Virginia Lacrosse Lands No. 9 Overall Recruit in Class of 2026

Matt Newton | Sep 18, 2024

Virginia men's lacrosse picked up a commitment from five-star attackman Lucas Garcia, the No. 9 overall recruit in the class of 2026. / Lucas Garcia/IG

Ask and you shall receive. Just hours after we posted a story lamenting Virginia's below average (at least by Lars Tiffany's standards) recruiting success in the class of 2026, Tiffany landed a big-time victory by picking up a commitment from five-star attackman Lucas Garcia, the No. 9 overall recruit in the class of 2026, per Inside Lacrosse.

"I am thrilled and honored to announce my verbal commitment to play Division I lacrosse at the University of Virginia. This is truly a dream come true," Garcia said in an Instagram post. "I am also extremely fortunate for the coaches at the University of Virginia (Coach Tiffany, Cassese, Greco, Turner) thank you for believing in me. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity! Wahoowa!!"

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Before Garcia's commitment, Virginia's class of commits for 2026 included just one five-star in Hunter Mezzatesta, the top goalie in the class and No. 8 overall recruit in the Inside Lacrosse 2026 rankings. UVA was ranked seventh in IL's team recruiting rankings with five total commits.

Now, the Cavaliers have two five-star commits who are both ranked in the top 10 overall. Virginia also has commitments from four-star midfielder Dylan Casillo (No. 28 overall), four-star midfielder Josh Logan (No. 75 overall), four-star faceoff specialist Brian McCaffery (No. 95 overall), and three-star midfielder Tanner Olrich.

The addition of a second five-star was enough to bump Virginia up to the sixth-ranked recruiting class for 2026, though the Cavaliers still trail Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Harvard, and Princeton and are still below their lofty standards, having landed the top-ranked recruiting class in 2024 and what is currently the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in 2025.

There is still time for Tiffany and the Wahoos to add more pieces to this class, but only one top 15 overall recruit remains uncommitted in the class of 2026 and just four of the top 25 are still on the market. With that said, the addition of Lucas Garcia, a gifted attackman from Brunswick School in Connecticut, is huge recruiting victory for Virginia.