The Virginia lacrosse team continued to fight its way through its schedule Tuesday night against Virginia Military Institute. The Cavaliers (5-5, 0-2 ACC) were able to forget their slow start as a 12-goal scoring run became the story of the game, and the team earned a win over the struggling Keydets (1-10, 0-3 SoCon).
After a sleepy start, Virginia trailed VMI 2-1 after the first quarter. The Keydets added another to the score in the second period to bring the game to 3-1. However, the Cavaliers began clicking midway through the second period, and the offense became virtually unstoppable.
“I felt in the first quarter we stood around at both ends of the field,” coach Dom Starsia said. “To our kids’ credit, they responded. We got after them a little bit after the first quarter and they responded. Everybody stepped up.”
Freshman midfielder Ryan Conrad sparked the run at with a goal 11:07, and senior midfielder James Pannell followed suit just seconds later with a goal of his own to bring the game to a 3-3 tie. From then on, the Cavaliers kept VMI to a 27-minute scoring drought, while Virginia kept scoring.
Sophomore midfielder Mike D’Amario was still showing confidence after Sunday’s overtime goal to give the Cavaliers the win over No. 9 Johns Hopkins. D’Amario took the reins, scoring back-to-back goals just seconds within each other to give Virginia a 5-3 lead. His second goal came off an impressive assist from freshman midfielder Matt Dziama for the freshman’s first career point.
A milestone came for Pannell at 6:30 to give Virginia a 6-3 lead, as Pannell scored his 100th career point with a goal off an assist from freshman midfielder Ryan Lamb. Lamb scored a goal of his own less than a minute later to give the Cavaliers a 7-3 lead. Virginia’s offensive troubles seemed to work themselves out, as the Cavaliers continued to score throughout the second quarter.
“Going into today, we felt really confident,” Pannell said. “Once we started to move the ball better on offense and taking good shots, we got the results we wanted.”
Junior attackman Ryan Lukacovic was good for his second goal of the evening in the tail end of the second quarter to stretch the Virginia scoring run to seven. Pannell then put another between the pipes at 2:41 for his third goal of the night.
However, Virginia was not finished at just eight goals in the period. Junior attackman Joe French added on a goal with just seconds left in the half to put Virginia up 10-3 going into the intermission.
Pannell was still on fire returning from the halftime break, and recorded his fourth goal of the night off an assist from junior midfielder AJ Fish. French added on his second goal of the night at 6:54 to stretch the Cavalier lead to 12-3.
In the third quarter, many fresh faces appeared on the field for Virginia, as redshirt freshman Townsend Brown earned his first career point with an assist to French, marking a hat trick for the junior midfielder.
With just seconds to go in the third period, the Keydets finally stopped the 12-goal Cavalier scoring run to bring the game to a 13-4 score. It wasn’t long before Lamb scored his second goal of the night to stretch the Virginia lead to 14-4.
“For the most part, a bunch of young guys got some meaningful minutes early in the game and that’s important,” Starsia said. “You’ve got a bunch of guys here who have been grinding this out since mid-January, and it’s special to put your uniform on and get under the lights here on Klöckner on game day and be able to make a couple plays.”
Fresh faces continued to make an impact for Virginia as sophomore attackman Tyler Breen scored his first career goal at 7:55, just after subbing in for French at attack. Redshirt freshman Will Sipperly followed Breen’s lead and scored his first career goal just a couple of minutes later to bring the Cavaliers to a 16-4 lead. Junior midfielder Jacob Dean tallied a goal, and Breen added on two more goals for good measure to close out the six-goal scoring run for the Cavaliers and end the game at 19-4.
Virginia’s 19 goals are the most they have scored all season, and 16 different players scored points Tuesday night. The game offered a chance for experience, as six Cavaliers made their collegiate debut. The win over the Keydets puts Virginia’s record at .500, as they have been fighting back after a tough early season.
The Cavaliers will attempt to earn a winning record Saturday, as they travel to Richmond and face yet another in-state foe.
Read More
Virginia softball drops road rematch against Virginia Tech
By Emory Huffman | 6 hours agoAs Virginia moves through the final week of the regular season, it is certainly critical that its pitching staff maintains the same dominance they have shown throughout the season.
Haunted by 2023 defeat, Virginia gets Notre Dame rematch
By Michael Liebermann | 16 hours agoAgainst a bitter rival, Virginia has an opportunity to forge a victorious new chapter in lacrosse history.
No. 4 women’s tennis makes fourth-ever ACC Championship match, falls to No. 5 North Carolina
By Grace Gould | 23 hours agoFor the fourth time in its history, No. 4 Virginia women’s tennis made it to the ACC Championship match, defeating No. 28 Notre Dame and No. 23 Florida State en route to its finals appearance.
