Cavaliers Now

Top Virginia Cavaliers Sports Teams of 2021

What was your favorite UVA sports team of 2021?

Matt Newton

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

As the clock winds down on 2021 and we approach a new year, it is time to take a look back at what has been yet another successful year for athletics at the University of Virginia. Today, we’re taking our pick of the top five Virginia Cavaliers sports teams of 2021 (in no particular order). 

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Florida, Stanford, Texas, USC, Georgia, Auburn, California, Arizona. That’s the list of schools that had won an NCAA national championship in women’s swimming & diving before this year. Only eight programs had ever won a national title and none of them were from the ACC. That was until the UVA women’s swimming & diving team went to Greensboro in March 2021 and won the program’s first-ever national championship. The Cavaliers crushed the competition, totaling 491 points as a team, nearly 150 points more than second-place NC State with 354 points.

Virginia Women's Swimming & Diving: 2021 NCAA National Champions / Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Paige Madden led the way, winning three individual titles: the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and 1,650-yard freestyle. She also participated in UVA’s 800-yard freestyle relay team, which also finished first. When Todd DeSorbo first came to UVA in 2017, he said he had a “five-year plan” to get the Cavaliers in contention for NCAA championships by 2022. Well, it ended up being a four-year plan and the Hoos did more than contend for a championship, bringing home an NCAA Swimming & Diving National Championship to Charlottesville for the first time ever. 

Men’s Lacrosse

Despite coming into the season as the reigning national champions, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team was not considered among the favorites to win the national title. The Cavaliers finished the regular season 10-4 and earned the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. After dispatching Bryant in the first round, many “experts” picked No. 5 Georgetown to defeat UVA in the quarterfinals. Instead, the Hoos dominated the Hoyas from start to finish, winning 14-3 behind a six-goal performance from redshirt freshman Connor Shellenberger. In the Final Four, Virginia was again considered the underdog among the other contenders: No. 3 Maryland, No. 2 Duke, and No. 1 North Carolina. In the semifinals against the Tar Heels, UVA built a 12-8 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers would not score again, but the Virginia defense held on and made a critical stand in the final minute to send the Hoos to the final with a 12-11 victory.

In the National Championship Game against No. 3 and undefeated Maryland, Virginia got four goals and two assists each from Matt Moore and Connor Shellenberger, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament. In a thrilling ending to an amazing game, goalie Alex Rode made a save off of a Maryland faceoff win at the last second and the Cavaliers beat the Terrapins 17-16 to claim back-to-back national championships and the seventh NCAA Championship in program history. 

Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse
Virginia Men's Lacrosse - 2021 NCAA National Champions :: Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

Women's Rowing

Virginia women's rowing continued its dominant run in the ACC, winning all five grand finals events in order to capture the 2021 ACC Rowing Championship. The Cavaliers have now won 11 straight ACC Rowing Championships and 20 ACC titles overall. Virginia's Varsity Eight was named the ACC Crew of the Year and Virginia head coach Kevin Sauer was named ACC Coach of the Year. UVA advanced three boats to the finals of the NCAA Championship, where the Cavaliers finished fifth, the program's 17th top-five finish at the NCAA Championships. 

Virginia Cavaliers women's rowing
Virginia Women's Rowing - 2021 ACC Champions / Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Baseball

After a rocky start to the season, Virginia rallied down the stretch, winning four straight ACC series to end the regular season and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament. UVA’s time in the tournament appeared to be short-lived after the Cavaliers lost their first game to South Carolina in the Columbia Regional, leaving the Cavaliers one loss away from elimination. UVA defeated Jacksonville 13-8 and South Carolina 3-2 to stay alive. No. 15 Old Dominion needed to win just one of two games against Virginia to knock the Hoos out. UVA beat ODU 8-3 to force a deciding elimination game. Devin Ortiz pitched the first four innings and eventually hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to give the Hoos the 4-3 win and advance Virginia to the Super Regionals.

Virginia dropped the first game of the Super Regional to Dallas Baptist and the Hoos once again faced elimination. Griff McGarry pitched seven scoreless innings and UVA scored four runs in the eighth inning to win game two 4-0 and force a winner-take-all final game. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, freshman Kyle Teel sent a ball over the center field wall for a grand slam. UVA went on to win 5-2 and Virginia advanced to the College World Series for the first time since 2015 and the fifth time in program history. Virginia beat Tennessee 6-0 in the first game of the CWS, but the Cavaliers lost back-to-back games to Mississippi State and Texas to bring their run in Omaha and a very successful 2021 UVA baseball season to an end. 

Virginia Cavaliers baseball
Virginia Baseball - Advanced to 2021 College World Series / Photo courtesy of James Motter

Women’s Soccer (Spring and Fall)

Due to COVID-19, postseason play for the 2020 women’s soccer season was delayed until this past spring. The 2020 UVA women’s soccer team made an amazing run to the College Cup as an unseeded team. Virginia beat SIUE 3-1, BYU 2-0, Rice 3-0, and No. 4 TCU 1-0 to advance to the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 2014. In the College Cup semifinal against top-seeded Florida State, the Hoos played the Seminoles to a 0-0 draw through regulation and overtime. UVA eventually fell to FSU in the penalty kick shootout, ending what was an unexpected postseason run for the Hoos.

With much of the core of the 2020 College Cup roster returning to Charlottesville for another season this fall, Virginia was expected to be one of the top teams in the country. The Cavaliers certainly delivered on those expectations. Behind ACC Offensive Player of the Year Diana Ordonez, UVA went 15-1-2 in the regular season, including an unbeaten 8-0-2 conference record, and won the program’s third ACC Regular Season Championship and first since 2015. 

As the top seed in the ACC Tournament, Virginia beat Clemson 1-0 to advance to the ACC Championship Game, where the Cavaliers fell to Florida State 1-0. UVA was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and beat High Point 6-0 and Milwaukee 2-0 to advance to the round of 16. Unfortunately, Virginia’s postseason run ended earlier than the Hoos had hoped as No. 4 seed BYU defeated UVA 1-0. 

Virginia Cavaliers women's soccer
Virginia Women's Soccer - 2021 ACC Regular Season Champions / Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Men’s Basketball

It was an up-and-down season for the 2020-2021 Virginia men’s basketball team. Several games were canceled due to COVID-19 and it seemed that the pauses were a significant obstacle preventing the Hoos from getting into a rhythm, especially considering there were several new faces on the team. Still, Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers went 18-7 and 13-4 in ACC play and captured the program’s 11th ACC Regular Season Championship and fifth since 2014.

In the ACC Tournament, Syracuse had the top-seeded Wahoos on the ropes until Reece Beekman hit a clutch buzzer-beating three-pointer to give Virginia the 72-69 win.

Unfortunately, UVA was then hit with another COVID-19 case in the program at the worst possible time. The Cavaliers were forced to forfeit the ACC Tournament and watch as their next opponent, Georgia Tech, went on to win the 2021 ACC Tournament Championship. Virginia was not able to practice together for the next week and a half as the team completed COVID-19 protocols and the team was barely cleared in time to travel to Indiana for the NCAA Tournament. As a No. 4 seed, UVA then fell to No. 13 seed Ohio 62-58 in the first round in a very disappointing end to the season. It is difficult not to think about what the Cavaliers could have accomplished in the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament had the team not experienced the COVID pause.

Reece Beekman Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball
Virginia Men's Basketball - 2021 ACC Regular Season Champions :: Photo courtesy of Robert Willett/ACC

Sam Hauser, Jay Huff, and Kihei Clark were named to All-ACC teams and Virginia’s three leading scorers from that team, Sam Hauser, Trey Murphy, and Jay Huff, are currently on NBA rosters. 

Happy New Year! 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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