In the final minutes of Virginia’s victory against No. 8 seed Memphis, ‘Sweet 16’ chants filled the stadium. The 78-60 effort earned the top-seeded Cavaliers a trip to Madison Square Garden and the eighth Sweet 16 appearance in program history, and first since 1995.
After an exhilarating victory Wednesday against James Madison Wednesday, the No. 14 Virginia women’s lacrosse team paid a visit to Durham, N.C. to battle No. 8 Duke Saturday afternoon. Despite holding the lead after 50 minutes, the Cavaliers fell 16-11 and are still seeking their first ACC win this season.
The Virginia women’s swimming team concluded a successful season under first year coach Augie Busch with an 11th place finish—earning 123 points—at the NCAA Championships on the backs of some stellar performances by underclassmen. Over the three days of competition that stretched from Thursday until Saturday, Virginia broke four school records and earned three All-American honors as well as four honorable mention All-American accolades. It was the Cavaliers’ best finish at the meet since they placed ninth in 2010. For the second straight year, Georgia was crowned national champions.
The No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team traveled to the state of North Carolina this weekend for a pair of ACC matches, handily defeating No. 6 North Carolina 7-0 and No. 13 Duke 5-1.
No. 12 Virginia wrestling competed at the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City over the weekend. At the end of the three day tournament, the Cavaliers (18-3, 5-1 ACC) stood in a tie with Old Dominion for 23rd place with 18.5 points.
The 10th-ranked Virginia men’s lacrosse team snapped its two game losing streak Saturday, defeating No. 11 Johns Hopkins. The Cavaliers trailed the Blue Jays for the majority of the second half, but were able to force overtime thanks in large part to a brilliant performance by freshman goalkeeper Matt Barrett, who made 16 saves.
Trailing Coastal Carolina 31-21 late in the first half — the largest deficit faced by a No. 1 seed against a No. 16 seed since 1989 — the Cavaliers were not playing their game. More alarming, according to coach Tony Bennett, though, was the “bickering” between the Virginia teammates.
The No. 1 seed Virginia men’s basketball team just scraped by in their opening round game of the NCAA tournament, beating No.
Whatever coach Tony Bennett said during halftime, the Cavaliers came out the break a changed team, quickly closing the gap and taking the lead, and Virginia would hold on for a 70-59 win to advance to Sunday’s game against No. 8 seed Memphis.
Virginia softball welcomed Fordham to The Park for a Thursday evening doubleheader. The two teams split the day, with the Cavaliers (4-22, 1-10 ACC) taking the first game 9-2 and the Rams (13-15) winning second 8-2.
Virginia junior second baseman Branden Cogswell led off the bottom of the first inning of the No. 5 Cavaliers’ Thursday afternoon game against Princeton with groundball that rocketed off the lip of the infield grass for a surprise single. He accepted a free pass from junior right-hander Nick Donatiello to lead off the third. Two innings later, he squared up a second base hit, once more in Virginia’s first at-bat of the frame.
The Skinny: Following a tight 4-3 loss to No. 3 UCLA, the Cavaliers travel to North Carolina for a pair of matches against ACC rivals the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils.
This season is the first time in 21 years the Chanticleers have earned an NCAA Tournament bid, as coach Cliff Ellis — who spent 10 years as the coach of both Clemson and Auburn — became just the 10th coach to lead four different Division I programs to the NCAA Tournament. No recent Coastal Carolina team has played with as much chemistry as the 2013-14 Chanticleers, and the team becomes very dangerous when players communicate and make smart passes.
No. 14 Virginia (4-5, 0-2 ACC), which has been on the receiving end of several second half runs this season, turned the tables and responded with a 7-0 run lasting throughout much of the second half to steal a 12-10 victory against the Dukes (4-4, 0-0 CAA).
The No. 5 Cavaliers (16-3, 5-1 ACC), however, made it to the field for their matchup with the Tigers, delivering a 5-3 comeback win before a sparse crowd in cold, wet weather.
No. 12 Virginia wrestling reaches the end of its long, hard journey at the NCAA Championships this week in Oklahoma City, Okla. Three days’ worth of nonstop wrestling against the nation’s best awaits them, and the ultimate prize of being called a national champion is on the line.
The Virginia men’s basketball team won an ACC regular season title, an ACC Tournament title and locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament Sunday. With all these achievements behind them, the Cavaliers have a little time to rest on their laurels — right? Senior forward Akil Mitchell summed up the reality in five words: “You don’t know Coach Bennett.”
The Virginia softball team will welcome Fordham to The Park for a doubleheader Thursday. The games come following a Wednesday cancellation of the series against ACC rival Maryland because of adverse field conditions.
This season, the Virginia women’s swim and dive team has been one to remember. Under first year coach Augie Busch, the Cavaliers not only won their seventh consecutive ACC title, but also shattered the record books in the process. Now, the long season which began with its first meet in October has one more stop for No. 7 Virginia — Minneapolis, Minn., for the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships.
On Monday, Virginia alumnus Ian Cohen wrote a story for Grantland entitled “In Praise of Virginia: The Mediocre, Miraculous No. 1 Seed.” With respect to Mr. Cohen, I disliked the article.
