Delaware Rolls to 14-8 Win over Virginia in First Round of NCAA Tournament
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May 13, 2007
Charlottesville, Va. – Delaware used a five-goal second half run to build a lead and take control en route a 14-8 win over Virginia in the first round of the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament today at Klöckner Stadium.
With the win Delaware advances to next Sunday’s quarterfinal to face the winner of tonight’s UMBC at Maryland game in Annapolis, Md. The Blue Hens are now 12-5 this season.
Danny Glading tied his career high with four goals, all in the first half, while senior Drew Thompson tied his high with three goals in his final game. Thompson’s three goals enabled him to become only the 11th midfielder in ACC history to score 40 goals and add 40 assists in a career; he finished with 40 goals and 41 assists. The Blue Hen defense also held Ben Rubeor scoreless to end his 33-game streak with at least one point.
Delaware got balanced scoring and was led by Curtis Dickson’s four goals. Vincent Giordano and Jordan Hall each scored twice. Tommy Scherr was exceptional in goal and finished with a season-high 18 saves including 10 in the second half.
Alex Smith, the nation’s faceoff leader, won 18 of 26 faceoffs to enable the Blue Hens to gain possession and control the game.
The Cavaliers opened the game with a flurry as Thompson and Glading scored on the first two shots of the game with just two minutes and four seconds elapsed. Delaware responded with a three-goal run of its own built over a four-minute and nine-second period. Long stick middie Brian Calabrese started the run and was followed by Adam Zuder-Havens and Giordano.
The back-and-forth play continued as Jack Riley and Glading scored two minutes apart as Virginia recaptured the lead at 4-3.
Freshman Kevin Kaminski knotted the score for the third time in the quarter with his 16th goal of the season with 28 seconds left in the quarter.
Dickson scored twice in the opening two minutes of the second quarter as the lead changed hands once again with a 6-4 Blue Hen lead, but Glading answered a pair of his own to forge a 6-all tie.
Defenseman Rob Smith used his fifth goal of the season to send the Blue Hens to the locker room with a 7-6 halftime lead.
Thompson wasted little time in tying the score with a shot from 12 yards out 16 seconds into the second half.
Following Thompson’s goal the game was controlled almost entirely by the Blue Hens, who rattled off the next seven goals. Dickson converted in front following a feed from Zuder-Havens with 10:59 on the clock and Giordano notched his second of the game three minutes later as the lead grew to 9-7.
Smith won five of seven faceoffs in the fourth quarter as the Blue Hens possessed the ball virtually the entire period. Scherr recorded six saves in the quarter on the times when Delaware played defense.
Hall scored back-to-back goals to extend Delaware’s lead to 11-7 early in the final period. His second goal came with the Cavaliers in a 10-man ride as he found himself open on the backside for a pass from Dickson. The Blue Hens’ lead grew to seven goals at 14-7 before Thompson scored his final goal at 1:28.
“It was a disappointing ending to a terrific season,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia after the game. “I’m sorry it had to end like this on the field today. As much as it may have been about us, it was also about Delaware, who I thought played very, very well. I’m really proud of my team.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full today. This is a big, powerful, athletic lacrosse team that we couldn’t run by the way we can a lot of folks. They sort of play lacrosse the way we like to play lacrosse and they were better at it today (than we were). Their confidence just grew as the game went on and I give them a lot of credit how they played at the end.”
Virginia concludes its season with a 12-4 overall record.
Delaware 4-3-2-5–14 record: 12-5
Virginia 4-2-1-1–8 record: 12-4
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Scoring (G-A)– D: Curtis Dickson 4-1, Vincent Giordano 2-1, Jordan Hall 2-0, Adam Zuder-Havens 1-2, Brian Calabrese 1-0, Dan Deckelbaum 1-0, Chris Hichborn 1-0, Kevin Kaminski 1-0, Rob Smith 1-0, Brett Manney 0-2, Evan Crowther-Washburn 0-1, J.J. Moran 0-1. V: Danny Glading 4-1, Drew Thompson 3-0, Jack Riley 1-0.
Goalie Summary–D: Tommy Scherr 60 mins., 18 saves, 8 goals allowed. V: Kip Turner 60 mins., 9 saves, 14 goals allowed; Ken Clausen 1 save.
Shots: D–44, V–40
Ground Balls: D–46, V–39
Clearing: D–24×27, V–28×33
Faceoffs: D–18, V–8
Penalties: D–7-5:30, V–3-2:00
EMO: D–0x3, V–0x6