No. 1 Virginia Men's Lacrosse Holds off Michigan 17-13 in Season-Opening Win
In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, the Wolverines gave the Cavaliers everything they could handle for three quarters, before UVA finally pulled away late in the fourth. Relying on strong offensive performances from Payton Cormier, Connor Shellenberger, and Thomas McConvey to stay in front, the No. 1-ranked Virginia men's lacrosse team opened up the 2023 season with a 17-13 win over Michigan on a warm February day at Klockner Stadium.
The Cavaliers were helped by a combined eight goals from transfer Thomas McConvey and Payton Cormier, as the Canadian duo helped UVA outpace Michigan's strong offense led by five points from Ryan Cohen. Additionally, Connor Shellenberger added three goals and three assists in a game that was close until the end.
“I couldn't be more thrilled with the guts that we showed out there,” said Virginia head coach Lars Tiffany.
The key for the Cavaliers was faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla who went 13/24 on faceoffs and scored two goals after missing both scrimmages with a foot injury.
LaSalla won the opening draw of the game, which allowed McConvey to open the scoring for the Cavaliers after his fellow Canadian and now collegiate teammate Payton Cormier found him cutting across the middle to put the Cavaliers up 1-0. Minutes later, Cormier continued distributing the rock, finding Connor Shellenberger to get the Hoos up 2-0.
Michigan proceeded to respond with a goal from Grant McCurry to bring the Wolverines back within one before the Cavaliers fired back with a goal from Xander Dickson that was set up by a Jeff Conner dodge from the top of the key. Dickson had a productive game with two goals and two assists.
After the Wolverines scored again, former Stanford linebacker Ricky Miezan took the field as a Cavalier for the first time and on his first touch of the ball, beat his defender and buried a shot on the run for his first college lacrosse goal.
Both teams faceoff specialists then scored off the next two faceoffs, as Michigan's Justin Wietfeldt scored off the draw and then Petey LaSalla followed suit, giving Virginia a 5-3 lead.
With less than four minutes left in the first quarter, Cormier scored to extend the Cavalier lead before Michigan’s Ryan Cohen fired back to make the score 6-4. After the Cohen goal, Virginia switched to a zone defense which frustrated the Wolverines and led to a turnover as the first quarter closed.
The second quarter began in back and forth fashion beginning with a goal from the Wolverines before McConvey assisted Cormier on a fast break. Aidan Mulholland then answered for Michigan to make the score 7-6. Both teams then entered scoring droughts which saw some key saves from Nunes before Jeff Conner reopened the scoring to put the Cavaliers back up by two goals.
The back and forth scoring continued with a Wolverine goal before Cormier responded for the Cavaliers to make the score 9-7 to close out the first half.
At halftime, Michigan led Virginia in shots and seemed to be having much longer possessions as the Cavaliers often chose to initiate their offense immediately rather than giving the defense a break. Luckily, Nunes picked up seven first half saves which was a big reason why the Cavaliers sustained their advantage.
To open the second half, the 2022 Tewaaraton finalist Shellenberger made his presence known, finding a cutting Dickson on the doorstep and adding a goal of his own in between a Wolverine goal by Cohen to make the score 11-8. Shellenberger produced two goals and an assist in the third quarter to lead UVA's offense.
Michigan then cut the lead to one by taking advantage of poorly executed double teams off of picks that created wide-open opportunities for the Wolverines that Nunes had no chance to stop.
In response, Shellenberger fired back with a goal after beating his man from behind the goal before LaSalla added his second goal to make the score 13-10. Michigan didn't go away, responding with two-straight goals to close out the third quarter, once again, cutting the lead to one.
Virginia started the fourth quarter man-down after two penalties, including one from Nunes, but backup goalkeeper David Roselle produced a massive save to stifle the Michigan man-up opportunity. On the ensuing possession, McConvey fed off the momentum and scored a crucial goal to make the score 14-12.
“That’s the first meaningful minute David [Roselle] has ever played for us and that was really meaningful,” said Tiffany said on Roselle's save.
Later on, Shellenberger found Cormier on the doorstep on back-to-back possessions as Virginia began to run away from Michigan with a 16-12 lead. As the clock ticked down, Michigan added a goal, but McConvey buried his third of the day on an open net off a great feed from Xander Dickson to seal Virginia's 17-13 win over Michigan.
Payton Cormier led the way with five goals and an assist on six shots and Connor Shellenberger and Thomas McConvey each had three goals and three assists. Xander Dickson had two goals and two assists and Petey LaSalla added two goals to go along with winning 13 of the 24 faceoffs he took. Matthew Nunes gave up 13 goals in cage and made 15 saves for a .536 save percentage.
Up next, Virginia will host Harvard next Saturday at 4pm at Klockner Stadium.
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