The No. 6 Virginia men’s lacrosse team played its final regular season game of 2019 Saturday against Marist at Klöckner Stadium.
The Cavaliers (11-3, 3-1 ACC) easily defeated the Red Foxes (7-6, 5-1 MAAC), 22-6, in the two programs’ first-ever meeting and secured their second win in a row since their loss to Duke.
In addition to the victory, Virginia celebrated Senior Day with the team’s 11 seniors honored before the game began.
Marist scored the opening goal through sophomore attackman Jake Weinman. Virginia responded with a 3-0 run — capped off by junior midfielder Dox Aitken — before Weinman scored his second goal of the day to cut the Virginia lead to 3-2.
Dominating possession and moving the ball at will, the Cavaliers proceeded to use another 3-0 run to extend their lead to 6-2.
Marist junior midfielder Chris Schlappich scored the final goal of the first quarter, but Virginia came out firing on all cylinders in the second with five straight goals and an 8-2 run. The Cavaliers’ stellar second quarter increased their lead to 14-5 going into halftime.
The Cavaliers scored two goals inside the first five minutes of the second half and six total to Marist’s none in the third quarter as their lead blossomed to 20-5.
Compared to the rest of the game, the fourth quarter was relatively quiet with just three total goals and none in the last 10 minutes. The Cavaliers scored twice in the final period to secure the 22-6 win over the Red Foxes.
“This was a fantastic way to have Senior Day,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “We have many fourth and fifth years and I thought they set the tone early. It was really great to see other guys step in and make plays.”
With the win, Virginia scored over 20 goals in back-to-back matches for the first time since 2006.
Virginia thoroughly dominated Marist, recording more than twice as many shots and shots on goal, as 11 Cavaliers scored at least one goal.
The Cavaliers were led by Aitken and sophomore midfielder Jack Peele who combined for eight goals. The trio helped Virginia produce its second-highest goal total of the season.
“I think [the high scoring] comes down to us being unselfish,” senior attackman Ryan Conrad said. “We have a lot of great players on our team so if we just move the ball, no one has to do anything special.”
Freshman midfielder Petey LaSalla had a terrific day at the faceoff X, winning 9 of 14 against one of the best faceoff specialists in the nation.
“I was also very impressed with our faceoff play,” Tiffany said. “[Marist’s] faceoff man is one of the best in the nation, so it was battle in there.”
Virginia returns to action April 27 as the Cavaliers enter the ACC Tournament as the top-seeded team. Virginia will face either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed in the tournament semi-final which will be played in Chapel Hill, N.C. Faceoff is set for 2 p.m.
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