Familiar Foes and Territory Await Virginia in Return to Championship Weekend

Lars Tiffany and the Cavaliers are making their third Final Four appearance in the last four NCAA Tournaments

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Championship Weekend has become somewhat of a home away from home for the Virginia Cavaliers under Lars Tiffany. After a seven-year drought without reaching the Final Four spanning the final few seasons of the Dom Starsia era and the first couple of seasons under Tiffany, UVA has now advanced to the semifinals three times in the last four NCAA Tournaments. 

The accomplishment of being among the last four teams standing on Memorial Day Weekend isn't lost on Lars Tiffany, but he has observed that his team isn't at all satisfied with simply making the Final Four, and is greedy for another national championship. 

"We are thrilled to be back here," Tiffany said in a press conference on Tuesday. "There's an expectation here that you get a little concerned about because I'm listening to Connor Shellenberger say the other day, 'Well you know, there's some guys on our team who have won two national championships. I've only won one. And there's first years and seconds years... who haven't been to the Final Four yet and they don't have a national championship and they're hungry for it.'" 

Tiffany recognized the boldness and audacity required to make a statement like that, even coming from Shellenberger, who was the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament as a redshirt freshman in 2021. 

"And I love that attitude and that drive and that nerve, really, to say that publicly," said Tiffany. "It makes me a little uneasy, but I love that because that is what we've established here, building on the tradition of way back to Ace Adams and Glenn Thiel and certainly Dom Starsia and propelling us forward to we have the mindset where pressure is a privilege, where we embrace this time of year and then we just have fun with it." 

In recent history, no program has made more of its Final Four appearances than the Wahoos, who have come away with the national championship in each of their last three trips to Championship Weekend. Winning national titles has become the standard of the UVA men's lacrosse program, which has the third-most NCAA championships all-time with seven. 

Virginia's roster is filled with players who have championship-winning experience.  Several Cavaliers are looking to win their third NCAA title, including Xander Dickson, Petey LaSalla, Cade Saustad, and Grayson Sallade, who recalled a message from former UVA captain, defensive midfielder, and two-time national champion John Fox. "We don't hang banners for final four appearances like a lot of other schools do," Fox said, according to Sallade. "We only hang banners for national championships."

As Virginia strives to win its third NCAA national championship under Lars Tiffany and eighth in program history, the Cavaliers will have to beat out some familiar foes. UVA faced its semifinal opponent, the No. 3 seed Notre Dame, twice in the regular season, defeating the Fighting Irish both times. Virginia also faced No. 1 seed Duke twice this season, losing both matchups by a combined three goals. The Blue Devils will take on No. 5 seed Penn State in the first semifinal on Saturday. The Cavaliers did not face Penn State this season, but scrimmaged against the Nittany Lions back in the fall. 

Although Notre Dame was ranked the No. 1 team in the country at the time of both meetings, the Cavaliers swept the Irish by a combined 27-18 margin. But while the tape from those games does provide helpful strategic information, Lars Tiffany knows that the outcomes will have no bearing on the upcoming rematch as Virginia and Notre Dame get set to battle for the third time on Saturday. 

"I certainly know our men know those have been battles that have been tight ball games well into the third quarter that we were fortunate enough that the ball went in on our shots later in the third and early in the fourth to pull away and build up a lead," Tiffany said. "But these are two really, really talented teams that are very evenly matched."

UVA has had Notre Dame's number over the last few seasons, beating the Fighting Irish in each of the last six meetings. But, Lars Tiffany has made it clear that he isn't interested in that history, as will also be the case should the Cavaliers advance to face Duke, a team who has dominated Virginia for the last 20 years. 

"The history on these games, I'm trying to ignore and you know, hopefully you guys are asking me the same question on Sunday, as we're getting ready to play a Duke team that we obviously don't have a great history against and I'm going to say the same thing. We're gonna ignore the history."

No. 2 seed Virginia (13-3) will take on No. 3 seed Notre Dame (12-2) in the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship on Saturday, May 27th at approximately 2:30pm at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. UVA and Notre Dame will play in the second semifinal about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first semifinal game between No. 1 Duke and No. 5 Penn State, which will start at 12pm. Both semifinal games will be televised on ESPN2. 

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