No. 10 Maryland held onto a commanding 11-8 lead over Virginia entering the fourth quarter — 15 minutes that have haunted the Cavaliers (3-4, 0-0 ACC) this season, as they had scored just a combined three fourth-quarter goals in their three losses up to this point.
With its back against the wall, on the brink of letting the game slip away for a second consecutive loss, Virginia’s offense stormed back to score four straight goals to give the Cavaliers the lead with just under four minutes remaining, their first since scoring the game's first goal a minute into the first quarter.
Then, just 39 seconds away from a signature top-10 victory, Virginia surrendered a goal to Maryland’s leading scorer, graduate attackman Leo Johnson, saving the Terrapins (3-3, 0-0 Big Ten) at the eleventh hour.
Both defenses held strong for two overtime periods, with each goalie making clutch saves. Midway through the third overtime, senior attackman Ryan Colsey sent a rocket of a snapshot from 15 yards away off the post that would have given the Cavaliers the victory.
Soon after, Maryland graduate midfielder Zach Whittier capitalized off of the change of possession, using a cut behind the net to create enough separation from senior midfielder Mack Till to rip a shot by the ear of graduate goalie Jake Marek and award the Terrapins the sudden victory, 13-12.
“It can be deemed a failure when Virginia Lacrosse loses a game. And it is, in a simple way of thinking about it. We didn't get the job done today,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “But I told our team — 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.”
Aside from the spectacular individual effort of Maryland’s graduate attackman Leo Johnson to even the score before time expired, the fourth quarter was the most complete lacrosse played by Virginia this season, giving optimism to a season where the Cavaliers have underperformed their preseason projection and fallen out of the top-20 poll.
If Tiffany is correct, though, Virginia may be gearing up to peak just before ACC conference play, a stretch where the Cavaliers failed to get a single win last season.
“Coach [Kevin] Cassese did a fantastic job putting us into some good formation there, isolating the short-stick [defensive midfielders] behind the goal in the fourth quarter, and we got a bunch of goals coming around from X,” Tiffany said. “Watching our defense become really stalwart as the game progressed — it was a season-defining moment.”
In his fifth game this season coming off a lower leg injury, senior defenseman John Schroter showcased why he was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, causing four turnovers and nabbing two groundballs, both of which are season highs. Schroter appears to be coming to form after causing no turnovers and grabbing two ground balls in his first three games.
The Cavaliers’ man-down unit also stepped up, shutting out the Terrapins on all four extra man opportunities, including a clutch stand in the fourth quarter amidst Virginia’s four-goal run.
On the other side of the ball, senior midfielder Joey Terenzi also slid seamlessly back into the lineup after being sidelined for a month with injury. Terenzi contributed two points to the Cavaliers’ balanced scoring attack, adding offensive creation outside of junior attackman McCabe Millon and his brother, freshman attackman Brendan Millon.
Maryland controlled the faceoff X, winning at a 60 percent clip, giving the Cavaliers room to improve, despite having had to compete against the nation’s top faceoff specialist in senior Henry Dodge.
“I told the team, ‘Fellas, it's so much easier to point towards a win when we turn the season around, but we're going to remember this through the pain and hurt of this losing locker room right now — this is when we turned the season around,” Tiffany said. “We took a huge step today.”
Virginia will be tested this Saturday against a red-hot Utah team that has won four straight, during which the offense has averaged 20.5 goals per game. The defensive gameplan and execution will again have to be on point, something that Tiffany believes can be the difference maker for his team.
Faceoff is set for 11 a.m. at Scott Stadium in a trial run of the Memorial Day festivities of the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Weekend that will be hosted in Virginia’s football stadium. The game can be streamed on ACCNX.
Read More
Hokies leave town with parting shot as No. 14 Virginia drops final game of the series
By Joe Schwiesow | 2 hours ago“We just gave them some free offense,” Pollard said. “We spotted a couple of runners, and you can't do that. Paone will learn and grow from that. But I thought [his] stuff was good. I thought he might have fatigued a little bit there around 60 to 70 pitches.”
The Cavaliers show no signs of quit, take weekend series against Georgia Tech
By Joby Jung | 3 hours agoThe Cavaliers will look to carry Sunday's momentum forward as they push deeper into a demanding stretch of conference matchups.
What is a Tar Heel? No. 2 Virginia answers with a 4-2 comeback win over North Carolina
By Margaret Piatos | 6 hours agoThe Cavaliers will next face No. 20 NC State and No. 4 Wake Forest on the road.
