UVa Downs Maryland 8-7 in OT to Advance to Final Four

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ANNAPOLIS, MDBen Rubeor scored the game winner with 31 seconds remaining in overtime to lift Virginia to an 8-7 win over Maryland in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament this afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.

The win is Virginia’s fourth overtime win of the season and its eighth win by one or two goals.

Rubeor scored Virginia’s last two goals of the game as the Cavaliers rallied from a three-goal deficit early in the second half to advance to the national semifinals for the third time in the last four seasons. The Cavaliers, 14-3 overall this season, face the winner of tomorrow’s Syracuse/Notre Dame quarterfinal match-up in the semifinals next Saturday (May 24) at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Maryland scored the game’s first three goals and controlled play throughout much of the first half with big advantages in ground balls (19-2) and shots (26-11).

“I thought (the Terps) came out of the locker room at the beginning of the game and carried the play to us in every way,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “We’ve been in these situations throughout the season where we’ve been down and I have a group of guys that I think were confident throughout.”

Maryland freshman Grant Catalino opened the scoring by taking a pass from Max Ritz and beating goalie Bud Petit at the 9:14 mark of the opening quarter. The Terrapins, who won nine of 12 faceoffs in the first half, won the ensuing draw and scored 10 seconds later on Jeff Reynolds’ 19th goal of the season.

The Terps’ lead grew to 3-0 as longstick Brett Schmidt capitalized on a Cavalier turnover and caught Petit well out of the cage and put a shot into the net from approximately 30 yards out.

The Cavaliers went almost 10 minutes before taking their first shot and got on the board when Steve Giannone threw in a tough loose ball for his first goal in five games. They capitalized on just their second shot of the game as well as Danny Glading found Garrett Billings alone for a quick stick goal with 2:54 left in the quarter.

Glading tied the score at three in the final minute by taking a pass in front from Brian Carroll and scoring the extra-man goal.

Jeremy Sieverts had a hand in Maryland’s next two goals as the Terps regained a 2-goal lead at 5-3. He found Catalino open for his second goal of the game at the 13:29 mark and scored a short time later with a dodge from the top.

Rubeor trimmed the Cavaliers’ deficit to one with a goal from 12 yards out a minute and 29 seconds before halftime, but Maryland longstick Brian Farrell scored the first of his two goals 10 seconds later to give Maryland a 6-4 halftime lead.

“At halftime, I almost couldn’t believe that we were only down by two and still had a chance in the game,” Starsia said. “It wasn’t a very complicated halftime. We just were kind of getting guys’ attention to try to pick it up a little bit and get after them and doing the simple things that we talk about doing every single day.”

Farrell scored his second goal of the game just over five minutes into the second half following a Cavalier turnover. His goal at 9:40 of the third quarter was Maryland’s final goal of the game.

The Cavaliers began their comeback with a Glading goal late in the third quarter. Glading beat his defender one-on-one and sent a tough shot from the left side past goalie Jason Carter. Freshman Rhamel Bratton scored on a blistering shot from 15 yards a minute and a half later as Virginia trailed 7-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Maryland looked to build on its lead early in the final period, but Travis Reed’s goal was waved off when the Cavaliers called for a push during the preceding loose ball scramble in front of the Cavalier goal.

Rubeor’s goal from seven yards away with 8:43 remaining knotted the score at 7-all and ultimately forced overtime.

Both teams have good scoring opportunities in the final minutes of regulation. Reed had an excellent chance to put the Terps ahead but his shot on the crease with 5:20 on the clock banged off the pipe. Carter made a nice save of a Shamel Bratton shot with four minutes to go to prevent the Cavaliers from taking the lead.

Maryland’s last chance in regulation was ended when Ryan Young threw a pass over a teammate’s head and out of bounds with seven seconds to play. The Cavaliers called timeout and on the reset Ken Clausen’s 50-yard pass in front of the Maryland crease was knocked around until Peter Lamade corralled the loose sphere and sent a shot just over the crossbar with one second left.

Rubeor was stripped by Bryn Holmes on Virginia’s first overtime possession, but regained possession as Max Pomper fielded a missed shot that was blocked out front. He passed the ball to Mike Timms who lofted a long pass down field. The Terrapins knocked the ball out of bounds with 1:13 remaining. Brian Carroll’s shot with 43 seconds left was high. On the restart, Rubeor used a Billings pick to lose his defender. His shot from six yards out managed to scoot between Holmes’ legs and past Carter to send the Cavaliers to their fourth overtime win of the season.

“It was the same play that we ran about a minute before, before I turned the ball over,” said Rubeor. “I was stripped by the short pole (Holmes) the first time I went on it but we like the match-up where Billings has the short pole covering him. I came off the pick and they switched at first, but then the short pole didn’t stay on me and I had an open look and put it on cage.”

“When Maryland called timeout on their end (with 3:16 left in overtime), at the end of the timeout before we broke the huddle, all I said to the team was, let’s get Ben another chance,’” said Starsia. “We got that stop on defense and got it back down and he makes the play to win it.”

Petit was outstanding in goal and finished with 14 saves, the second-highest total of his career, to highlight a stout Virginia defensive performance. Garett Ince shook off a rough first half by winning five of six second-half faceoffs to help Virginia comeback in the second half.

After being outshot in the first half by 15 shots, Virginia outshot the Terps in the second half 24-14.

The trip to the national semifinals is the 19th in school history. Virginia won the national championship in 1972, ’99, 2003 and ’06.

Maryland 3-3-1-0-07 record: 10-6
Virginia 3-1-2-1-18 record: 14-3
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Scoring (G-A) M: Grant Catalino 2-0, Brian Farrell 2-0, Jeremy Sieverts 1-2, Jeff Reynolds 1-0, Brett Schmidt 1-0, Bryn Holmes 0-1, Max Ritz 0-1. V: Ben Rubeor 3-0, Danny Glading 2-1, Garrett Billings 1-0, Rhamel Bratton 1-0, Steve Giannone 1-0, Brian Carroll 0-1.

Goalie SummaryM: Brian Phipps 30 mins., 3 saves, 4 goals allowed; Jason Carter 33:29 mins., 5 saves, 4 goals allowed. V: Bud Petit 63:29 mins., 14 saves, 7 goals allowed.

Shots: M40, V35
Ground Balls: M36, V22
Clearing: M17x20, V17x22
Faceoffs: M11, V8
Penalties: M4-3:00, V2-1:30
EMO: M0x2, V1x3