Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations
No. 6 Virginia used a 6-1 run in the fourth quarter to outlast North Carolina on Saturday afternoon, 14-13, at UNC Lacrosse Stadium in the ACC Championship semifinals. UVA advances to the finals for the second year in a row.
The ACC Championship game will be back at Klöckner Stadium next Saturday, May 4. Faceoff is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised live on ESPNU. UVA will play No. 3 seed Notre Dame, the same team that defeated the ‘Hoos in last yer’s conference championship game.
On Saturday, Virginia (12-3) jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, courtesy of goals from Matt Moore, Ryan Conrad and Petey LaSalla. UNC (8-7) made the game close, 4-3, after scoring three goals in a 3-1 run. Ian Laviano and Ryan Conrad scored to conclude the first quarter with a 6-3 lead after 15 minutes. Moore tied his career-high with four assists in the first frame.
After scoring with 14 seconds left in the first quarter, UVA didn’t score again for the next 26:17 in which UNC reeled off a 7-0 run to take a commanding 10-6 lead with 8:16 left in the third quarter. Michael Kraus broke through with an unassisted goal at 3:06 to cut UVA’s deficit to three goals, 10-7. North Carolina responded with a 2-0 run, taking a 12-8 lead with 14:09 left to play.
Dox Aitken started the comeback with 7:31 left in the game, scoring back-to-back goals to cut the UVA deficit to two goals, 12-10. Aitken’s first goal was the 100th of his career and the second goal broke Shamel Bratton’s school record for career points by a midfielder.
After Aitken’s goals, Laviano scored on a Moore helper at 6:32 in the fourth, followed by an acrobatic goal on another Moore assist by Mikey Herring with 5:37 left to play to tie the game at 12-12.
Alex Trippi bounced in a shot at 3:24 to give UNC the lead, 13-12 for the final time. Kraus tied the game, 13-12, with an unassisted goal at 3:05. After a huge save by Patrick Burkinshaw and an ensuring ground ball by Matt Dziama, UVA moved the ball in transition and Cade Saustad recorded his first career assist when he found Laviano for the game-winning goal at 1:30 in the fourth.
Aitken became the 17th Cavalier to record 100 career goals. Aitken (130) broke Shamel Bratton’s (129) UVA record for career points by a midfielder.
“When it was 12-8 [North Carolina] and Caton Johnson was playing so fantastic along with the UNC defense getting to our sticks and blocking our shots I was very impressed a North Carolina team playing on one-day rest,” said UVA coach Lars Tiffany. “We kept waiting for them to fade so we could get that extra ground ball, but it wasn’t until the last five minutes that we felt that.
“When you come back a few times during the season like we have, our men truly believe that we are never out of it. The cultural shift of committing to this program, the sacrifice these men have made has been significant behind the scenes and it makes the difference.”
Tickets for Saturday’s ACC Championship game will go on sale Monday, starting at 9 a.m. Fans can purchase tickets at a discounted rate in advance by going online to VirginiaSports.com/Tickets. Advanced sales and online purchases are $8 for reserved seats (if available) and $5 for general admission.
At the GameDay window, reserved tickets are $10 and general admission will be $8. Students of a participating school will be admitted free of charge with the presentation of a valid student ID. Reserved season ticket holders will have the opportunity to purchase their same seats they held for the 2019 Lacrosse season, until Tues., April 30 at 5 p.m., please call the ticket office at (800) 542-8821.
