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Men's Lacrosse Thumps North Carolina 15-9
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April 9, 2005
Charlottesville, Va. – Virginia used a 10-goal eruption in the first half to win a 15-9 shootout over North Carolina Saturday afternoon in men’s lacrosse action at Klöckner Stadium. The win is the Cavaliers’ ninth in a row at home, their longest home winning streak in nine years. Virginia head coach Dom Starsia got his 138th win at UVa to pass Jim “Ace” Adams for the most wins in school history.
Virginia won its second ACC game in a row to improve to 8-1 overall this spring. North Carolina lost all three league contests and falls to 2-7 overall.
The Cavaliers used a balanced offense, including goals from six different players, in the first 30 minutes to build a 10-4 halftime bulge.
North Carolina junior Ryan Blair got the fireworks started early with his first of three goals just 59 seconds in. Virginia answered with goals by midfielders Kyle Dixon and Matt Poskay; both goals were assisted by John Christmas. Blair knotted the score at two with 6:21 elapsed in the quarter for the game’s second tie.
Virginia’s Jack deVilliers won the ensuing faceoff and found Christmas all alone on the crease five seconds later to start the Cavaliers on a 5-goal run. Matt Ward and Christmas closed the first quarter scoring as UVa held a 5-2 lead after one quarter of play. Christmas, the ACC Player of the Week in last week’s win over Maryland, played a part in four of UVa’s five goals with two goals and two assists in a very productive opening quarter.
Junior midfielder J.J. Morrissey scored on a fastbreak after taking a pass from long stickmidfielder Rob Bateman and beating goalie Paul Spellman to open the second period scoring less than four minutes in. Ward tallied an unassisted goal a short time later as UVa’s lead extended to 7-2.
Tar Heel senior Jed Prossner interrupted UVa’s momentum with an extra-man goal seven minutes before halftime. Poskay followed with the second of his three goals on the afternoon, but defenseman Billy Staines answered for the Tar Heels 15 seconds later in a back-and-forth seven-minute span.
Cavalier freshman Ben Rubeor scored back-to-back goals in the final 3:35 of the half, the second game in a row he scored UVa’s final two goals of the first half, to give his team a 6-goal lead at halftime.
The Tar Heels came to life in the third quarter by outscoring the homestanding Cavaliers 5-1 to cut the UVa lead to 11-9. Mike McCall and Blair scored 13 seconds apart to get the Tar Heels started. Jared Little pushed the Virginia lead back to five at 11-6, but the Tar Heels fought back once again. Freshmen Nicholas Tintle and Ryan Walterhoefer converted Blair feeds into goals and McCall scored his second of the afternoon to cut the margin to two goals with 3:19 left in the quarter. Walterhoefer nearly cut Virginia’s lead to one but his shot with just over two minutes left in the quarter hit the pipe. Virginia’s Ricky Smith scooped up the loose ball to end the threat as the Tar Heels would not score the remainder of the game.
Rubeor’s third goal of the game moved the lead back to three goals (12-9) and Kyle Dixon’s extra-man goal with 51 seconds left in the quarter effectively ended any chance the Tar Heels had of coming back.
Poskay and Ward scored late in the final period to extend the final margin to 15-9.
Senior faceoff specialist Jack deVilliers won 11 faceoffs to pass Jason Hard (1997-2000) for the most wins in school history (540). He also snared a game-high eight ground balls.
Bateman led the UVa longsticks with five ground balls and a career-high three assists.
Blair had a career-game with three goals and three assists to pace the Tar Heel offense to tie his career high.
Virginia travels to Durham, N.C., next Saturday to face the Duke Blue Devils in a game to determine the ACC regular-season champion. Both teams are undefeated in league play. The game is scheduled to faceoff at 3 pm. North Carolina hosts Air Force Wednesday (April 13) at 4 pm.
North Carolina 2-2-5-0--9 record: 2-7/0-3 ACC
#3 Virginia 5-5-3-2--10 record: 8-1/2-0 ACC
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Scoring (G-A)–UVa: Ben Rubeor 3-1, Matt Ward 3-1, Matt Poskay 3-0, John Christmas 2-3, Kyle Dixon 2-1, Jared Little 1-1, J.J. Morrissey 1-0, Rob Bateman 0-3, Jack deVilliers 0-1. UNC: Ryan Blair 3-3, Mike McCall 2-1, Jed Prossner 1-3, Ryan Walterhoefer 1-1, Billy Staines 1-0, Nicholas Tintle 1-0, Bryant Will 0-1.
Goalie Summary: UVa: Kip Turner 57:03 mins., 11 saves, 9 goals allowed; Bud Petit 2:57 min., 1 save, 0 goals. UNC: Paul Spellman 44:09 mins., 5 saves, 13 goals allowed; Trey Sheain 15:51 mins., 3 saves, 2 goals allowed.
Shots: UVa–40, UNC–34
Clearing: UVa–22×30, UNC–16×22
Faceoffs: UVa–15, UNC–13
Ground Balls: UVa–53, UNC–41
Penalties: UVa–4-3:00, UNC–5-4:30
EMO: UVa–3×5, UNC–3×4