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March 18, 2001
Charlottesville, Va. –
Five different players scored in a five-goal second quarter to break open a tight contest and lift Virginia to a 15-5 win over Denver this afternoon at Kl?ckner Stadium. The win ended Virginia’s three-game losing streak and moved the Cavaliers to 2-3 overall this season, while Denver falls to 1-3.
The Cavaliers opened the scoring as Conor Gill fed A.J. Shannon for a goal with 4:37 to play in the first quarter. The visiting Pioneers evened the score 41 seconds later as Mike Law scored the first of his three goals in the game. Attackman Mike Kenlay put the Pioneers ahead 2-1 as he beat goalie Tillman Johnson with 2:15 remaining in the quarter.
Denver’s lead was short-lived, however, as freshman Justin Mullen knotted the game at 2-all by sneaking a shot past goalie Brian Berger with 1:28 left in the opening period.
Mullen’s goal started a run of nine unanswered goals for Virginia in the next two quarters. Freshman Jon Focht beat Berger from 15 yards out less than five minutes into the second quarter to put the Cavaliers ahead for good at 3-2. Chris Rotelli, Billy Glading, Gill and Hanley Holcomb scored in succession in the second quarter to put Virginia firmly in command with a 7-2 halftime lead.
Glading, Focht and Holcomb pushed UVa’s lead to 10-2 with third period goals. Law ended Denver’s scoring drought at 32 minutes with a goal off the fourth quarter face-off. He scored his third goal of the afternoon just over a minute later to cut the score to 10-4, but UVa answered with goals of its own as Denver never got closer than six goals in the fourth quarter.
Holcomb led the Cavaliers with a career-high-tying four goals, while Gill tied his career high with five assists. Ian Shure added two goals and three assists.
Johnson went the whole way in goal for Virginia and tied his career high with 12 saves. Berger made 10 saves for Denver before giving way to Jeff Nunziato for the final five minutes. Nunziato had one save.
The Cavaliers return to action on Saturday (March 24) against Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field. Faceoff is slated for 8:00 p.m. Denver faces Vermont on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. in Boca Raton, Fla.
score by quarterDU 2-0-0-3=5UVa 2-5-3-5=15att--1162
shotsDU 28UVa 33
SavesDU 11 (Brian Berger 10, Jeff Nunziato 1)UVa 12 (Tillman Johnson 12)
ClearingDU 16 of 22UVa 18 of 26
FaceoffsDU 16UVa 8
Ground ballsDU 41UVa 49
PenaltiesDU 5-4:00UVa 2-2:00
EMODU 0 of 2UVa 2 of 5
DU scoringGoals–Mike Law 3, Mike Kenlay, Craig French.Assists–Law.
UVa scoringGoals–Hanley Holcomb 4, Jon Focht 2, Billy Glading 2, A.J. Shannon 2, Ian Shure 2, Conor Gill, Justin Mullen, Chris Rotelli.Assists–Gill 5, Rotelli 3, Shure 3, Glading.