No. 1 Notre Dame (6-1, 0-1 ACC) walked into Klöckner Stadium on Saturday the premier team in the country, preparing to steamroll the weakest of their four ACC foes on their home field. An unranked Virginia team (6-4, 0-1 ACC) didn’t seem to notice.
Virginia defeated Notre Dame 11-9 in a contest where each side traded blows, a rapid back-and-forth of scoring runs initiated by an opening two goals within the first three minutes by senior attacker Truitt Sunderland and freshman attacker Brendan Millon. These warring goals between the Cavaliers and the Fighting Irish would stretch on until the waning seconds of the third quarter as Virginia fought to break a one-goal deficit, wide shots and turnovers dredging their momentum.
As time drained, it took senior midfielder Joey Terenzi barrelling towards the Notre Dame cage and almost falling to his knees launching a shot that would be prove to be the equalizer — the crowds in Klöckner rapt as the only unranked team in the ACC took their competition 9-9 as the fourth quarter loomed.
“He is the best communicator I think I've ever had for a captain,” Head coach Lars Tiffany said. “To have him out there, [it almost] feels like a spiritual lift as well.”
Graduate goalie Jake Marek, coming off of his strongest performance of the season against Dartmouth, posted an 0.550 save percentage under duress of the fast-moving Fighting Irish offense, skill and occasional luck nabbing shots from attackers. For a defensive unit often bemoaned following close losses, Tiffany noted that Marek’s rise was a progression emerging out of each encounter with defeat.
“For him, it really started in that fourth quarter [of the Towson] game, which you know, was a loss right here on this field,” Tiffany said. “There's a confidence that's growing with the rest of us in him, that then breeds confidence in himself.”
Notre Dame’s offense looked shaky coming off of a bye week, with shots launched high or deflecting off the crossbars, the clang of the ball on metal a call heeded by an especially cohesive Virginia defense. Led by senior defender John Schroter who logged a team-high five ground balls, and sophomore midfielder Hudson Hausmann, the defense sported confidence under duress as Notre Dame graduate attacker Josh Yago and senior attacker Will Maheras fired shots into the circle.
“He's an absolute dog,” Schroter said on Hausmann. “He's so fun to play with.”
But before the Fighting Irish could even cross the restraining line into Marek’s territory, Virginia’s work at the dot derailed them, with junior faceoff specialists Andrew Greenspan and Henry Metz going 9-for-15 and 4-for-7 each. Between clamping the ball and guiding it to skitter into the stick of a Virginia midfielder, the possession game remained largely in the hands of the Cavaliers as the Fighting Irish relied on junior faceoff specialist Tyler Spano for 21 out of a total 23 battles.
“Andrew Greenspan and [the] wings were able to give us a lot of … additional opportunities to try to break down a really, really tough defense,” Tiffany said. “That was huge to get us off to a good start.”
But as the fourth quarter stretched on, both teams scoreless until under four minutes remained to play, the FOGOs fell into irrelevance as a new battle began — the fight to surmount Terenzi’s equalizing goal, the 9-9 score a taunt outlined in white lights. Up to that moment, eight out of nine goals had been assisted for the offense, with shots ripped from farther out of the circle by junior attacker McCabe Millon and senior attacker Ryan Colsey being saved or deflected off of the cage.
But facing a reset shot clock and losing time to put Virginia ahead, freshman attacker Brendan Millon spun, shedding off his defenders and launched a shot solo, vanquishing the stalemate to put the Cavaliers up 10-9 as the stands of Klöckner thrummed — all nonchalance abandoned as the upset came into view. A final goal from Hausmann as he climbed through a horde of three defenders to an open goal made the final score 11-9 — the most goals Notre Dame has allowed this season by an opponent — and the golden helmets of the Fighting Irish hung in defeat as Virginia found their first conference win since 2024 in its most unlikely place.
“Every win in conference is huge… there's a lot of confidence that comes from it,” Tiffany said. “But it's… what we're hired to do. That's what we came here to do.”
The Cavaliers face another tough competition against Duke Saturday, April 4 in Durham — seeking to snap their 20 year streak of victory in the regular season. The game can be streamed on ACC Network at 12 p.m.
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