After falling behind 7-4 midway through the second quarter, junior attackman McCabe Millon erupted with three straight goals in 65 seconds. Virginia’s leading scorer, McCabe displayed his wide array of skills — hitting his first goal on a fastball from 10 yards out, ripping an even stronger shot from 15 yards away for his second and pulling off a dazzling spin move that completely lost his defender to give him a point-blank shot at the net to cap off his hat-trick speedrun.
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers (1-1, 0-0 ACC), this one-minute stretch that tied the score at 7-7 would be the highlight of the game, as No. 8 Richmond (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic 10) would retake the lead shortly after and never give it back, culminating in a commanding 18-12 victory over No. 13 Virginia.
“The season is a race — a race to improve,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “It's obvious after today that we have a whole lot of racing to do, because there’s a great deal of improving that has to occur.”
The Cavaliers have now given up 32 goals over the past six days, making it the most goals they have surrendered in the opening two games of the season in three years, when they gave up a combined 33 to begin the season. This 2022-23 team would turn its defense around and also featured a historic offense that averaged 15.5 goals per game, propelling Virginia to a run to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cavaliers actually improved upon their biggest weaknesses from their 19-14 win last week, where they lost both the ground ball and faceoff battles, both of which contributed to extra goal opportunities for Colgate. Virginia had the advantage over the Spiders in both departments Saturday, picking up seven more ground balls and winning 62 percent of the face-off draws.
In just his second game, faceoff specialist Griff Meyer stepped up and took 28 of 34 face-offs for the Cavaliers, winning 17. Meyer provides optimism for Virginia, which hopes to have stability at the face-off X to control possession, a facet of the game that played a big role in opening up the transition offense for the Cavaliers.
Despite controlling the possession game, what Richmond was able to do with its possessions proved to be the difference maker, as the Spiders did not waste any opportunities and shot the ball at a high clip of 45 percent.
“Some days in sports, you run into a hot shooting team, and today may have been one of those days,” Tiffany said. “But we also know we have to be much better with our team defense and with our play in the goal from our goalkeepers.”
Tiffany experimented with both graduate goalie Jake Marek, who got the start in both games this season, and senior goalie Kyle Morris. Neither Marek nor Morris found success, as they combined for just 11 saves on 40 Richmond shots.
Defense is a holistic effort, though, and while Virginia surrendered fewer point-blank looks at the crease, it still struggled at times to guard one-on-one and slide quickly enough with the Spiders’ ball movement.
An asterisk to the defensive woes is that the Cavaliers were once again without the help of their best on-ball defender, senior defenseman John Schroter, who is sidelined with a lower leg injury. Alongside Millon, Schroter was named a member of the Tewaaraton Award Watch List Feb. 10, an award given to the most outstanding lacrosse player in the nation.
On the offensive end, senior attackmen Truitt Sunderland and Ryan Colsey struggled to replicate their 10-goal masterclass from last week, as the duo combined for just three goals on 15 shots. While the two are perhaps the best sharpshooters of the team, they lack the dodging ability of Millon, making it difficult to free them for good looks against more stout man-to-man defenses.
Freshman attackman Brendan Millon provided a late spark for Virginia with consecutive goals to end the third quarter and start the fourth. The pair were the first two goals of his career after an unselfish five-assist performance in his debut. As Brendan becomes more acclimated to the offense, he figures to be the secondary creator to McCabe, as his talent with his stick and legs should be able to create advantages in six-on-six sets for the Cavaliers.
While Virginia would have loved to make a statement against its in-state rival, the Spiders are no slouch and are properly ranked in the top-10 nationally. The Cavaliers certainly have work to do, especially on defense, if they wish to make the jump to the next level.
“A well-coached and talented Richmond team shot the ball really well today and executed a well-thought-out game plan,” Tiffany said. “We will learn from this, and we will grow from this — I believe in this team.”
Virginia’s next chance to show improvement is this Saturday at noon, when it stays on the road at Stony Brook. The game can be streamed on FloSports.
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