The No. 7 Virginia men’s lacrosse team dropped its first two games of the season during the break, falling to No. 15 Cornell and No. 11 Notre Dame. The Cavaliers now sit at 6-2 overall and an even 1-1 in conference play.
Virginia began its road trip in Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell. Early on, it seemed the Big Red (6-0) would be no match for Virginia as the Cavaliers jumped out to an 5-2 lead through most of the first half. However, the momentum severely shifted with just more than two minutes remaining in the second quarter, and the Big Red ripped off four unanswered goals to take a 6-5 lead into the break.
The Cornell run continued deep into the third quarter, with the Big Red scoring the first five goals of the period. The Cavaliers were able to stop the bleeding when senior attackman Mark Cockerton pulled his team back to within five.
Virginia seemed poised to make a comeback when senior midfielder Pat Harbeson drew a three-minute non-releasable penalty. But the Cavaliers squandered the opportunity by committing two penalties of their own and were never able to cut the lead to less than three, ultimately falling 12-9.
Virginia looked to rebound against new conference foe Notre Dame (3-2, 2-0 ACC) Sunday, but was unable to overcome a series of runs from the Fighting Irish. The Cavaliers again jumped out to an early lead, with freshman attackman Zed Williams opening the game’s scoring.
However, a goal by Notre Dame freshman Sergio Perkovic with seven seconds remaining in the opening quarter sparked an 8-1 run for the Irish, leaving Virginia trailing, 8-3, going into halftime.
The Cavaliers responded strongly in the third quarter, scoring three goals to push the score to 9-6. Notre Dame squashed any hopes of a comeback in the fourth quarter, however, outscoring the Cavaliers 9-3 to put the game away 18-9. Cockerton again lead Virginia in scoring — notching his 19th career hat trick — but the 40 shots put up by the Irish were simply too much to overcome.
Virginia will look to snap its losing streak March 22, when second ranked Johns Hopkins comes to Charlottesville. Faceoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.
—compiled by Ryan Taylor
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