Virginia Smothers Johns Hopkins 19-8 to Retain Doyle Smith Cup

The Cavaliers held the Blue Jays to one goal in the first half and cruised to the victory on Saturday

Matt Newton | Mar 5, 2022

The Johns Hopkins pep band made the trip to Charlottesville, ready to serenade Klockner Stadium with their song “To Win” every time the Blue Jays scored a goal against the Cavaliers on Saturday.

Through the first thirty minutes of the game, the band played the song only once.

The Virginia defense smothered Johns Hopkins, allowing only one goal in the first half as UVA cruised to a 19-8 victory on Saturday at Klockner Stadium.

Virginia and Johns Hopkins renewed one college lacrosse's most historic rivalries in a series that dates back to 1904. UVA and Hopkins met in 73 consecutive seasons until 2019, but the Cavaliers and Blue Jays have not faced each other since Virginia won the last meeting 16-11 on March 23, 2019.

With the Doyle Smith Cup up for grabs once again, the second-ranked Cavaliers and the No. 15 Blue Jays met on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville.

Petey LaSalla gave the Cavaliers a massive advantage in possessions early on, as Virginia won 11 of the 13 faceoff draws in the first half. LaSalla won nine of his 10 faceoffs and did not play in the second half.

It took the UVA offense a little while to get going, scoring just one goal in the game's first nine and a half minutes. But, with a distinct advantage in possessions and Matthew Nunes and the Virginia defense completely suffocating the Hopkins offense, the Cavaliers eventually woke up and cashed in on the attacking end of the field.

Matt Moore assisted Connor Shellenberger on the game's first goal three and a half minutes in. Then, UVA scored three more goals in the final five and a half minutes of the quarter. Griffin Schutz assisted on back-to-back goals for Xander Dickson and Payton Cormier, who finished with six goals on nine shots. Long-stick midfielder Cole Kastner then delivered a highlight "pole goal" in transition to make it 4-0 Virginia at the end of the first quarter.

Shellenberger found Will Cory for a goal and then LaSalla scored immediately off the ensuing faceoff to make it 6-0. Hopkins finally got on the board with a Jacob Angelus goal more than 20 minutes into the game, but that would be the only goal of the half for the Blue Jays. Virginia got two goals from Shellenberger, one from Cormier, and one from Dickson in the second quarter to give the Hoos a 10-1 halftime lead.

Matthew Nunes was solid in cage once again for UVA, as the freshman netminder allowed just four goals and made nine saves in three quarters.

Johns Hopkins managed to put three goals past Nunes in the third quarter, but UVA still won the period 7-3 behind a four-goal quarter from Payton Cormier. Connor Shellenberger assisted on four of Virginia's goals in the period and finished with eight points on three goals and five assists. Matt Moore tallied one goal and three assists and Will Cory and Xander Dickson had two goals each. Ten different Cavaliers scored a goal in the game.

David Roselle replaced Nunes in the fourth quarter, as Lars Tiffany rested his starters in the final period with a more than comfortable 17-4 lead. Roselle allowed four goals and made four saves in the largely meaningless fourth quarter, as Virginia went on to win 18-9.

With the win, Virginia improves to 5-0 on the season. The Cavaliers head to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina on Thursday night.

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