A stunning 15-14 overtime loss to Hofstra in the first round of the NCAA tournament ended the season for the Virginia men's lacrosse team on Sunday, May 13.
The Cavaliers (7-7) held a 14-9 lead with 8 minutes, 24 seconds left in regulation, but the Pride rallied back to win the game at the United State Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Hofstra junior attackman Tom Kessler scored three of his five goals in the fourth quarter and also notched the overtime winner 2:27 into the extra period. It was Virginia's first opening-round NCAA tournament loss since 1997, when the Cavaliers fell to Maryland, 10-9.
Theloss was a fitting end to Virginia's roller coaster season. After opening the season with a 12-8 home win over Towson on Feb 24, the Cavaliers dropped their next three games to Syracuse, Princeton and Notre Dame. But Virginia rebounded with a four-game winning streak that included a 9-8 quadruple overtime thriller over No. 6 Johns Hopkins on March 24, and a 7-2 victory over top-ranked Maryland on March 31. A 12-8 first round ACC tournament loss to eventual champion Duke on April 20 put the Cavaliers' NCAA tournament hopes in serious jeopardy.
"Winning is contagious, but at the same time, so is losing," junior attackman Conor Gill said. "It was pretty smooth sailing early on, but it's a long season. We had the hardest schedule in Division I lacrosse. We lost a couple of tough games, but we were in every game. It makes it a little harder to swallow, but we had a good shot at winning every game."
But the lacrosse gods smiled upon the Cavaliers and gave them the No. 8 seed.
"The things we've been through this season have helped our team mature," junior defenseman Mark Koontz said. "We haven't lost any confidence because we haven't been blown out by anybody. We have confidence knowing that there's no team out there that has so much more talent than us that they're just going to beat us based on talent."
After losing many senior members from last year's NCAA tournament Final Four squad, the Cavs turned to returning veterans Gill, Koontz, and David Jenkins - the team's three captains - to provide on-the-field leadership for a relatively inexperienced assemblage of new and old players.
The captains "were pretty confident coming into the season," Koontz said. "We knew we were a young team, but we also knew our young guys were good or they wouldn't be playing. Yeah, we were inexperienced, but our young guys had talent. We just had to get them some experience right off the bat."
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"This year has been different from my past three years at Virginia, but it's been a learning experience," Jenkins said. "With this team, we're capable of doing anything. It's been different, but it's been fun. The team has really come together, and it's time to prove it to ourselves and everyone else."
The Cavaliers called on freshman Tillman Johnson to man the goal after coach Dom Starsia decided to move Derek Kenney to shore up a second midfield that had no returning starters.
Johnson responded with a performance that
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