Men’s Lacrosse: No. 2 Virginia hosts Richmond to open NCAA Tournament play

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Making its 42nd tournament appearance, No. 2 seed Virginia hosts Richmond in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Saturday. Opening faceoff from Klöckner Stadium is set for noon on ESPNU.

Saturday’s contest between the Cavaliers (11-3) and Richmond (11-4) marks the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the intrastate foes.

TICKET & PARKING INFORMATION

Tickets are $10 for general admission, $15 for reserved seats and $5 for students. Fans may purchase tickets in advance via UVAtix.com or at the Klöckner Stadium box office starting at 11 a.m. Saturday morning.

Parking is $10 per space at the John Paul Jones South and West Lots and may be purchased in advance or upon drive up, subject to availability. Parking passes must be purchased using a valid credit/debit card; cash will not be accepted on site. Spots are first come, first served. Free parking is also available at the UVA Emmett/Ivy Garage.

VIRGINIA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT 

• Saturday’s game marks Virginia’s 42nd all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 92nd NCAA Tournament game (bracket).
• Only Johns Hopkins (48) and Maryland (45) have been to the tournament more times than UVA.
• The Cavaliers are 57-34 (.626) all-time in NCAA Tournament games and have won nine of their last 10 games, dating back to 2019.
• Only Johns Hopkins (71), Maryland (70) and Syracuse (65) have more NCAA Tournament wins than Virginia.

SERIES HISTORY 

• Virginia leads the all-time series, 8-1, over the Spiders, including 5-0 in Charlottesville.
• The series began in 2014, when UVA played at Richmond in the Spiders’ inaugural game.
• In this year’s regular-season meeting between the two teams, the Cavaliers dealt Richmond its largest margin of defeat in the series. Xander Dickson set a series record with six goals.
• Virginia won the first seven games of the series before the Spiders defeated UVA, 17-13, at Robins Stadium in 2022.
• In 2022, Virginia led by as many as four goals in the second quarter before the Spiders scored seven straight to lead it the rest of the way after Matt Moore and Petey LaSalla exited the game due to injury.

LAST TIME OUT 

• For the second time this season, the Cavaliers defeated then-No. 1 Notre Dame, 12-8, at Klöckner Stadium on UVA’s Senior Day.
• Virginia goalie Matthew Nunes made a career-high 19 saves to hold the Fighting Irish to their lowest goal total since the Cavaliers defeated UND by the same exact score at Klöckner Stadium on March 26, 2022.
• Offensively, the Cavaliers were led by Xander Dickson (4g, 1a), Thomas McConvey (3g) and Connor Shellenberger (1g, 3a). UVA also recorded three combined goals from its primary short-stick defensive midfielders in Grayson Sallade (1g, 4gb), Evan Zinn (1g, 3gb) and Noah Chizmar (1g, 4gb), which matched that of Notre Dame’s starting attack.

CAVALIERS AMONG THE NATION’S STATISTICAL LEADERS 

• Virginia currently leads the nation in assists (11.93/gm), ground balls (40.86/gm), points (29.57/gm), scoring offense (17.64/gm) and shot percentage (.375). The Cavaliers are third in scoring margin (5.43/gm) and fourth in man-up offense (.571).
• Connor Shellenberger is currently second in assists (3.31/gm) and 12th in points (4.77/gm). Xander Dickson is third in goals (4.00/gm), fourth in points (5.29/gm) and second in shot percentage (.571). Payton Cormier is fifth in goals (3.58/gm), 23rd in points (4.50/gm) and eighth in shot percentage (.478). Cade Saustad is seventh in caused turnovers (2.14/gm) and Petey LaSalla is 16th in ground balls (8.00/gm).

THE HOOS AT KLÖCNKER STADIUM 

• Virginia owns a 172-45 (.793) all-time record at Klöckner Stadium, including a 6-2 record in 2023, and has won 20 of its last 25 games played at the historic edifice.
• The Cavaliers’ average margin of victory in their last 25 games at Klöckner Stadium is 5.36 goals.
• Virginia is 46-13 (.780) all-time at Klöckner Stadium under head coach Lars Tiffany.
• UVA is also 13-3 all-time at Klöckner Stadium in NCAA Tournament contests and 19-3 all-time in the month of May, including 4-0 under Tiffany.
• Lacrosse debuted in Klöckner Stadium in 1993.

SHELLENBERGER NAMED TEWAARATON AWARD FINALIST 

• For the second consecutive year, UVA attackman Connor Shellenberger was named one of five Tewaaraton Award Finalists, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced May 11.
• Joining Shellenberger on the list are Pat Kavanagh (Notre Dame), Brennan O’Neill (Duke), CJ Kirst (Cornell) and Tucker Dordevic (Georgetown). The five finalists are invited to Washington, D.C., for the Foundation’s annual ceremony on June 1 where the winner will be announced.
• The announcement marked Virginia’s 12th finalist in school history. Only Duke (14) and Syracuse (12) have also had at least a dozen finalists in its program’s history.
• Shellenberger joins Ben Rubeor (2007-08) and Steele Stanwick (2011-12) as UVA’s only two-time finalists. Chris Rotelli (2003), Matt Ward (2006) and Stanwick (2011) were winners of the trophy.

DICKSON ON THE CUSP OF SETTING UVA’S SINGLE-SEASON GOALS RECORD 

• Attackman Xander Dickson (56) is currently one goal away from setting Virginia’s single-season goals record.
• One of the nation’s top goal scorers, Dickson currently leads UVA in both goals (56) and points (74) on the season.
• Dickson has registered at least one goal in all 14 games this year and has scored at least six goals in four different games this season (7 vs. Syracuse, 6 at Notre Dame, 6 at Johns Hopkins and 6 vs. Richmond).

ON THE HORIZON 

• The winner of Virginia and Richmond will face the winner of seventh-seeded Georgetown (12-3) and Yale (9-5) in the quarterfinals in Albany, N.Y. at University of Albany’s Tom & Mary Casey Stadium on Saturday, May 20. Opening faceoff will commence at either noon for 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
• Championship Weekend is set for May 25 and 27 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. Both semifinal matchups will be broadcast on ESPN2 on May 25, while the championship game is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN on Memorial Day (May 27).