No. 1 Virginia Survives Another Close Matchup with High Point, 11-10

Freshman goalkeeper Matthew Nunes made 16 saves to lead the Cavaliers over the Panthers

Matt Newton | Feb 13, 2022

Coming into the season, goalkeeping was one of the major question marks for the defending nation champions. After the departure of former 2019 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player and two-time national champion goalie Alex Rode, Virginia dubbed freshman Matthew Nunes as his successor in cage.

Just two games into the season, Nunes has turned that question mark into an exclamation point.

Matthew Nunes recorded 16 saves , including a huge stop with 20 seconds left to save the game and lead No. 1 Virginia to an 11-10 victory over High Point on Sunday evening at Klockner Stadium.

For the fourth year in a row, Virginia and High Point played in a game that went down to the wire. Each of the previous three meetings were determined by three goals or less, including a 12-11 win for Virginia in 2021.

High Point's Michael Ippolito got the scoring started off a feed from Asher Nolting, a third-team All-American in 2021. Virginia answered with back-to-back goals from Payton Cormier and Griffin Schutz. Braden Mayea scored off of another assist from Nolting and the score was tied 2-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The battle between Nolting and UVA's Cade Saustad was a matchup to watch all game long. Nolting finished with two goals and three assists, but Saustad largely kept him in check during the game.

High Point could have had a significant lead in the first half if not for the play of Nunes, who recorded 11 saves in the first half, including seven in the opening quarter to keep things tied up despite Virginia's slow start on the offensive end.

Matt Moore got on the board with a pair of goals in the second quarter to put UVA up 4-2, but the Panthers responded with two goals of their own to tie things up. Virginia scored twice in the final 90 seconds of the half, with Connor Shellenberger having a hand in both. Shellenberger scored an unassisted goal, then found Xander Dickson for a goal to give Virginia a 6-4 lead at the half. Shellenberger finished with one goal and five assists, his second game in a row with five assists.

High Point scored two goals to tie the game at 6-6 to start the second half. Then, UVA's offense finally got hot. The Cavaliers scored four straight goals, three of which were assisted by Shellenberger. Peter Garno scored twice, Jack Simmons scored, and Matt Moore completed the hat trick with his third goal.

Asher Nolting scored his first goal of the game late in the third to make it 10-7 UVA heading to the fourth quarter. High Point goalkeeper Parker Green made eight of his 13 saves in the third quarter to prevent the Cavaliers from blowing the game wide open.

UVA's offense cooled off again to start the fourth quarter and the Panthers took advantage, scoring two more goals to make it a one-goal margin. Xander Dickson attacked from behind the cage and scored a crucial insurance goal with seven minutes remaining to extend the UVA lead back to 11-9.

With just over four minutes left in regulation, Asher Nolting beat Saustad and scored to bring the Panthers back to within one.

Matthew Nunes came up big again in the fourth quarter, tallying four more saves, including two in the final two and a half minutes. On many of his 16 saves, Nunes miraculously ended up with the ball in his stick after a High Point player got underneath the UVA defense and shot on Nunes at point-blank range on the edge of the crease.

Nunes saved a shot by Nick Rizzo with just 20 seconds remaining and Virginia killed the rest of the clock to seal the victory.

High Point's defense did an incredible job of slowing down the loaded Virginia offense, routinely alternating between zone and man-defensive looks to throw the Cavaliers off. The Panthers executed that defense very well, holding UVA to just two goals in the first quarter and just one goal in the fourth quarter. That may have been enough for High Point to pull the upset over the No. 1 team in the country, but Petey LaSalla and Matthew Nunes gave the Hoos a pivotal edge in faceoffs and goaltending.

LaSalla won 15 of his 21 faceoffs to give the Cavaliers a crucial possession advantage in the game. Virginia held a slim 45-42 advantage in shots, but High Point had 26 shots on goal to 24 for UVA. Nunes made 16 saves versus 10 goals allowed.

With the win, Virginia improves to 2-0 and will travel to Towson for the first road game of the season on Saturday at noon.

See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated

See more Virginia men's lacrosse news and content: Virginia Men's Lacrosse on Sports Illustrated

Read more from Cavaliers Now