Brian Foley/Virginia Athletics
Shellenberger Shines, Virginia Downs Georgetown to Advance to Final Four
Connor Shellenberger earned the nickname "Mr. May" as a redshirt freshman two years ago when he scored five or more points in each of his first four NCAA Tournament games to lead the Cavaliers to a second-straight national title. His best performance in that run was a six goal, one assist showing against Georgetown in the quarterfinals.
Almost two years later, Shellenberger reminded everyone that he is still Mr. May with a record-breaking performance in the NCAA quarterfinals against none other than the Georgetown Hoyas. Shellenberger matched the UVA program postseason record with 10 points on six goals and four assists and No. 2 seed Virginia (13-3) booked a ticket back to the Final Four with a 17-14 victory over No. 7 seed Georgetown (13-4) on Saturday afternoon in Albany, New York.
Shellenberger's brilliance started right from the jump, as he scored twice in the first 16 seconds of the game, although Petey LaSalla gets a great deal of credit for both plays, winning back-to-back faceoffs cleanly and dishing to Shellenberger on the left wing for a couple of righty rips that found the back of the net.
With two of the top scoring offenses in the country going head-to-head, many predicted this matchup to be a high-scoring affair and the first quarter certainly lived up to those expectations. One minute after Shellenberger scored his second goal, Georgetown got on the board on its first possession of the game as Brian Minicus dodged from behind the cage and scored. The first four minutes and five seconds of the game saw a combined seven goals scored. LaSalla scored for himself and Shellenberger notched his third of the contest to put UVA up 5-2.
Georgetown scored two of the next three goals, but then Xander Dickson found Payton Cormier down low for a goal to give Virginia a 7-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. LaSalla won eight of the 12 first-quarter draws and UVA had a 13-7 edge in groundballs early on. UVA goalie Matthew Nunes had five saves in the opening period to help the Cavaliers build the early advantage, but the second quarter wasn't nearly as kind to the Virginia netminder.
Georgetown went on a 4-2 run to start the period and won the second quarter 5-3 to cut the UVA lead to just one goal at the half. Nunes made only one save in the second quarter and Virginia's close defenders struggled to keep up with Georgetown's high-powered offensive unit. For a stretch in the first half, UVA's best defense was Petey LaSalla winning faceoffs, but even the faceoffs evened out in the second quarter as Georgetown's James Reilly started to split at the X with LaSalla.
The Cavaliers, who have made late-period goals a cornerstone of their success all season long, scored late in the shot clock as Shellenberger fed Peter Garno on the crease for a goal with just 19 seconds left in the half. But, the Hoyas gave the Hoos a taste of their own medicine after that, forcing a turnover after LaSalla won the initial draw and getting a goal from Nicky Solomon with just 0.7 seconds remaining to cut the UVA lead to only 10-9 at the half.
Brian Minicus, who had a first-half hat trick and was Georgetown's best offensive option all game, started the third quarter with a goal to tie the game for the first time since it was 0-0. Virginia responded as Shellenberger took advantage of a short-stick matchup and ripped the top right corner of the net with a missile of a lefty shot, but the Hoyas answered a couple minutes later on a goal from Solomon to tie things up again.
In the first 36 minutes of the game, Georgetown scored 11 goals. The UVA defense flipped a switch after that, and behind a combination of strong goalie play from Matthew Nunes and swarming defense from the Cavalier poles to force several turnovers, the Hoyas managed to score only three more goals in the remaining 24 minutes of the contest.
With the UVA defense tightening up, the Cavalier offense took full advantage of the window of opportunity and rattled off four-straight goals to end the third quarter. Shellenberger bookended the 4-0 run with a pair of assisted goals to Payton Cormier and Peter Garno, who lasered a shot high past Georgetown goalie Danny Hincks on a man-up opportunity.
Tucker Dordevic ended Georgetown's 14-minute scoring drought with his second goal of the game, but the Tewaaraton finalist was largely held in check by Cade Saustad in the second half. Dordevic, who had put up at least five points in eight-straight games coming into the weekend, was limited to just two goals on eight shots and zero assists. Matthew Nunes settled down in the second half and made eight saves, including five saves in the fourth quarter, finishing just below .500 with 14 goals allowed versus 13 saves.
After the Dordevic goal got the Hoyas back within three with 11 minutes to go, Shellenberger put the nail in the coffin, scoring in transition and then finding Xander Dickson on the doorstep late in the shot clock to give the Cavaliers their largest lead of the game at 17-12 with eight minutes to go.
Georgetown had a 5-1 advantage at the faceoff x in the fourth quarter, but put only eight of its 17 shots on goal, with five of those shots getting saved by either Nunes or David Roselle, who played the final few seconds of the game. The Hoyas scored twice in the last 80 seconds to make the final score a respectable 17-14, but Virginia's strong defense sealed the win.
Connor Shellenberger finished with six goals on just eight shots and registered four assists as well to match his career-high of 10 points. Xander Dickson had two goals and two assists and Payton Cormier, Griffin Schutz, and Peter Garno had two goals apiece. Petey LaSalla went 17/34 from the faceoff x, but had a remarkable impact on the game as he was credited with one goal and one assist, but arguably could have been given two assists for his setups on the two Shellenberger goals.
Virginia's defense forced a staggering 12 turnovers, with four of those coming from Cole Kastner and Scott Bower and Cade Saustad each recording two caused turnovers. Georgetown was led by Brian Minicus with four goals and Graham Bundy Jr., who had two goals and two assists, but the Hoyas were held to just three goals in the final 24 minutes of play, a pivotal stretch that won the game for Virginia.
UVA advances to the Final Four for the 24th time in program history and for the third time in the last four tournaments. Virginia will face the winner of No. 3 seed Notre Dame and No. 6 seed Johns Hopkins - who will play on Sunday at 2:30pm in Annapolis - in the semifinals next Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
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