Men’s Lacrosse: No. 3 Cavaliers knock off top-ranked Fighting Irish in South Bend, 15-10

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 3 Virginia attackmen Xander Dickson (6g, 1a), Connor Shellenberger (2g, 5a) and Payton Cormier (2g, 2a) combined for 18 points to lead the Cavaliers in a 15-10 victory over No. 1 Notre Dame at Arlotta Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Saturday’s result snapped the Fighting Irish’s 12-game win streak, which led the nation. Their previous loss was to UVA at Klöckner Stadium nearly one year ago (March 26, 2022).

The win marked UVA’s 16th over a No. 1 opponent all-time and first since defeating Maryland, 17-16, in the 2021 national championship game. It was also Cavaliers’ fifth straight win in the series and their 15 goals are second-most in series history and most since 1994. Coming off a 14-13 overtime loss to Maryland last week, Virginia (7-1, 1-0 ACC) has now won its last 17 games following a loss.

Virginia faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla finished 17-for-29 at the faceoff X. Goalie Matthew Nunes (7-1) saved 14 of Notre Dame’s 24 shots on goal. Nunes’ 14 saves tied his own series record, which he set in last year’s win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Notre Dame (6-1, 0-1) struck first at the 12:10 mark when Chris Kavanagh scored his 19th goal of the season on his brother’s (Pat Kavanagh) 19th assist of the year. After Kavanagh’s initial score, the Hoos closed out the first period with five straight goals, including one man-up. Shellenberger scored on a dodge from X with 9:24 to kick off scoring for UVA. After Jeff Conner registered his seventh goal of the season, Cormier scored back-to-back goals, including UVA’s 11th man-up goal of the season. Dickson notched the final goal of the first quarter with 1:32 remaining on an assist by Shellenberger. Shellenberger would assist on three more Dickson goals the rest of the way. LaSalla won six of the game’s first seven faceoffs.

Virginia held the Irish scoreless for 17:53 of game time before Notre Dame cut into the UVA lead [5-2] with 9:17 left in the first half. The two teams traded the next four goals, including two by Shellenberger and one by Ricky Miezan, his fifth of the season. The Irish closed out the half by netting their fifth goal of the game with 21 seconds left in the second as UVA clung to a 7-5 lead at the half. Virginia’s two-goal lead at the break marked the first time this year the Irish trailed at the half. LaSalla finished the half 10-for-14 at the center X.

After the Kavanagh brothers scored the first two goals of the second half, Dickson scored back-to-back goals to extend UVA’s lead back to 9-7. Patrick McIntosh got on the board with his 13th score of the season on an unassisted goal. Less than two minutes later, Shellenberger found a cutting Dickson, who buried a shot from the crease to cap a 4-0 UVA run. After a push with possession was called on UVA during a faceoff scrum, the Irish ripped their second extra-man goal with 4:27 to go. Thomas McConvey (1g, 1a) and Dickson scored for Virginia, but Notre Dame received another late-period goal – this one with 10 seconds left – to cut its deficit to 13-9 at the end of the third.

Snow started to fall at Arlotta at the top of the fourth quarter. Neither team found the back of the net until the 8:24 mark when Peter Garno fired a shot on the run, registering his sixth goal of the year. Dickson tallied UVA’s 15th and final goal of the game on an assist from Cormier with 5:07 to play. The Irish only managed one goal in the fourth quarter as Nunes recorded sixth saves in the final period.

WITH THE WIN

• The Cavaliers improved to 16-28 all-time against No. 1 opponents. UVA’s previous win over a No. 1 foe was in the 2021 NCAA championship game, a 17-16 thriller over then-No. 1 Maryland.
• Prior to Saturday’s game, neither Virginia nor Notre Dame had ever gone head-to-head featuring a No. 1 ranked team.
• Virginia improved to 10-8 in the all-time series, which began in 1993, and extended its win streak over the Irish to five consecutive games.
• As UVA head coach, Lars Tiffany improved to 5-3 against the Irish; he’s 5-4 for his career as a head coach.
• The Cavaliers won their 17th straight game immediately following a loss (in the same season).
• UVA is now 21-2 under Tiffany following a loss. Under Tiffany, UVA’s only pair of back-to-back losses were in 2017, his first year as Cavaliers’ head coach.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

• UVA’s win snapped Notre Dame’s 12-game win streak, which led the nation. The Irish hadn’t lost since falling 12-8 at Klöckner Stadium nearly one year ago (March 26, 2022).
• Virginia held Notre Dame scoreless for 17:53 (12:10 Q1-9:17 Q2) of game time, the second-longest scoring drought by a UVA opponent this season.
• With 29 faceoffs taken in Saturday’s game, Petey LaSalla (1,519) eclipsed the 1,500 career-faceoffs-taken mark, good for fifth on the NCAA’s all-time Division-I leaders list.
• With one goal and one assist, Thomas McConvey extended his point streak to 60 games. Having registered at least one point in all 60 career games, McConvey’s streak is the longest among all active Division-I players. For his career, McConvey has amassed 144 goals and 61 assists.
• With two goals and two assists, Payton Cormier extended his point streak to 35 games. During his streak, Cormier has registered 104 goals and 22 assists.

FROM HEAD COACH LARS TIFFANY

“What a great day for Virginia lacrosse, highlighted by some exemplary performances starting with [Matthew] Nunes in the goal. He gave us consistency throughout the game and then stepped up huge in the fourth quarter. Petey LaSalla: it was a battle at the faceoff X. Notre Dame’s faceoff men did a fantastic job countering Petey, but he was able to scrap for ground balls and Scott Bower picked up a bunch of tough ones. What Cade Saustad and Cole Kastner did to be able to neutralize the Kavanagh brothers and not allow them to break down our defense that often was incredibly important for our team defense. And then certainly when you’ve got Connor Shellenberger as a quarterback finding Xander Dickson and the others. What an incredible performance by Xander with his six goals. It’s a team effort obviously, but I really wanted to highlight some massive performances by individuals here at UVA Lacrosse.”

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will host their first home ACC game against Duke on Friday. Opening faceoff from Klöckner Stadium is set for 5 p.m. on ESPNU.