No. 2 Virginia Weathers the Storm, Cruises Past Richmond 17-8 in NCAA First Round

Payton Cormier tallied six goals to lead the Cavaliers past the Spiders and into the quarterfinals for the fourth-straight NCAA Tournament

Virginia Athletics

Win or go home.

In Virginia’s opening-round matchup against Richmond, the Cavaliers took care of business with a 17-8 win. The game in Charlottesville saw heavy rain that created puddles all over the field, a development which actually occurred after a weather delay at the end of the first quarter. Virginia has played in multiple rainy games this season, but nothing quite like this. Despite the irregularities, Virginia triumphed and dominated the Spiders for the second time this season at Klöckner Stadium.

“I think this was the craziest weather year we’ve ever had,” said UVA senior defenseman Cade Saustad after the game. 

Payton Cormier led the Cavaliers with six goals, while Connor Shellenberger registered two goals and four assists. The six-point performance was Shellenberger’s first game with six or more points since Notre Dame on March 25th when he picked up seven points. Defensively, Matthew Nunes had a strong performance with nine saves.

Jeff Conner and Xander Dickson opened the scoring to give Virginia an early 2-0 lead. The goal from Dickson was his 57th of the season, breaking the Virginia single-season goal-scoring record previously held by Doug Knight. On the ensuing faceoff, Luke Grayum fired back for Richmond.

Early on, Virginia struggled to get past Zach Vigue, who picked up four saves in the first quarter and prevented what could have been a blowout in the opening minutes.

Minutes later, Dickson netted his second of the day before Derrek Madonna responded for Richmond to cut the lead to one. The Cavaliers got off to a tentative start as they had multiple unforced turnovers.

Defensively, the Cavaliers started strong with one defensive stand, setting up a transition goal from Evan Zinn, whose shot trickled past Vigue. On the next possession, Will Cory scored his 4th goal of the season to give Virginia a 5-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The early lead for the Cavaliers was helped by LaSalla starting 7/8 from the X. The game was then delayed, due to inclement weather in the area, causing an evacuation of Klöckner Stadium.

The game restarted 30 minutes later in a torrential downpour. As the second quarter began, the grass of Klöckner Stadium flooded as players slipped when they changed directions. Through the buckets of rain, Richmond’s Derrek Madonna scored to cut the Virginia lead to two. With so much rain, it became impossible for any team to fire a bounce shot.

“We’re thinking, okay this field is gonna be clear now and all of the sudden it’s a monsoon," said Virginia head coach Lars Tiffany. "And you can’t pass the ball and the ground balls just stop in front of you. We’re very fortunate that it was just one delay." 

After four minutes, Connor Shellenberger scored a wrap-around goal from x to restore Virginia’s confidence. The rain continued to pour, causing dropped passes and missed ground balls from both sides, leveling the playing field. Midway through the quarter, Dalton Young scored before Cormier responded with a solo goal, sparking a four-goal Cavalier run to close the first half.

"It felt like when you were ten, twelve years old playing on a muddy, grassy field. And you were playing for the pure joy of it," Tiffany said. 

On the next faceoff, Chizmar picked up the ground ball in the middle of the scrum, ran down, and added to the Virginia advantage before Shellenberger scored to make it 9-4. With 13 seconds left, Jeff Conner assisted Griffin Schutz, who made a one-handed catch before scoring his first of the day. To end the first half, Noah Chizmar was called for a hold, giving Richmond a man-up opportunity and possession to start the second half. 

After a dominant first quarter by LaSalla, the faceoff x began to even out due to the rain, with Richmond winning 5 of the 8 draws in the second quarter. Offensively, the Cavaliers scored five goals on seven shots, seizing their opportunities. Defensively, Nunes had a strong first half with five saves and a 55.6 save percentage. The defense also blocked multiple shots, limiting Richmond to just four goals at halftime. UVA also led the ground ball battle 19-14.

As the second half began, Virginia denied the Richmond man-up before the Cavaliers failed to convert on a man-up of their own. The Spiders then earned another man-up after Chizmar was caught offside, but Virginia once again stood stout. On the ensuing possession, Shellenberger found an open Thomas McConvey to extend the Virginia lead to seven.

Minutes later, Leo Caine scored for the Spiders, their first goal since 7:14 in the second quarter. In response, Cormier scored on the crease before Aidan O’Neil scored for Richmond to make it 12-6.

Richmond then was awarded its third man-up of the game once again. The Cavaliers held off the Spiders again man-down. After killing the penalty, Quentin Matsui launched a pass downfield, which trickled to Chizmar. Chizmar then ran down and sparked a fast-break sequence that saw three quick passes, and a quick-stick goal from Cormier. Minutes later, a similar sequence ensued, beginning with a Cole Kastner ground ball, three quick passes, and ending with a Cormier dunk to make it 14-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Beginning the fourth quarter, Shellenberger found Cormier to cap a three-goal run. Young scored his second of the day to stop the bleeding before Cormier scored his sixth of the day on a man-up opportunity.

On the ensuing possession, Patrick McIntosh, from behind the goal, put his defender in the spin cycle before feeding Truitt Sunderland on the crease to give Virginia a 17-7 lead. As the fourth quarter winded down, the Wahoos began to take their foot off the gas. Despite having many backups, the Cavaliers stood strong, allowing only one more goal to solidify a 17-8 victory in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Despite the large margin of victory by Virginia, Richmond outshot the Cavaliers 35-33, but only 17 of those were on cage compared to UVA's 27 shots on goal. Virginia committed five penalties, but allowed only one man-down goal. 

Virginia's offense was electric, with Cormier scoring six goals, and Shellenberger and Dickson recording six and three points, respectively. Nunes finished with a 56.3 save percentage, making nine saves versus seven goals allowed and LaSalla was 18-27 at the faceoff X. 

Virginia (12-4) advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship for the fourth-consecutive tournament and will face No. 7 seed Georgetown in the quarterfinals next Saturday in Albany, New York. 

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