Virginia Parades Past Richmond In Rainy NCAA Tournament Opener

Virginia Cavaliers
Jeff Conner celebrated his birthday with 1 goal and 2 assists for Virginia. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team made a splash in its NCAA Tournament opener on Saturday. Literally and figuratively.

A convincing 17-8 win against Richmond took care of the symbolic part, while a ferocious downpour turned the Klockner Stadium grass into an actual puddle party for much of the contest. Obviously winning helped the mood, but the Hoos delighted in the deluge as they advanced to the quarterfinals in Albany next week.

“I told the men right after the game it felt like when you were probably 10, 12 years old playing on a muddy, grassy field and you just play for the pure joy of it,” Virginia coach Lars Tiffany said. “We’re really spoiled here at the University of Virginia with incredible facilities and we get to play at a lot of other great venues as well, but we don’t get to play in the slop very often and I really appreciate how much our men enjoyed it and embraced and really had fun with this today.”

When a lightning delay paused the game at the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers already held a 5-2 advantage thanks to a balanced scoring output in the first frame. Quick goals from Jeff Conner and Xander Dickson gave UVA a 2-0 lead that made sure the hosts never trailed. Dickson, Evan Zinn, and Will Cory added one goal each before the break as well.

That early lead proved beneficial when the teams returned from the delay and were met with a driving rain for most of the second quarter. The rain came down so fast that the field could not drain, leaving deep puddles of water at different spots all around the surface. Water splashed into the air with every step as players tried to run through space. The two goalkeepers stood in inches of water that nearly covered their shoes before the grounds crew filled in dry dirt at halftime. The weather eventually shifted from heavy rain to sunshine back to light rain in the end.

While the conditions added a layer of complexity, the Cavaliers quickly adapted. Playing other games in wet conditions this season likely helped, though this particular challenge was a different deal altogether with the amount of water on the field.

“It was weird because we hadn’t played in like a swamp before,” UVA senior defender Cade Saustad said. “We’ve played on wet grass, but you’re stepping in and you’re just sinking. We tried to figure it out before we resumed and then it started pouring and we couldn’t really hear anything. It was tough transitioning into that, but once we got settled in, it felt fine.”

“I guess it was just unlike anything I’ve ever played in, probably a lot of guys,” Virginia redshirt junior Connor Shellenberger said. “You had to be really conscious about every step you take and planting and shooting. Just having to be really conscious about everything you’re doing and trying not to let that affect the rest of your game.”

If the weather was bothersome, Shellenberger put it behind him quickly. He fired in a goal at 10:54 for a 6-3 lead, which slowed any potential Richmond momentum after Derrek Madonna had scored to start the quarter. The Spiders tried one more time to climb back into the game with a Dalton Young goal that made it 6-4, but the Hoos ripped off four straight goals to take full control of the game for good. Payton Cormier, Noah Chizmar, Shellenberger, and Griffin Schutz stacked those together to end the half with a 10-4 advantage.

Virginia Cavaliers
Payton Cormier poured in 6 goals for Virginia. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

Cormier’s goal was a sign of things to come. With his uncanny ability to quickly fire off shots or redirect passes into the net, he dominated the scoreboard in the second half with 5 goals as his teammates repeatedly found him in pockets near the crease.

Will Cory assisted on the first as he sprinted from behind the left side of the cage and fed Cormier in front, while Schutz found him later as well. On the three goals in between, Virginia worked the ball to perfection in transition. The ball pinged ahead where Shellenberger or Dickson quickly zipped it over to Cormier for the simple finish.

“You don’t see that much in college lacrosse, it’s more like a high school fastbreak goal, the tic tac toe,” Tiffany said. “Point man, low right, low left, goal and to see that at this level, it’s really cool. It defines the unselfishness of this group and certainly the skillset of Conner, Xander, and Payton. Aren’t those fun? We just kept getting that back pipe, dunking it. Especially when the goalie is making some saves early and you don’t want to get him hot there. It really, really defines who we are.”

As tangible proof of that unselfish play, UVA ended up with 11 assists on its 17 goals. Shellenberger had 4 assists, while Conner added 2. Dickson, Thomas McConvey, Cory, Patrick McIntosh, and Shutz chipped in 1 assist each. In addition to Cormier’s 6-goal outburst, Dickson and Shellenberger scored 2 goals while Evan Zinn, Truitt Sunderland, Conner, McConvey, Cory, Shutz, and Chizmar all had 1 goal.

For Dickson, the rainy day turned into an unforgettable moment. With those 2 goals, he took over the program’s all-time record for goals in a season. With 58 goals in the books, he broke a tie with Doug Knight, who had 56 goals in 1996. Dickson will get a chance to add to his total next week against Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals.

“It’s just a testament to the type of person Xander is and how hard working he is,” Shellenberger said. “He’s had his head down his whole time here and he hasn’t given up, he hasn’t complained, and just kept putting in the work. For Payton and I to be part of Xander’s historic season has been pretty cool. It’s fun to watch him score a lot of goals.”

With the Virginia offense clicking, the Cavalier defense took care of the rest. Richmond rolled into this rematch on a six-game winning streak and had scored at least 13 goals in each of those victories. In fact, the Spiders had scored in double digits in 13 of their 15 games this season.

Of course, one of the outliers came from the first meeting against UVA. Back on March 4, the Hoos smashed the Spiders 25-8 and they managed to match that defensive total in the postseason contest too. Virginia caused 6 turnovers and allowed only one extra man goal. The D allowed just 17 shots on goal, while keeper Matthew Nunes logged 9 saves.

“Scouting this week, we were told that people were healthier and had been playing better throughout the season so we were prepared for that,” Saustad said. “We knew that they’d definitely be dodging harder than they were the first game. … It’s always nice holding a team like that below 10 goals and just try to get some momentum going into the next week.”

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