Navy Athletics
Virginia Lacrosse Adds Navy Faceoff Transfer Anthony Ghobriel
Make that two faceoff transfer additions for Lars Tiffany and the Cavaliers.
Anthony Ghobriel, a sophomore faceoff specialist from the Naval Academy, has transferred to the Virginia men's lacrosse program, as reported by Inside Lacrosse's Ty Xanders on Wednesday afternoon.
A 6'2", 212-pound sophomore from Dallas, Texas, Ghobriel appeared in 19 games and took 322 faceoffs in his two seasons with the Midshipmen. After appearing in three games as a freshman in 2022, Ghobriel took over as Navy's starting faceoff man this season and won 185 of his 306 draws for a 60.5% faceoff percentage, the third-highest mark in the Patriot League and 12th in the country. Ghobriel also collected 83 ground balls, caused four turnovers, and tallied three assists in 16 games in 2023. In a head-to-head matchup with Lehigh's Mike Sisselberger, a three-time All-American and the eventual No. 5 overall pick in the Premier Lacrosse League College Draft, Ghobriel held his own, going 12/26 at the faceoff X and picking up three ground balls.
At the end of the 2023 season, Virginia lost two key faceoff men as Petey LaSalla ended his collegiate career as UVA's all-time record holder in faceoff wins and the NCAA's all-time leader in faceoffs taken and Mac Eldridge, the former No. 1 faceoff recruit in the class of 2022, transferred to Penn after just one season at Virginia. That left Gable Braun as the only FOGO remaining on the UVA roster. Braun played a significant role in his sophomore season in 2022 as the backup to LaSalla, but missed the entire the 2023 season with an injury. With no faceoff commit in their 2023 recruiting class, the Cavaliers were bound to make a splash in the transfer portal at that position.
Now, Virginia has more than addressed that roster need by picking up not one, but two quality and experienced faceoff specialists out of the transfer portal. Ghobriel joins Binghamton faceoff man Matthew DeSouza, who committed to UVA as a graduate transfer earlier this month. A native of Oakton, Virginia, DeSouza has played in 36 games and taken nearly 600 faceoff draws in his career. In 2023, DeSouza won 137 faceoffs at a rate of 61.7%, the 9th-best mark in college lacrosse and good for the single-season record at Binghamton. With DeSouza and Ghobriel coming to UVA, the Cavaliers now have two of the country's top 12 faceoff specialists in terms of 2023 faceoff percentage on their roster.
There will be healthy competition in the Virginia faceoff unit next season with DeSouza, Ghobriel, and Gable Braun battling for the starting spot. Thanks to some more transfer portal magic from Lars Tiffany, the Cavaliers have now turned their biggest roster need into a position of strength and depth heading into 2024.
Anthony Ghobriel is the fourth player to transfer to Virginia this offseason, joining Harvard short-stick defensive midfielder Chase Yager, Binghamton face-off specialist Matthew DeSouza, and Tufts attackman Jack Boyden.
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