Virginia Trounces Yale To Claim Program’s Eighth National Championship
Posted on Monday, May. 27, 2019, 5:01 pm
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By Scott Ratcliffe
Photo courtesy UVA Media Relations
A pair of scoring spurts made all the difference Monday as the No. 3 seed Virginia men’s lacrosse team defeated No. 5 Yale, 13-9, to claim the NCAA Division I title at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
It’s the eighth national championship in program history (USILA twice — 1952, 1970; NCAA 6 times — 1972, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2011) for the Cavaliers, who finish the memorable season with a record of 17-3 after winning 16 of their final 17 games.
Second-year attackman Matt Moore scored a game-high four goals, junior attacker Michael Kraus added a hat trick, and sophomore keeper Alex Rode — later named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player — had another solid performance in goal, coming away with 13 saves as the Wahoo defense stymied Yale’s high-powered offense.
The ‘Hoos scored four unanswered goals to finish the first half and took a 6-2 lead into the locker room, and then reeled off five in a row to blow it open in the third quarter.
Yale (15-4) trailed by six, 11-5, through three quarters Monday and anyone who saw their semifinal win against top-seeded Penn State two days prior knew that the defending-champion Bulldogs are capable of scoring a lot of goals in a hurry. They put up 10 in the first quarter alone against the Nittany Lions Saturday as they lit up the scoreboard for an eventual 21 on the day, but UVA’s defense clamped down all afternoon on Monday.
The Elis did make a bit of a late charge in the final period, scoring three straight to get within four, 12-8, with 4:30 to go. But Rode’s 13th stop — arguably his most important of the day — came less than a minute later to halt the Bulldog momentum, and then Ryan Conrad’s interception with 1:58 to play set up the ultimate dagger.
With an open net, sophomore Ian Laviano — who put home the game-winning goal against Duke in the semifinals — put the game on ice with his 51st goal of the season, as he then went into a Superman pose to officially spark the championship celebration with just over a minute to play, giving the ‘Hoos a five-goal advantage.
With the game in hand, third-year coach Lars Tiffany was soaked with a Gatorade bath on the sideline, what must have been a tremendous feeling after leading the ‘Hoos back to the promised land in just his third season at the helm — especially considering that the Cavaliers had won just two conference games over the previous six seasons.
It was a season full of checking off accomplishments for Tiffany and the Wahoos — an ACC regular-season title, a conference tournament championship, a trip back to Championship Weekend and an abundance of unforgettable, pulse-pounding comeback wins along the way. No rally was necessary Monday as the ‘Hoos claimed the ultimate prize.
The Bulldogs controlled the game’s opening faceoff and fired off four shots — the last of which gave them a 1-0 advantage — before Virginia ever touched the ball.
But it didn’t take long for Moore to even it up, scoring with 11:20 on the first-quarter clock. Moore then gave the Cavaliers their first lead 3½ minutes later off a Conrad pick behind the cage — his 44th of the season — and UVA took a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.
Last year’s Championship Weekend MVP, Yale’s Matt Gaudet, took advantage of Rode slipping away from his spot chasing after a loose ball early in the second period. Matt Brandau scooped it up and fed Gaudet, who quickly found the net to tie it at 2-2 with 11:41 left in the opening half.
UVA missed 11 straight shots before the 4-0 flurry over the remainder of the half helped change the face of the contest. Kraus got the run started with back-to-back scores that put the Cavaliers ahead to stay, making it 4-2 with 6:35 left in the first half. Dox Aitken pivoted and fired moments later for his 43rd tally of the season, and then freshman faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla claimed the ensuing scrum, raced in and cranked one past Yale goalie Jack Starr to give Virginia the four-goal lead at the break, holding the Bulldogs to a season-low two tallies over the opening 30 minutes.
John Danigellis and Gaudet scored two quick goals in just over two minutes to cut the UVA lead to 6-4 with 13:51 left in the third quarter before the ‘Hoos ultimately took control.
Conrad, Kraus and Moore each scored in a span of 3:39 to push the advantage back to five before LaSalla struck again on the following faceoff for his second goal of the game and eighth of the year, and the ‘Hoos led 10-4 with 9:55 left in the period. It marked Virginia’s fourth goal in as many shots to begin the second half.
Moore scored his fourth goal of the contest with the shot clock winding down, giving the Cavaliers their largest lead of the weekend, 11-4, with still 6:43 to go in the third. The Bulldogs ended a scoreless drought of nearly 14 minutes as Brandau beat the third-quarter buzzer. Brandau scored twice more in the fourth, the latter giving him 50 goals on the season while also setting an NCAA record with Yale’s 67th goal of the tournament, but it wasn’t enough to clinch a second straight championship trophy.
Phase Three — complete.
