UVA Rolls Over Marist, Will Get Top Seed In ACC Tourney

Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations

UVA men’s lacrosseThe No. 6 Virginia Cavaliers (11-3) cruised to a non-conference win on “Senior Day” over the Marist Red Foxes (7-6) Saturday afternoon, 22-6, at Klöckner Stadium, and have earned the No. 1 seed in the 2019 ACC Tournament, winning their 25th regular season ACC title. They will play in the semifinal round on Sat., April 27 at 2 p.m in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Thirteen Cavaliers scored at least one point in the game and 10 of UVA’s 11 seniors honored before the contest were in position on the field for the opening faceoff, while Ryan Lamb (the 11th) trotted on the field after the opening whistle as part of the starting midfield unit.

After scoring 24 goals on Tuesday against VMI, UVA scored 20+ goals in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2006 season when the Cavaliers did it twice.

Marist won the opening faceoff and took an early 1-0 lead when Jake Weinman scored on an assist from James Lyons 29 seconds into the game. Virginia responded with a 6-1 run to take a solid four-goal lead, 6-2. Matt Moore found Mikey Herring with 5:20 left in the opening quarter to cap the run.

After Marist scored at 3:03 in the first quarter to make it 6-3 on a Chris Schlappich goal, UVA finished its first-half scoring on an 8-1 streak, taking a commanding 14-4 lead with 31 seconds left in the second quarter. The Cavaliers received two goals apiece from Moore and Dox Aitken during the run. Marist interrupted the Virginia spurt with a goal as time expired in the second quarter, sending the game into the intermission with UVA leading 14-5.

Virginia opened the second half on an 8-0 run, punching an explanation point on the last regular season home game of the 2019 season. UVA’s riding defense forced 10 failed Marist clears, matching 10 saves by the Red Foxes’ goalies.

After scoring 24 goals against VMI on Tuesday, and 22 against Marist, Virginia scored 20+ goals in back-to-back games for the first time since 2006. This was achieved by the Cavaliers twice in 2006, scoring 20+ against VMI and Syracuse and later in the year against UNC and Bellarmine.

With six points, Aitken has tied Brian Carroll (2007-10) for No. 2 all-time at UVA among career points by a midfielder with 128.

UVA’s Petey LaSalla was 9-of-14 on faceoffs against Marist’s Peyton Smith, who entered the weekend No. 5 in the nation in faceoff winning percentage.

Twelve fourth and fifth years were honored prior to the game on Saturday: M Ryan Conrad, D Theo Dol, M Matt Dziama, student assistant coach Cooper Fersen, D Logan Greco, M Cory Harris, A Mikey Herring, GK William Hudson, M Ryan Lamb, A Lawson Pisani, M Dave Smith and D Griffin Spolansky.

“This was a fantastic way to have Senior Day,” said head coach Lars Tiffany. “We have many fourth and fifth years and I thought they set the tone early. It was really great to see other guys step in and make plays. Lawson Pisani scoring a goal early, the guys who really make up the composure of the team, you know, day in day out giving the best they can in practice. I was really excited with how they set the tone.

“Then we brought our regulars back in, we shot the ball really well today. We have a lot of respect for the Marist goalie [Jake Macgregor], and so we placed [on cage] the ball really well today, and that’s not an easy thing to do, shoot a scouting report. It sounds a lot easier than it is. I was also very impressed with our faceoff play. Their faceoff man is one of the best in the nation, so it was a battle in there. It was not only our faceoff men, but our faceoff wing play that impressed me.”

UVA will play the winner of the first-round game between No. 4 seed Syracuse and No. 5 seed North Carolina, which will be contested on Thurs., April 25 at 6 p.m. The second semifinal game between No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed Notre Dame will be played on Sat., April 27 at 4:30 p.m. The semifinals will be televised live on ESPNU.

The ACC first-round game and the semifinals will be held at North Carolina’s new Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium, which opened this season. The championship game will be played on Saturday, May 4, on the campus of the highest remaining seed, which will be at Klöckner Stadium if UVA wins its semifinal matchup.