1 save). Virginia: Petit (43:24, 13 goals allowed, 9 saves); Wade (16:36, 6 goals allowed, 1 save).