The Virginia men’s lacrosse team picked up its third win of the season with a 14-8 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Cavaliers built a big lead in the first half to help secure the win, and the defense didn’t give the Buckeyes anything easy.
Virginia moves to 3-0 on the season and picks up a big win on the same day that No. 1 Notre Dame loses at home to Georgetown. UVA has faced ranked opponents each week of the season thus far with victories against Michigan and Richmond in hand too.
“The men want this type of schedule,” Virginia coach Lars Tiffany said. “Playing teams in the top 20, this is who we’re going to be. As I’m the head coach here, we’re always gonna search this out. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out that way and you gotta work the schedule and play who you play. I love that we’ve challenged ourselves against three teams. So we know a lot about ourselves right now as opposed to if you’re playing three directional schools. I’m really happy with the first three games. I love the tenacity. I love this vibe and energy that we have. I’m a lucky man to coach this group of men.”
The Hoos’ fast start showed how prepared they were for another challenge.
On UVA’s second possession, Connor Shellenberger scooped up a ground ball before firing a shot into the top left corner for a 1-0 lead. He turned into a feeder for the second goal, when he found Virginia junior Will Inderlied up top. The big midfielder caught the pass and used a right to left split to create separation and fire home a goal, his first of the season. Shellenberger dished out 2 assists in the first quarter to go along with his goal.
Cavalier transfer Jack Boyden continued to display his Canadian flair with an early goal too. He notched his fifth goal of the season in the first quarter. With a defender draped all over him, it seemed like Boyden had no room to get a shot off. The midfielder used a twister shot to free up his hands and confuse the goalie. His goal put Virginia up 3-1.
The UVA defense was strong in settled possessions early in the game as well, not allowing the Ohio State offense to generate good looks. Where the Buckeyes found success was in transition or unsettled situations. The first OSU goal came on a fastbreak, when Alex Mariner caught a pass from defenseman Cullen Brown and fired a rocket into the top shelf. Mariner scored his second of the first quarter after Virginia was called for a loose ball push. A quick restart left Mariner wide open on the far side of the field for an easy skip pass and finish. A goal from Blake Eiland cut the Cavalier lead to 6-3 before the end of the first quarter.
The Hoos responded with a big second quarter too. McCabe Millon scored his second goal of the game for a 7-3 advantage. Ohio State defenders were able to knock the ball out of Payton Cormier’s stick, but the big Canadian picked up the ground ball and restored possession for the Wahoos. Millon was left alone in the unsettled situation and Cormier fired a skip pass to him through the defense. The pass was a little low, so the freshman had to catch and shoot from one knee. The sideline erupted as the ball snuck just under the crossbar. Millon’s goal sparked a little run for Virginia, as the Cavaliers added two more in the next 95 seconds to push their lead to 9-3.
Ohio State took a timeout at the 7:10 mark to try and stop the bleeding, but the Cavaliers found themselves a man up after an Ohio State defender blew up Joey Terenzi as he was setting a pick. During the extra-man opportunity, Millon found Cormier on the crease. It was Cormier’s second goal of the game and Millon’s third assist. It was also the third time these two connected for a goal. Cormier had 2 goals and 1 assist on the day. Virginia took a 10-3 lead to the break.
“We came out with a tenacity that we demand of our men,” Tiffany said. “That first half is exactly what UVA men’s lacrosse is all about. We were all over the ground balls, transition game, we were physical, we had a couple penalties, but that’s okay. That’s who we are. Give Ohio State credit. They owned that second half in terms of the tempo and what they wanted. Matt Nunes shut them down.”
Virginia’s defense continued to dominate in the second quarter. Matthew Nunes in particular played well. During one Ohio State possession, a Buckeye was left wide open on the crease. Nunes made a kick save to keep the ball out. A loose ball push gave the ball back to Ohio State, and again Nunes made a save from in close. The junior finished with 17 saves and a 70.8 save percentage. He had 9 saves after halftime.
“Playing at Klockner is just an awesome spot to see the ball,” Nunes said. “Also have to give a big shout out to the defense. Those guys really let me see the kind of shots I wanted to see. The scout team guys did a great job all week kinda running their motion so I could see the shots I was going to see. Coach [Kip] Turner also did a great job scouting the shooters and giving me little tidbits here and there.”
It was the Buckeyes who got on the board first in the second half off a goal from attackman Ed Shean. Virginia responded quickly with a goal from Ryan Colsey, his second of the game. Ohio State scored the game’s next 2 goals to cut into the lead.
The first came on an extra-man opportunity. After a slash from Cole Kastner and an illegal body check from Ben Wayer, the Buckeyes were two men up. Virginia’s man-down defense didn’t allow a goal on two opportunities in the first half, but the two-man advantage proved to be too much as Kurt Bruun scored for Ohio State. Just 50 seconds later, Jack McKenna made it a 11-6 game with his goal off an assist from Ben Mayer.
The Ohio State defense made necessary adjustments at halftime, limiting the Cavaliers to just 1 goal in the third quarter. Buckeyes goalie Caleb Fyock made some big saves. During an unsettled transition, Cormier found Millon about 7 yards in front of the cage. Fyock made an impressive save to keep it at a 5-goal game. Virginia had the final possession of the quarter, but Fyock made 2 saves against Shellenberger and Boyden. He had 6 in the quarter and finished with 17 in the game.
Any hopes of a late rally for the visitors faded when UVA scored 3 of the first 4 goals in the final frame.
Griffin Schutz got the offense going in the fourth quarter with his first goal of the game. The junior dodged from the right wing to get under his defender. He used his big frame to protect his stick as he ran back upfield to increase his angle, before diving through the air and finding the back of the net. Two refs met to discuss whether or not Schutz was in the crease, but ultimately both raised their hands to signal the goal.
After a goal from Ohio State, Shellenberger scored to push Virginia’s lead back to 6 goals. He took his defender to X before dodging right to left and slotting home his second goal of the game. The Charlottesville-native emphatically fist pumped after scoring and the home crowd rose to their feet. The Buckeyes were forced to use a timeout with 7:07 left in the game as Virginia held a 13-7 lead. Shellenberger finished the game with 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists).
With 3:32 left in the game, Millon completed his hat trick. For a second it seemed like Fyock kept the shot out, but upon review, the refs signaled for the goal. The freshman finished with 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists). He now has 10 goals on the season. After Millon’s goal, the starters came out for Virginia as the game was certainly out of reach at this point. Mayer added one more for the Buckeyes with 1:01 left to make it a 14-8 final.
The Virginia offense scored just 4 goals in the second half, but the early lead was enough for the win. The Cavaliers had 9 different goal-scorers and totaled 8 assists on the team’s 14 goals. Terenzi and Patrick McIntosh both had a goal in the contest. Defensively, Wayer had an impressive game, picking up 4 ground balls and adding 2 caused turnovers.
“He’s a man possessed,” said Tiffany on the play of Wayer through the first three games. “He’s like a mountain man coming down from the mountains after being gone for a year. He is swinging a battle ax. It’s such a joy. He’s changed his decision making. He’s changed his entire focus and purpose. He is here to get a great degree and be the best defenseman in the league. He was kinda just mixed up with what his role was here and now he’s gotten rid of the distractions and you’re seeing it.”
As a team, Virginia went 14-26 (53.8%) at the faceoff X. Anthony Ghobriel started the game for the Cavaliers, going 6-8 (75.0%) before an injury forced him to the sideline. Matthew Desouza and Thomas Colucci took the rest of the faceoffs for Virginia. The severity of Ghobriel’s injury is something to keep an eye on, as the Navy transfer has gotten off to a good start this season. Entering the Ohio State game, Ghobriel was 30-47 (63.8%).
Given that this game was on a Sunday, Virginia will have one less day to prepare before a big rivalry game at home against Johns Hopkins. After a devastating loss in the season-opener against Denver, the Blue Jays have rattled off 4 straight, with impressive wins over Georgetown, Loyola, and North Carolina most recently. Klockner will certainly be rocking for what should be a good test for the Hoos.
“The real challenge is midterms,” said Tiffany on preparing for Hopkins. “I’ve learned in my years at Brown and Virginia that the week before spring break, you don’t necessarily want the best team coming to Klockner. Unfortunately we have a really good Hopkins team. We’ve gotta find that balance as coaches. Do you make the gameplan a little simpler when everyone has all these exams and papers? So we’re gonna try and find that balance. They got Monday off, then we’re gonna attack this with maybe a little smaller scouting report.”
Great article! Thanks.