No. 8 ‘Hoos finish strong to hold off High Point, 18-15

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

UVA senior Dox Aitken (6) makes a move against High Point Tuesday night (Photo by Christina Anton, UVA Media Relations).

No. 8 Virginia used a late 3-0 run to outlast High Point on Tuesday night, 18-15, at Klöckner Stadium. The win was the 150th by the Cavaliers at Klöckner Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

High Point tied the game, 15-15, on a Devon Buckshot goal with 9:32 left in the game. UVA (3-1) responded with a 3-0 run to outlast the Panthers. Ian Laviano started the run when Jeff Conner found the attackman on the crease for a goal at 2:57 in the fourth. UVA won the ensuing faceoff and in transition Jared Conners found Michael Kraus with 2:38 left in regulation. Kraus scored an empty-net goal with 43 seconds left to cap the run and secure the win.

The Panthers (1-4) opened the game on a 4-1 lead after Dalton Sulver scored with 7:09 left in the first quarter. UVA responded quickly with a 9-1 run, taking a commanding 10-5 lead with 4:31 left in the second quarter. Kraus scored twice during the run and Payton Cormier finished off his first-quarter hat trick.

High Point utilized an 8-3 run to tie the game, 13-13, as time expired in the third quarter. UVA and HPU traded goals on the way to a 15-15 tie, setting up UVA’s final run.

UVA STAT LEADERS

A Michael Kraus — 5 goals, 2 assists

A Matt Moore — 2 goals, 5 assists

M Payton Cormier — 4 goals, 1 assist

LSM Jared Conners — 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 GBs

Box Score

NOTES

  • The win marked the 150th all-time win by the Cavaliers at Klöckner Stadium.
  • Kraus has at least one point in all 53 career games he has played. That active streak is tied for No. 2 in the nation.
  • Kraus tallied five goals and now has 128 in his career, passing Steele Stanwick (126) for No. 7 all-time at UVA.
  • Conners added two goals and one assist, upping his career numbers to 16-9-25.
  • UVA is now 3-2 against High Point.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

“First of all, what a huge effort by Michael Kraus. He didn’t practice yesterday because of some sort of stomach bug and we weren’t sure he was going to play at all today. For him to come out and score five goals and have a couple assists was a big effort.

“With the faceoff game, we really needed every single one of those possessions. Petey LaSalla was fantastic, as was Justin Schwenk, and that was very important because this High Point team can score goals and they can score goals quickly.

“[High Point’s] transition game is so dynamic. We were fortunate that our clearing was 100 percent today, we were getting more possessions on faceoffs and we needed every one of those against a high-powered offense.”– Lars Tiffany

UP NEXT

UVA welcomes Air Force to Klöckner Stadium on Sunday. The game will be broadcast live on ACCNX at 1 p.m.