On This Date: Virginia Wins 2019 Men's Lacrosse National Championship
Three years ago today, Virginia defeated Yale 13-9 to win the 2019 NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship.
Matched up against the defending national champions, Lars Tiffany's Cavaliers put on a dominant performance against the Bulldogs to win UVA's sixth NCAA championship in program history and first since 2011.
After Yale got on the board first, Virginia would respond with the next two goals from sophomore Matt Moore, who emerged as a superstar during UVA's NCAA Tournament run. The Bulldogs evened the score at 2-2 to start the second quarter, but the Cavaliers then went on a 4-0 run, sparked by a pair of goals from Michael Kraus, who finished with a hat trick. Petey LaSalla capped the run with an unassisted goal off a faceoff win, one of two goals the freshman faceoff specialist scored in the game.
Yale answered with back-to-back goals to start the third quarter, but UVA responded with a staggering 5-0 scoring run that included two more goals from Matt Moore, who finished with four goals and an assist.
The Yale offense, which had scored 21 goals against No. 1 Penn State just two days earlier, was held to just five goals through the first three quarters of the game behind a stifling effort from the UVA defense, anchored by the brick wall goalkeeper known as Alex Rode, who made 13 saves in the game. Rode, who also made an incredible 18 saves in Virginia's double-overtime victory over Duke in the semifinals, was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Yale scored four of the last five goals of the game to make the score more respectable, but it was a dominant victory in the title game for the Cavaliers, who won their first national championship under head coach Lars Tiffany.
See Virginia Sports TV's full highlights from the game:
The blowout in the title game was a welcome sight after Virginia endured back-to-back heart-stopping games in the NCAA Tournament. The "Cardiac Cavs" came back from down five goals against Maryland in the quarterfinals and won in overtime on a Matt Moore goal to advance to Championship Weekend.
In the semifinals against Duke, the Cavaliers once again prevailed in an instant classic, erasing a two-goal deficit in the final minute and then winning in double overtime on a goal from Ian Laviano.
Virginia ended the 2019 season on an eight-game winning streak, which included two wins in the ACC Tournament to win the ACC Championship and four wins in the NCAA Tournament to claim the 2019 NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship, the first of two national titles over a three-year period for Lars Tiffany's Cavaliers.
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