The Virginia men’s lacrosse program earned the No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Hoos will face Richmond on Saturday, an in-state opponent they are quite familiar with, having played the Spiders every season since they transitioned to Division I in 2014.
In March, Virginia defeated Richmond by a score of 25-8. It was a revenge game for the Cavaliers, who lost to the Spiders in 2022 for the first time in program history (8-1 vs. Richmond all-time). This sole loss did come on the road, so playing at home in Klöckner Stadium presents an obvious advantage for the Cavaliers. It’s also good for Virginia to be back hosting a tournament game in the first round after having to travel to Brown last year.
Despite a big win earlier in the season, the Hoos anticipate a closer game, noting how this Richmond team has improved throughout the year.
“When we played Richmond in early March, everything went our way,” said Virginia coach Lars Tiffany. “Every ball bounced our way and we were very fortunate. We know that Richmond was also banged up in that game coming into the game. So when I’m watching film of Richmond, especially offensively, there’s some guys who look like they’ve got a better bounce in their step, look faster than the first time we played because they’re healthier. They’re certainly playing really well and putting a lot of balls in the net.”
One Spider who has improved since that game in March and will garner loads of attention is senior attackman Dalton Young, who won Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year in the conference’s inaugural season. Young has posted 30 goals and 39 assists this season, notching at least one goal in every game. In the matchup with Virginia earlier this year, the senior had 2 goals and 1 assist. In the 10 games since, he has scored 7 or more points in half of those contests.
“Yeah, they definitely seem to be a lot different team,” said Connor Shellenberger, a redshirt junior attackman and Tewaaraton-finalist. “I think just the energy they’re playing with on film and a lot of that belief that they’ve had throughout the conference tournament. You know they’re going to come in here, especially off the game beating us last year, and they’re going to believe that it’s going to be a different outcome than this past March. So I think they’re going to come with a different energy.”
This Richmond team as a whole is playing much better in the past two months, winning its last six games. The offense has been playing extremely well, averaging 17 goals a game during that stretch. Young is an obvious contributor, but the Spiders have also had plenty of new faces step up.
Attackmen Luke Grayum and Aidan O’Neil have both developed into key players for the Spiders. Grayum, a junior, is getting significant minutes this season for the first time since he’s joined the Richmond squad. He’s posted 26 goals and 18 assists. O’Neil, who won A10 Rookie of the Year, is a much different player than when the two teams faced off in March. The freshman has developed his game, become more accustomed to the physicality of Division I, and has grown into a more prominent role for Richmond. Through 15 games, O’Neil has provided 24 goals and 12 assists.
For Virginia, the game plan should be simple: dominate the faceoff X and control possession. Richmond is a team that is extremely hot at the moment with an offense that’s firing on all cylinders. It is important to limit the Spiders’ time of possession. One area the Cavaliers have an obvious advantage is in the faceoff department. Graduate senior Petey LaSalla has a 56% faceoff win percentage (222-397) and went 19-26 in the first matchup against the Spiders. If LaSalla can repeat this performance and the offense can limit turnovers, Virginia should have no problem securing a win.
Look for Shellenberger to potentially have a high assist game. When the two teams played in March, Richmond’s defense struggled to find cutters and match off-ball movement. For Shellenberger, this means he’ll be able to distribute from X to shooters like Xander Dickson, Payton Cormier, and more. Shellenberger had 3 assists in the first meeting.
On the other end, the play of Virginia’s close defense will be critical. Outside of Lance Madonna (A10 Midfielder of the year), Richmond elects to run its offense primarily through the attackmen. It’ll be important that the Cavaliers stay in their hands, as all three require little space to shoot and are happy to fire one off from anywhere on the field. If the Cavaliers are able to stay with their man off-ball and force contested shots for Richmond, they should have success.
Virginia is hoping to make it deeper into the NCAA Tournament this season, after losing to Maryland in the quarterfinals in 2022. The winner of Saturday’s game will travel to Albany, NY, to play either Georgetown or Yale. Those two also play this Saturday, but not until 5 p.m.
