Midway through the third quarter, junior attackman McCabe Millon scored a goal to put No. 13 Virginia up 11-4 over No. 16 Johns Hopkins. The Cavaliers (2-2, 0-0 ACC) began the quarter with a score of 8-3 over the Blue Jays (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten), but this score left Virginia in an even more dominant position — ready to close out a victory in the final quarter of its first game at Klöckner Stadium this season.
Instead, the Cavaliers allowed four unanswered goals in the third quarter and six unanswered in the fourth quarter. With four minutes remaining in the game, Johns Hopkins had tied it, and they took the lead with less than three minutes to go. In the 100th meeting between the teams and the 20th anniversary of the Doyle Smith Cup between Virginia and Johns Hopkins in men’s lacrosse, the Cavaliers lost 14-13.
Virginia came into the game after stumbling in its only ranked game so far, against No. 8 Richmond. The loss on Saturday continued a streak of losses against ranked teams that stretches back to 2024. The match against the Blue Jays provided an opportunity to right the ship and provide good experience before the gauntlet of men’s lacrosse in the ACC.
The opening salvo was kind to the Cavaliers, with two unassisted Virginia goals opening the game. Johns Hopkins responded with an unassisted goal of their own. However, the Cavaliers scored three goals in five minutes, including two from senior attackman Ryan Colsey. The first was assisted by freshman attackman Brendan Millon — the second, a man-up goal, was assisted by his brother, McCabe. The Millon brothers combined for the assist and goal on another man-up opportunity to end the first quarter with Virginia up 6-2.
On the scoring front, the second quarter was a quiet one, with only three total goals recorded. The Blue Jays made the most of an early-quarter man-up opportunity, but McCabe Millon assisted on one goal and scored on another to widen the Cavalier lead to 8-3 entering halftime.
Virginia appeared to have lost little momentum out of halftime, scoring three of the first four goals of the quarter to boost the lead to seven, leading 11-4. Johns Hopkins had only ever come back from down seven goals once before — with the only other occurrence coming against the Cavaliers in 2018. Four goals in as many minutes trimmed the Virginia lead to three, before the Cavaliers got one back with what appeared to be a momentum-stopping goal from sophomore defenseman Tommy Snyder. The Cavaliers finished the third quarter ahead 12-8.
“I think you felt a shift there late in the third quarter,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “We’ve got to keep being as physical as we need to be on defense.”
Having just let up four successive scores to the Blue Jays, though, the Virginia sticks went silent as Johns Hopkins narrowed the lead, tied the game and eventually took a two-point lead with 90 seconds to go.
A final-minute score from senior attackman Truitt Sutherland brought the Cavaliers within one. The goal would prove to be the final score in an agonizing loss, though not for lack of trying from Virginia. A timeout with 42 seconds remaining allowed the team to plan a tying shot. The Cavaliers would get two attempts at this game-tying, rivalry-winning shot. The first sailed high. The second sailed in the direction of the goal — before ultimately being saved by senior goalie Oran Gelinas. The game was over, the lead was squandered and in the 19th awarding of the Doyle Smith Cup, the trophy went back to Baltimore, Md.
Only two Johns Hopkins players scored more than one goal, but those two players scored more than half of the points for the Blue Jays — in particular, junior attackman Hunter Chauvette scored six points.
On the other side of the field, goal defense proved to be a weak point for the Cavaliers, with senior goalie Kyle Morris only recording six saves to Gelinas’ 12. Compared to Gelinas, Morris made just three saves in the second half.
“Now, give their goalie credit,” Tiffany said. “He made nine saves in the second half, so [he] was able to make the saves he needed to make for them to win.”
The Cavaliers were up 2-0. They were up 5-1. They were up 8-3. They were up 11-4. They were up 12-8. Games are not won on the basis of the score during or at the end of the first, second or third quarter, though. Virginia dominated the game, and led for an overwhelming proportion of the time. When it mattered, though, the team — and the lead — crumbled.
The next game for the Cavaliers comes Tuesday evening at High Point. The Panthers’ (1-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10) only win this season came over the Virginia Military Institute. High Point has suffered wide-margin losses to No. 6 North Carolina and No. 9 Ohio State. While Virginia has suffered two losses on the season, those losses were to ranked teams likely to be in the mix for the NCAA Tournament this year. The upcoming match is a must-win for the Cavaliers, and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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