Dickson's Nine Points Leads No. 4 Virginia Past No. 12 Syracuse 19-12

Xander Dickson tied a career-high with nine points on seven goals and two assists as the Cavaliers took down the Orange on Saturday

Virginia Athletics

When the Tewaaraton Foundation released its 25 nominees for the 2023 Tewaaraton Award earlier this week, two Cavaliers were included on list with Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier making the cut for consideration as the best player in college lacrosse. Xander Dickson was not nominated for the award, despite ranking fourth in the country in scoring at 3.73 goals per game coming into this weekend. 

Dickson proved that excluding him from that list was a mistake with his performance on Saturday, matching a career-high with nine points on seven goals and two assists to lead No. 4 Virginia to a comfortable and convincing 19-12 victory over No. 12 Syracuse on Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium. 

In the first quarter, Virginia jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, which included a goal and an assist from Peter Garno. The Cavaliers' strong start was helped by Petey LaSalla starting 4/4 from the x. UVA continued to pull away early as Xander Dickson scored his second and third goal of the day to make it 6-0. With three minutes left in the first quarter, Cole Kirst netted Syracuse’s first goal of the game. On the ensuing possession Truitt Sunderland fired back for the Cavaliers with a diving goal. Syracuse goalie Will Mark produced six first-quarter saves in an attempt to slow the UVA offense, but the Hoos still led 7-2 at the end of the opening period. 

The second quarter consisted of back-and-forth scoring which started with a goal from Alex Simmons for Syracuse. Virginia then responded with two goals, which included a transition goal from Thomas McConvey. Minutes later, the Orange found two goals of their own before Cormier scored to make it 10-5 at the half.

Virginia dominated in all facets in the first quarter, but in the second, Syracuse began to find its way back into the game by winning the ground ball battle 14-7 in the second quarter. That allowed the Orange to split the quarter 3-3 to keep the margin at five goals going into halftime. 

To open the second half, Xander Dickson netted two more goals, sparking a quick 3-0 run for the Cavaliers. Midway through the third quarter, Cole Kirst stopped the bleeding with a goal and kick-started the Orange into a three-goal run of their own to make it 13-8.

With less than two minutes left in the quarter, the Cavaliers were awarded a two man-up which they capitalized on with a goal from Payton Cormier. As the clock drained, Cade Saustad found Noah Chizmar in transition to make it 15-8 at the end of the third quarter.

Kirst netted his third goal of the day before Jackson Birtwistle scored to cut the lead to five with ten minutes left in the fourth. On the ensuing possession, Dickson responded with a goal before finding LaSalla for a goal to make it 17-10. Minutes later, Cormier scored his fourth goal of the day and Dickson then fired home his seventh goal to tie his career-high in points and goals to solidify Virginia’s lead with four minutes left. Syracuse tallied a pair of goals in the final two minutes as UVA took its foot off the gas, but the Cavaliers cruised to a 19-12 win. 

There was no shortage of standout individual performances for Virginia. In addition to Dickson's seven goals and two assists, Payton Cormier scored four goals, Thomas McConvey recorded two goals and two assists, and Griffin Schutz had two goals and an assist. It was another quiet day for Connor Shellenberger, who was held to just two assists, as he couldn't find the back of the net with any of his six shots. But Virginia got plenty of goals from its supporting cast, including one from Petey LaSalla, who also gave UVA a hefty possession advantage by going 17/29 from the faceoff x. 

On the defensive end, Cade Saustad had four caused turnovers and four ground balls and did an incredible job shutting down Syracuse's Joey Spallina. The star freshman attackman came into the game averaging 4.69 points per game, but had just one assist as he went without a goal for the first time in his career. Alex Simmons had four goals and Cole Kirst had three goals and an assist, but UVA's defense kept a lid on the rest of Syracuse's offensive weapons. Matthew Nunes had a solid day with 10 saves versus 10 goals allowed. 

The win moves Virginia to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in ACC play. In the final week of the regular season, UVA will play at Lafayette on Tuesday at 7:30pm in Easton, Pennsylvania before returning home for the regular season finale against No. 1 Notre Dame on Sunday at 2pm at Klockner Stadium. 

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