Men’s Lacrosse: No. 2 UVA takes care of Richmond, 17-8, in NCAA opening round

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

After a lightning delay halted play in between the first and second quarters, No. 2 seed Virginia pulled away with ease, defeating Richmond 17-8 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium.

With the win, Virginia (12-3) advances to next weekend’s quarterfinals in Albany, N.Y., where the Cavaliers will face the winner of seventh-seeded Georgetown (12-3) and Yale (9-5). Next Saturday’s quarterfinals will commence at either noon or 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

The Cavaliers were led by Payton Cormier (6g), Connor Shellenberger (2g, 4a) and Petey LaSalla, who dominated the faceoff X by winning 18 of his 27 attempts. Cormier’s six goals tied for the most in a single NCAA Tournament game in school history.

Xander Dickson’s (2g, 1a) first score of the day saw him shatter Virginia’s single-season goals record as the fifth-year attackman surpassed Doug Knight’s 1996 record of 56 goals. With more lacrosse still to play, Dickson currently has 58 goals in 15 appearances this season.

Defensively, Cade Saustad held Richmond attackman Dalton Young (2g, 2a), the Atlantic 10’s Offensive Player of the Year, to just four points. Matthew Nunes (12-3) earned his second NCAA Tournament victory of his career in net after turning away nine Spider shots on goal.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jeff Conner (1g, 2a) kicked off the scoring less than 90 seconds in on a dodge from behind the cage. Seventy seconds later, Dickson recorded his first of two goals to shatter UVA’s single season goals record. The two teams traded the next four points before Will Cory’s first career NCAA Tournament goal with 1:04 remaining capped first period scoring as the Hoos clung to a 5-2 lead after 15 minutes of play.

Just as the second quarter was set to begin, a lightning delay paused play for a little over 30 minutes. As the teams began a brief warmup before resuming the game, a torrential downpour of rain ensued. In slippery conditions, the first six goals of the second were all unassisted. The Cavaliers closed the first half by scoring four unanswered, as UVA led 10-4 at the break.

Virginia tallied its fifth straight score to begin the third as Shellenberger found Thomas McConvey (1g, 1a) less than five minutes in. After the McConvey goal, Cormier registered UVA’s next five points as the Hoos extended their lead to 16-7 midway through the fourth.

Truitt Sunderland’s ninth goal of the season gave the Cavaliers their largest lead of the contest [17-7] with 8:10 to play. Richmond’s Derrek Madonna (3g) registered the final goal of Saturday’s contest after UVA began mix in its reserves in the waning minutes of action.

WITH THE WIN… 

• Virginia improved to 58-34 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 9-1 in the series against Richmond (11-5).
• Only Johns Hopkins (71), Maryland (70) and Syracuse (65) have more NCAA Tournament wins than UVA.
• The Cavaliers have won 10 of their last 11 tournament contests dating back to 2019.
• Virginia improved to 14-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament games held at Klöckner Stadium.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

• Xander Dickson broke Doug Knight’s 1996 single-season goals record (56). With two goals on the day, Dickson is up to 58 goals in 2023.
• With two goals and four assists in his seventh career NCAA Tournament game, Connor Shellenberger is averaging 5.43 points per game, the best by any UVA player in school history.
• With one goal and one assist, Thomas McConvey extended his point streak to 67 games. Having registered at least one point in all 67 career games, McConvey’s streak is the longest among all active Division-I players. For his career, McConvey has amassed 154 goals and 68 assists.
• McConvey, now with 27 goals and 21 assists on the year, is fourth on UVA’s single season points list by a midfielder and tied for third in assists. He needs just five more points to break Dox Aitken’s 2019 record of 52 points.
• With six goals, Payton Cormier extended his point streak to 43 games. During his streak, Cormier has registered 130 goals and 25 assists.
• Cormier’s six goals also tied the UVA single-game record in NCAA Tournament contests. Only Doug Knight (1995), Mikey Herring (2019) and Connor Shellenberger (2021) have scored six goals in NCAA Tournament games.