For last year’s Virginia men’s lacrosse team, going 0-4 in the ACC was a fate they had not experienced since Coach Lars Tiffany’s first season in 2017. With the days of back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2019 and 2021 now far in the rearview, after four bumpy losses, Virginia (5-4, 0-0 ACC) looks to claw back into conference contention — starting with Notre Dame (6-0, 0-0 ACC).
The next three contests against Duke, Syracuse and North Carolina will be a gauntlet for Virginia. They are also opportunities for the Cavaliers to prove they are once again capable of competing in one of the toughest conferences in the country as the 2026 NCAA Championships creep into Charlottesville in May.
Coming off of two significant non-conference wins against Utah and Dartmouth, what has helped Virginia turn around four losses?
Michael Liebermann, Senior Writer: Graduate goalie Jake Marek making 14 and then 13 saves will help, won’t it? But it’s been a lot of things. Marek’s improved play is the most encouraging, long-term.
The graduate goalie’s save percentages in his three losses: 39 percent, 46 percent, 41 percent. Since: 56 percent against Utah, 68 percent against Dartmouth. Those Big Green attackmen got cowed after a while, like they were shooting on Sulley from “Monsters, Inc.” Their shots flashed wide or bounced off the post.
The goalie’s confidence, simply put, has mushroomed. It could turn an alarming weakness into a strength.
Adair Reid, Staff Writer: While close defeats against No. 16 Johns Hopkins and No. 10 Maryland have shown a failure to seal victories when Virginia needs them most, the ceiling for the Cavaliers may now be expanding after last week’s decisive twin victories. Senior Defender John Schroter’s impact against Dartmouth on Monday was major, with a game-high three caused turnovers, and the defense at-large has seemed to find its stride by holding the Big Green to just seven goals — its second-lowest total of the season. Compared to the defense that allowed Johns Hopkins to diminish a seven-goal lead to three in less than six minutes, this defensive turnaround has the potential to keep Virginia out of collapse.
Drew Dillman, Staff Writer: Virginia came up just short against Maryland following a near-complete second-half rally. After the triple-overtime loss against Maryland, Tiffany said, “We just turned our season around. We've not been playing great lacrosse, and we turned our season around today with that fourth-quarter comeback.”
Even though the team lost that match, Virginia lacrosse displayed a refusal to quit when the chips were down. This willingness to fight for a win has shone through in particular with a big victory over a Utah team that sat just outside of the top 20, showing that the Cavaliers should not be defined by their losses. Whether in a game or in the season as a whole, Virginia has put forth a squad that refuses to give up.
Notre Dame is currently the No. 1 team in the country with a highly-touted defense — how can Virginia break through?
ML: Virginia’s own defense needs to hold, if there’s any sort of shot at an upset. It has been much bemoaned this season, chief among a litany of early-season issues. But Virginia seemed, in the second half against Maryland, to turn a corner.
The Terrapins managed only one goal in the fourth quarter. Utah’s performance dampened the enthusiasm slightly. But then Virginia smothered Dartmouth, allowing just seven goals. Schroter and senior midfielder Joey Terenzi are back to full health, and sophomore defender Michael Meredith has emerged as second lockdown defender after Schroter.
Notre Dame has three explosive options at attack in grad student Josh Yago, junior Brock Behrman and sophomore Luke Miller. A cataclysmic upset, any prayer at it, starts on defense.
AR: Although upsetting Notre Dame will be no easy feat, the Fighting Irish have performed less effectively on the road than at home, going 35-75 in the faceoff, finding fewer ground balls and scoring 17 less goals. As the Irish are coming off of a bye week into another road contest, a Virginia offense that has been impressive in scoring goals early and consistently throughout the first three quarters should get as much out of having the home-field advantage at Klöckner as they can.
However, they will have to surmount senior goalie Thomas Ricciardelli who has been hitting his stride, posting his strongest save percentage of the season at 0.733 against Michigan. Following, the Cavaliers should exploit Notre Dame’s tendency to go through stretches of play without scoring. When the Fighting Irish were up 5-1 against the Wolverines, 16 minutes without scoring allowed their opponent to claw back to 5-4 — and focus on picking Ricciardelli apart.
DD: The Cavaliers have also shown an ability to take the momentum of the game into their own hands. Virginia neutralized a Utah offense that had averaged over 20 points in their previous four games. Just two days later, the team scored nine straight goals against Dartmouth, holding the Big Green scoreless over 15 minutes of gameplay.
Part of this can be attributed to the development of faceoff specialists. Junior faceoff specialist Andrew Greenspan did not take any faceoff attempts in the loss against Towson. He only took eight against Maryland. Against Utah, he took 19 and won 15, a career-high and more than all Utes combined. Greenspan played his freshman year at Notre Dame, and could provide a spark against his old team.
Combine that with the potent freshman faceoff specialist Griff Meyer, who checked in at No. 13 on the Inside Lacrosse Freshman Impact List — and third amongst faceoff specialists — Virginia has a unit that can create goals and create momentum quickly.
Where should we expect Virginia to outperform the Fighting Irish?
ML: The frustrating thing, for fans of this team watching another year of struggle, has been the talent. Look at all the talent! Look at all the potential! It’s turning into a mirage.
But the talent is there, even if it hasn’t been fully realized. It is especially there on offense, where Virginia seems — potentially, maybe? — to be figuring things out. That Dartmouth game? Five goals in four minutes, eight in a row. Freshman attackman Brendan Millon scored four goals, and so did senior attackman Ryan Colsey.
Notre Dame’s defense is formidable. But Virginia has updated its offense recently, moving Brendan Millon to behind the goal, running junior McCabe Millon out of the midfield, getting senior attacker Truitt Sunderland to dodge effectively. And scoring heaps of goals.
AR: If only the question had a clear-cut answer. Virginia shows the capacity to keep up with the Fighting Irish, who are not a team without weaknesses, but nothing will come easy Saturday. However, their offensive production has slowed down, with Notre Dame being held to nine goals in their last two games. For Virginia, who hasn’t ended a single game scoring under 12 goals, this could be a key opportunity to exploit.
DD: There is no way around it — the Fighting Irish are the No. 1 team for a reason. Notre Dame ranks near the top in many statistics. However, Virginia still has areas in which it excels. Fans should expect a physical Cavalier defense to provide pushback against the Notre Dame offense.
Virginia ranks in the top four in the nation for caused turnovers and ground balls. These events have the ability to change the momentum of a game quickly. The Cavaliers demonstrated the power of grabbing ground balls en route to scoring three goals in 22 seconds against Dartmouth. Dialing up an aggressive defense and fighting for ground balls throughout the game may be what the Cavaliers need when the Fighting Irish come to Charlottesville.
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