Men’s Lax: Hoos knock off top-ranked Fighting Irish in ACC semifinals, 15-10

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 4 seed Virginia took the lead for good in the second quarter and surrendered consecutive goals only once in a 15-10 win over top-seeded Notre Dame in the first semifinal of the 2026 Allstate ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship on Friday evening at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.

The victory marked Virginia’s second win over a No. 1-ranked Notre Dame team this season and just the second time in program history that the Cavaliers have defeated the top-ranked team in the USILA coaches poll twice in the same season.

With the win, Virginia (9-6) advances to its 18th all-time ACC Championship title game, which is scheduled for Sunday at noon on ACC Network and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM). The Cavaliers will face No. 2 seed North Carolina (12-3), which defeated No. 3 seed Syracuse (11-5), 12-10, in Friday’s second semifinal game.

Virginia’s balanced offensive attack produced throughout as five Cavaliers recorded at least four points. ACC Freshman of the Year Brendan Millon (3g, 2a) finished with a game-high five points, while his older brother McCabe Millon (2g, 2a), Truitt Sunderland (4g), Ryan Colsey (2g, 2a) and Ryan Duenkel (2g, 2a) recorded four points each.

UVA netminder Jake Marek (8-5,) dazzled in net when it mattered most. In addition to stopping multiple point-blank looks for the Fighting Irish, he finished with 12 saves, including five in the fourth quarter.

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HOW IT HAPPENED

Amid UVA’s 10-man ride, Marek erased what could have been an Irish goal from close range on their first possession before McCabe Millon’s skip pass landed in the crosse of Colsey, who buried a lefty shot from the wing. On his first career shift, midfielder Brayden Lahey found Sunderland to extend the Cavaliers’ lead to 2-0 nearly four minutes in.

The Irish (10-2) scored three of the next four goals, including back-to-back strikes by attackman Josh Yago (2g, 1a), to knot the score 3-3. After McCabe Millon assisted Colsey on the game’s opening goal, Colsey returned the favor to give the Wahoos a 4-3 lead by the close of the first.

Upon UND tying the score [4-4] a little more than five minutes into the second, Marek exited the game for three minutes after Yago’s shot ricocheted off Marek’s leg. With Marek on the sideline being examined by the UVA sports medicine staff, reserve netminder Troy Capstraw filled in for the next three minutes.

A minute later while the Cavaliers were man-up, Brendan Millon’s first goal of the evening broke a 4-4 tie, and UVA did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way. Millon’s goal ignited a 5-1 UVA run to close out the half, at which point the Cavaliers led 9-5.

With the help of Marek and five UND turnovers in the third quarter, the Irish were unable to mount a second-half comeback. UVA midfielder and team captain Joey Terenzi (1g, 1a) provided a huge lift for the Hoos midway through the third, when he impressively reeled in a pass from Duenkel through heavy traffic on the crease and buried his 13th goal of the season.

The Irish scored the first two goals of the fourth to trim Virginia’s lead to 12-9, but when Brendan Millon fed Sunderland, who buried his fourth goal of the game with 10:19 remaining, the Irish’s momentum faded.

The Cavaliers closed out the contest by claiming three of the last four goals, including a near full-field goal by defenseman from Tommy Snyder while the Irish attempted to apply maximum pressure during Virginia’s clear with under 3:30 to play.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

UVA’s 15 goals are the most by a Notre Dame opponent since the Irish’s 18-17 win over Cornell on April 1, 2024. It’s also the most goals by a UND opponent in a loss since the Cavaliers defeated the Irish 15-10 on March 25, 2023, in South Bend, Indiana.
The Cavaliers have recorded back-to-back 15-goal games. UVA dropped a 16-15 decision against then-No. 3 North Carolina on April 18 at Klöckner Stadium.
Senior Ryan Colsey, who missed UVA’s regular-season finale with an injury, extended his goal streak to 28 games dating back to last year’s season opener, a span in which he’s totaled 62 goals.
UVA, which assisted on 10 of its 15 goals, improved to 8-0 this season when recording more assists than its opponent. Four of UND’s 10 goals were assisted.
With 33 goals on the season, Brendan Millon passed Garrett Billings and Michael Watson on UVA’s freshman goals list. Brendan Millon is now eighth on that list and eight goals shy of his brother’s freshman goals record set in 2024.
With 39 assists, Brendan Millon is also three helpers shy of tying Connor Shellenberger’s freshman assists record (42) and seven points shy of Shellenberger’s freshman points record (79).
On his first career shift in the first quarter, attackman/midfielder Brayden Lahey assisted Sunderland on UVA’s second goal of the game.
Starting goaltender Jake Marek finished with 12 saves. UVA improved to 7-2 this season when Marek records double-digit saves.
Joey Terenzi is now on a 10-game point streak dating back to the Richmond game on Feb. 14. Since then, Terenzi has totaled 23 points on 13 goals and 10 assists.

WITH THE WIN …

UVA earned its first victory in the ACC Tournament since winning the title game over the Fighting Irish 10-4 at Klöckner Stadium in 2019.
The Cavaliers improved their all-time ACC Tournament record to 24-21, dating back to the event’s inception in 1989. In 45 tournament games played, UVA has scored 492 goals, while its opponents have totaled 483.
UVA recorded its second victory over a No. 1-ranked Notre Dame squad this season. UVA defeated the Irish 11-9 at Klöckner Stadium on March 28.
It’s also only the second instance in program history in which UVA has knocked off a No. 1 team twice in the same season. The other was in 2023, when the Wahoos defeated top-ranked Notre Dame in both regular-season meetings.
UVA earned its first-ever victory at American Legion Memorial Stadium.

FROM HEAD COACH LARS TIFFANY

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