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Virginia Downs Towson, 13-8 In Men's Lacrosse
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March 17, 2002
TOWSON, Md. – Freshman attackman John Christmas (Lower Merion H.S./Ardmore, Pa.) scored twice and assisted on another score in a Cavalier dominated fourth quarter as 4th-ranked Virginia broke from an 8-8 tie with 5 unanswered goals in the final 12:49 of the game to beat 9th-ranked Towson 13-8 in Minnegan Stadium in sleet and intermittent rain Sunday afternoon.
It was Virginia’s fourth consecutive game against a 2001 NCAA Tournament Final Four team, and its third straight win after bowing to Syracuse earlier in the month. The win improved Virginia to 4-1 on the season while the Tigers, suffering their second straight loss to an ACC opponent, dropped to 2-2. The Cavaliers now lead this series 5-3. It was Virginia’s first visit to Towson in 24 years.
Josh Tankersley put the Tigers on top 1-0 just 2:55 into the contest with an unassisted goal. But Virginia answered with two goals by Jared Little (Carthage H.S./Black River, N.Y.) and an unassisted goal by Joe Yevoli (St. Anthony’s H.S./Massapequa, N.Y.) to take a 3-1 lead. Towson caught the Cavaliers at 4-4 when Brad Reppert tallied for the Tigers on a transition goal. From there the score was knotted four times.
Hunter Lochte tied the game at 8-8 with 7:44 left in the third quarter. The next 9:55 off the clock went scoreless until long stick middie Trey Whitty (St. Paul’s School/Timonium, Md.) one-armed a shot coming from behind to start the decisive 5-goal run that propelled the Cavaliers to the win.
Whitty’s heroics began when he scooped up a loose ball in UVa’s defensive end and raced downfield. He headed down the right wing and tried to find Billy Glading with a pass in front, but his pass hit a Towson defender and caromed right back to Whitty. He looped behind the cage and beat Reed Sothoron low and away.
After Brenndan Mohler (Catonsville H.S./Catonsville, Md.) scored, Christmas assisted Yevoli for an 11-8 Virginia lead with 8:00 left. Christmas then scored twice in the final three minutes to keep the Tigers at bay.
Virginia outshot the Tigers 11-3 in the fourth quarter, and 43-32 for the game.
It was a productive day for Virginia’s freshman class with Christmas, Yevoli and Little each scoring twice. Lochte and Reppert each tallied twice for the Tigers. The two big guns in the game were held in check with Virginia attackman Conor Gill (St. Paul’s School/Lutherville, Md.) recording three assists and Towson attackman Kyle Campbell scoring just once.
Virginia hosts Johns Hopkins on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Net.
VIRGINIA 3 4 1 5 - 13TOWSON 2 4 2 0 - 8
GOALS: UVA – Jared Little 2, Joe Yevoli 2,Chris Rotelli 2, Brenndan Mohler 2, A.J. Shannon 2,John Christmas 2, Trey Whitty. TU – Hunter Lochte 2,Brad Reppert 2, Josh Tankersley, Kyle Campbell,Brian Myers, Brad Monaco
ASSISTS: UVA – Conor Gill 3, A.J. Shannon 2,John Christmas. TU – Ryan Obloj 2, Brian Myers, Josh Cornett
SAVES: UVA – Tillman Johnson 13 saves, 8 goals allowed(60:00).TU – John Hunt 6 saves, 7 goals (30:00),Reed Sothoron 10 saves, 6 goals allowed (30:00).
SHOTS: UVA 43, TU 32.GROUND BALLS: UVA 47, TU 43.FACEOFFS: UVA 11, TU 14.PENALTIES: UVA 2-1:00, TU 8-6:00.EXTRA MAN GOALS: UVA 3 of 7, TU 0 of 2.CLEARING: UVA 25 of 31, TU 20 of 26.RECORDS: Virginia 4-1, Towson 2-2.ATTENDANCE: 2,305