The No. 3 Virginia men's lacrosse team rolled to a 12-8 victory against No. 20 Towson in Saturday's home opener at University Hall Turf Field.
Freshman goaltender Tillman Johnson notched 12 saves in his first collegiate start.
Senior midfielder Hanley Holcomb and sophomore midfielder Billy Glading both contributed three goals to lead the Cavalier offensive attack. Junior attackman Conor Gill, one of the team's tri-captains, added one goal and three assists.
Virginia (1-0) came out of the locker room firing. Holcomb and sophomore midfielder Andrew Faraone each scored two goals in the first quarter, and the Cavaliers built a 7-1 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half.
"It was nice to come out early on and score two goals, but more importantly, we got our offense going," Holcomb said. "We wanted to come out and get on top of these guys, and try to get them out of the game and kill their morale."
But the Tigers (0-1) would not go away. Led by sophomore midfielder Hunter Lochte's two goals, Towson narrowed the lead to 8-4 at the half.
Gill assisted on two goals, one to Glading and the other to sophomore midfielder Chris Rotelli, in the first two minutes of second-half play to make the score 10-4. The Cavaliers found the back of the net twice more in the third quarter.
Towson held Virginia scoreless for the last period of play, but the Cavalier defense was able to stave off a fourth-quarter Tiger comeback to seal the 12-8 victory.
"We'll take a win in the first game of the year, but we could definitely have played better," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "We got off to an early lead and I think we had a false sense of security."
"We just let up in the second half," Holcomb said. "We made silly mistakes. We weren't sharp, and we were playing more selfishly. Instead of moving the ball around and looking to create a good shot, we were taking the first opportunity and forcing shots."
The game also shed light on a potential problem for the Cavaliers: the defense. Virginia lost three of four starting defenders to graduation last spring and the 2001 backfield is largely untested.
"We were a little lazy on defense today," Holcomb said. "We allowed [the Tigers' attackmen] to get too close to the goal. Shots should come from eight yards and out and we were letting them get right up near the goal. We didn't support [Johnson] as well as we should have."
The freshman keeper showed some nerves, but he was able to come up with 12 saves and garner his first collegiate win.
"Of course I was nervous, but that's no excuse," Johnson said. "I'm disappointed with [this first performance], but it's good to get a win under my belt, especially with Syracuse and Princeton coming up. I made some saves but I also let in some I should have come up with."
Starsia was hesitant to criticize his goaltender's performance.
Johnson "will tell you he didn't play well but he played fine," Starsia said. "It was his first game. He's played much better in practice and we're confident" in his ability, he said.
The Towson game was a good tune-up for what could be the Cavaliers' toughest match of the year. Virginia travels to upstate New York on Saturday to face No. 1 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome.
"We're definitely disappointed in the way we ended" the game, Holcomb said. "But a win is a win, and we're happy with that"
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