Virginia returns to Philadelphia for the Final Four. ~ File photo courtesy Josie Drumheller/Virginia Athletics Media Relations
Virginia and Maryland have locked horns in lacrosse duels for nearly 100 years. The history between the two programs produces some intense and entertaining games, especially when they fall on Memorial Day weekend as the National Championship showcase for college lacrosse. That’s what’s on deck next in the long-standing rivalry.
Despite entering the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a bit of a limp – UVA lost four straight games and Maryland dropped back-to-back decisions too – both teams have recaptured some May magic to make a run to the Final Four. The Hoos and Terrapins, winners of three of the last four titles, meet in Philadelphia on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
“Thrilling as always to be a part of the ultimate weekend of college lacrosse,” Virginia coach Lars Tiffany said. “As we make the path here, recognizing that we had our bumps there in April but really, really grateful for a team that’s continuing to believe.”
The bumps in April: an 18-12 loss at Duke, an 18-17 loss at Syracuse, and an 11-9 loss to Notre Dame in Charlottesville. The start of May didn’t provide relief either as the Irish took down UVA at the ACC Tournament, 18-9, in Charlotte.
As the NCAA Tournament opened, the late-season swoon led to some upset picks for St. Joseph’s in the opening round too. But the Hoos prevailed 17-11. Then came a comeback act last week on a neutral field at Towson. Johns Hopkins led 10-7 at the end of the third quarter, but the Cavaliers scored four straight goals, including a game-winner from Connor Shellenberger in double overtime, to win 11-10 and advance.
Tiffany expressed gratitude for his team’s resilience both within the season when facing the four-game losing streak and within that game against Hopkins. Senior defender Cole Kastner, one of the team’s captains, said the team never really wavered, though. Thanks in part to having several experienced players all over the field.
“I don’t think there was any doubt,” Kastner said of the team’s ability to make it to the Final Four. “We’re really lucky to have a lot of guys who have a lot of experience and maybe we haven’t experienced losing consecutive games like that ever before, but that adds a whole lot of value and gives you a whole lot of perspective that it’s not easy to get to championship weekend and a lot of things have to go right. We fixed a lot of those issues and shortcomings where we were not executing at 100% of the capability that we were capable of.”
Kastner’s group, the defense, made some of the biggest gains over the last month. During that four-game skid, Virginia lost three times with the opponent putting up 18 goals. Even with a fast-paced game and effective offense, that’s a tough number to overcome against quality competition. UVA simplified its schemes and slides a little bit to get back on track, which helped hold St. Joe’s and Johns Hopkins to the lower totals in the two tournament games.
The Hoos allowed just 22 shots on goal against the Hawks and 19 against the Blue Jays. They also caused 15 turnovers in the first round followed by 11 more in the second round. Chase Yager produced 3 caused turnovers in each game to lead the way, while Ben Wayer also had 6 in the two games with a 4-2 split.
Maryland will challenge the Cavaliers, though. The Terps, Tiffany noted, do a good job battling through picks from the offense and sticking with the matchups they want defensively vs. switching easily. There’s also a little goalkeeper uncertainty for UVA as Matt Nunes gave way to Kyle Morris in the quarterfinals after Nunes allowed 4 goals in the first 7 minutes against Hopkins. Tiffany said the coaching staff would make a decision on which way to go in the cage during the week, though Morris has never started an NCAA Tournament game.
Throw in Luke Wierman’s faceoff ability for the Terrapins too. He’s won 62.0% at the X this season and helped Maryland dominate possession against Duke in his team’s win last week. When these teams met in a 14-10 UVA win back on March 16, Wierman was coming off an injury and won 16 of 28 faceoffs (57.1%).
Kastner caught some of the action in that Maryland-Duke game and knows a tough contest awaits.
“I just was really impressed with how relentless they were, making great plays on the offensive side, on the defensive side, at the faceoff X,” Kastner said. “They’re definitely a complete team. I was really impressed by the way they played, the energy they had out there. It’s not surprising for sure because we’ve been fortunate to come up against them a couple of times the last couple of years in the postseason. It’ll be an exciting one for sure.”
“For us, the improvements we’re seeing in a lot of different ways,” Tiffany said. “Certainly, our team defense. We’ve had our ups and downs. I think where we really are different right now is better decision-making. We want to be the fast, aggressive, Native American influenced team, but we also have to know how valuable possession is. Every coach says that in every sport, but certainly in playoff time in the month of May.”
Turnovers can often be a big topic with Virginia lacrosse fans. The Cavaliers do try to assert themselves on offense, but sometimes that leads to a plays that might be overly ambitious vs. a simple play instead. Tiffany said the key there is balance and knowing when to bypass individual heroics to let the ball find its way to and through Shellenberger, who became the program’s first four-time All-American this week.
UVA averages 15.82 turnovers per game, which ranks 29th nationally. Maryland is in similar territory at 15.93, which is tied for 31st. So is Denver, another Final Four qualifier, in 30th at 15.88. Notre Dame is the outlier in the remaining quartet as the No. 11 team in the turnover stat at 14.53.
When you get to the big stage here at the end, however, those turnovers can become magnified and feel even bigger. Virginia – and likely the other teams on the Final Four list too – doesn’t want to dial it back too much and lose its aggressive identity in the process. So yes, the Hoos will have some focus on limiting turnovers but they also want to try to create additional possessions in other ways when possible. That’s something graduate student Jack Boyden noted in the pregame chatter around the upcoming contest. He referenced Payton Cormier’s key goal against Hopkins as one that came off the team ride creating an extra chance.
“We definitely know how crucial it is to have these possessions,” Boyden said. “We’ve emphasized turnovers a bit, but we still want to kind of play free and take what’s there. I think we’re emphasizing a lot during those additional possessions in the ride or when the ball hits the deck on the offensive end, trying to come up with those 50/50 offensive GBs because we know how crucial it is to have those additional possessions and how far they can go.”
Obviously, a team would rather start off with the lead and keep it, but those extra possessions can also be critical if a team falls behind. Virginia showed that it has the ability to rally against Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals, something it did earlier this season in other wins too. Richmond (2-0), Towson (5-2), Albany (3-0), and Harvard (5-2) all got out to leads before the Cavaliers came back to win in the regular season.
All of that is prologue, though. The Terps and Hoos have their own script to write on Saturday.
“I mean it would be great to get off to a fast start. Everyone wants to ideally have that happen in a game,” Kastner said. “But to be a team that’s been tested and been down at the start of games multiple times this season and never give up that hope and always feel comfortable in the position we’re in with our backs against the wall, that’s really special. … We’ve had games where we’ve come out firing up top and gotten it done. We’ve had games where we’ve come out 4-0, 5-0, whatever it may be and still won and had the same outcome. Nothing else really in the past matters, it’s all about what’s going to happen this weekend.”
10,000 years!! Woah! Good read.