Men's Lacrosse Opens ACC Play with 10-2 win over Maryland

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April 2, 2005

Final Stats | Video Highlights

Charlottesville, Va. – The third-ranked Virginia Cavaliers didn’t let a 30-minute weather delay before the game slow them down as they downed #4 Maryland 10-2 this afternoon in their ACC opener before 2457 fans at Klöckner Stadium. The win is Dom Starsia’s 137th at UVa, tying him with Jim “Ace” Adams for the most in school history.

The win is Virginia’s seventh in a row at home as the Cavaliers are off to their best start in three years with a 7-1 overall record. Maryland falls to 5-3 overall and finishes with a 1-2 ACC record.

The game opened with rain falling heavily, but that didn’t deter the Cavaliers, who scored three goals in the first quarter, their first first-quarter goals in three game. John Christmas opened the scoring with a nifty dodge from behind the cage with just 1:04 elapsed. His goal ended a first quarter scoreless streak of more than 40 minutes for the Cavaliers. Hunter Kass notched his third goal of the year 70 seconds later as UVa scored on its first two shots of the game. Matt Ward gave the Cavaliers about all the offense they would need with his only goal of the afternoon with seven seconds remaining in the quarter. Ward, the nation’s leader with an average of 3.29 goals per game, saw his consecutive multi-goal games streak end at 12 games.

The rain in the first quarter gave way to sunny skies at the start of the second 15 minutes. Freshman Ben Rubeor scored back-to-back goals 34 seconds apart early in the second quarter to extend Virginia’s lead to 5-0 at halftime. A stellar effort by Cavalier defenders Rob Bateman, Steve Holmes, Michael Culver and Ricky Smith held the Terrapins to just 15 shots in the first half and goalie Kip Turner made five saves. The scoreless first half is Maryland’s first since the 2001 regular-season game vs. UVa.

Freshman midfielder Jack Riley scored UVa’s only goal of the third quarter as the lead grew to 6-0. Joe Walters ended Maryland’s scoring drought with an extra-man goal, his 19th of the season, with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter.

Xander Ritz scored Maryland’s second goal in a row early in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as the Terrapins could get. Matt Poskay, J.J. Morrissey, Christmas and Bateman closed the scoring for the Cavaliers, who ended a two-game losing streak to Maryland.

Christmas had one of his best all-around games of the season with two goals and two assists, the first time in two years he had multiple goals and assists in one game. His 4-point effort vaulted him into UVa’s top-20 career points list; he is now 18th with 133 points.

Culver highlighted an outstanding defensive effort by holding Walters to a season-low one goal (and that was an extra-man score). Overall, the Terrapins’ pair of goals are their fewest since a 7-2 loss to UVa four years ago. Turner finished with nine saves and a game-high 10 ground balls.

Sophomore goalie Harry Alford prevented Virginia from running away early by making eight of his 13 saves in the first half. His twin brother, Thomas, won nine of 14 faceoffs and led the Terps with four ground balls.

The Cavaliers return to action next Saturday (April 9) at home against North Carolina. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 pm. The Tar Heels lost at home today to Johns Hopkins 7-5. They are 2-6 overall this season.

Maryland plays at Navy on Friday (April 8) at 7 pm.

#4 Maryland	0-0-1-1--2	record: 5-3/1-2 ACC#3 Virginia	3-2-1-4--10	record: 7-1/1-0 ACCatt--2457

Scoring (G-A)–UVa: John Christmas 2-2, Ben Rubeor 2-0, Matt Ward 1-1, Rob Bateman 1-0, Hunter Kass 1-0, J.J. Morrissey 1-0, Matt Poskay 1-0, Jack Riley 1-0, Brendan Gill 0-1, Jared Little 0-1. MD: Xander Ritz 1-0, Joe Walters 1-0, Bill McGlone 0-1.

Goalie Summary: UVa: Kip Turner 59:10 mins., 9 saves, 2 goals allowed; Bud Petit 0:50 min., 0 saves, 0 goals. MD: Harry Alford 57:35 mins., 13 saves, 10 goals allowed; Teddy Murphy 2:25 mins., 0 saves, 0 goals allowed.

Shots: UVa–38, MD–37

Clearing: UVa–22×29, MD–20×26

Faceoffs: UVa–7, MD–9

Ground Balls: UVa–40, MD–30

Penalties: UVa–4-4:00, MD–2-2:00

EMO: UVa–1×1, MD–1×3