Bocklet Scores Four Goals to Pace No. 1 Virginia in Road Victory at Towson
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TOWSON, Md. – The No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers (8-0) overcame a first quarter deficit and rode four goals from Chris Bocklet and four points from Brian Carroll to handily defeat the Towson Tigers (1-4), Sunday afternoon at Unitas Stadium, 15-10.
Virginia outshot Towson (37-34), nearly doubled the Tigers in ground balls (48-26) and won the first seven faceoffs, and won that category too (17-10). The Cavaliers were also perfect on clears (17-of-17) for the second game this season.
UVa also was a perfect 18-of-18 on clear attempts at Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 23), marking the first time the Cavaliers succeeded on every clear attempt in a game since they also went 18-of-18 against Massachusetts in the 2006 NCAA championship game, May 29, 2006.
“I thought it was a good road win,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “It was a noon start on the first hot day game of the year – at the same time I wasn’t completely happy with our effort overall. We got after it enough to win today.”
Towson dented the scoreboard first after a Shamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) turnover began a transition for the Tigers. Matt Lamon tallied the goal with 13:52 remaining in the opening quarter on the pass from Tim Stratton.
Virginia wasted no time evening the score at one goal apiece after Brian Carroll (Towson, Md.) scored on the Cavaliers’ next offensive possession courtesy of a Shamel Bratton helper with 13:06 left in the first quarter.
Chris Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.) scored off of a Steele Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) pass with 11:36 left in the first quarter to give Virginia a quick 2-1 advantage, but that would be the last the Cavaliers would score in the first quarter.
The Tigers scored three straight goals to take a 4-2 advantage. Will Harrington scored on a Christian Pastirik pass with 7:28 left to tie the game at 2-2. Matt Hughes gave the Tigers the lead again with 6:53 left in the opening period when he scored via a Joe Wascavage pass. Pastirik capped the scoring streak with 1:49 left in the quarter on Stratton’s second assist of the game.
The Cavaliers then stormed out to a 7-4 advantage after scoring four goals in the first 3:33 of the second quarter en route to five straight scores. Chris LaPierre (Medford, N.J.) scored on a Carroll pass with 13:43 left in the first half, followed by a Shamel Bratton unassisted score with 12:28 left in the quarter.
Bocklet scored on Shamel Bratton’s second assist with 12:01 remaining and Stanwick scored his first goal since the VMI game with 10:14 remaining before the intermission. Matt Kugler (Fairfax Station, Va.) capped the streak with a goal on a Rhamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) assist with 7:49 left in the second period.
The Tigers bounced back with Pastirik’s score with 4:56 left in the quarter, cutting UVa’s lead to two goals, 7-5. Hughes beat the UVa defense off the X and scored unassisted with 1:38 left before the break, cutting UVa’s lead down to one score, 7-6.
However, Stanwick bounced his second goal of the game through with 15 seconds left to send Virginia into the intermission with an 8-6 advantage.
Towson cut its deficit back to one goal, 8-7, via a Stephen Norris score on a Brock Armour helper only 1:05 into the third quarter.
Virginia then scored the next three goals of the game to take an 11-7 lead. Rhamel Bratton started the run with a score at 12:33 left in the third quarter on a Carroll pass. Bocklet scored on a Matt White (Ridgefield, Conn.) pass in an extra-man situation with 10:40 left in the period. White, the freshman, with the assist has tallied at least one point in every single game of his collegiate career. LaPierre capped the run unassisted with 2:42 left in the third quarter.
Pastirik scored his third goal of the game with 38 seconds left, cutting the Tigers deficit to three goals, 11-8. However UVa capped the third quarter scoring after Carroll picked up a ground ball and fired it in for the unassisted score with seven seconds left, giving the Cavaliers the 12-8 advantage.
Connor English (Manhasset, N.Y.) scored unassisted 30 seconds into the final quarter to give UVa the five-goal lead, 13-8.
Michael Brashears scored the man-up goal after Rhamel Bratton was penalized for slashing. Pastirik assisted the Brashears score with 10:52 left in the game, cutting UVa’s lead to 13-9.
Virginia scored back-to-back goals to cap the Cavalier scoring for the day. Bocklet scored his fourth and final goal on a LaPierre pass with 5:40 left, followed by John Haldy’s (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) unassisted score with 4:27 left, giving UVa the 15-9 lead.
Towson scored one more goal with 1:23 left on Hughes’ third goal of the game, via the Carl Iacona pass, capping the scoring at 15-10, Virginia.
“This is an active and feisty Towson team who played very hard,” said Starsia. “I thought there were a couple times we could have buried the game, but they didn’t go away – that is a testament to who they are.”
Bocklet registered his fourth four-goal game (on four shots) of the season and second consecutive to pace the UVa attack. Carroll also tallied four points with two goals and two assists in front of his hometown crowd. Adam Ghitelman (Syosset, N.Y.) picked up a game-high six ground balls while registering nine saves in between the pipes.
Towson became only the second of UVa’s eight opponents to register double digits in scoring, matching Syracuse’s 10 scores on March 7. Pastirik and Hughes each scored three goals to lead the Tigers’ scoring. Pastirik led all players with five points, including two assists.
Virginia returns to action on Saturday, hosting Johns Hopkins at Klöckner Stadium. The game is slated for noon and will be broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA AM 1070 with John Freeman calling the action. The contest will also be televised live on ESPN2.
Virginia 2-6-4-3-15
Towson 4-2-2-2-10
Att-2477
Scoring (G-A) – V: Chris Bocklet 4-0, Brian Carroll 2-2, Chris LaPierre 2-1, Steele Stanwick 2-1, Shamel Bratton 1-2, Rhamel Bratton 1-1, Connor English 1-0, John Haldy 1-0, Matt Kugler 1-0, Matt White 0-1 T: Christian Pastirik 3-2,Matt Hughes 3-0, Will Harrington 1-0, Mat Lamon 1-0, Michael Brashears 1-0, Stephen Norris 1-0, Tim Stratton 0-2, Brock Armour 0-1, Carl Iacona 0-1, Joe Wascavage 0-1
Goalie Summary – V: Adam Ghitelman 60 mins., 9 saves, 10 goals allowed T: Travis Love 60 mins., 16 saves, 15 goals allowed
Shots: V-37, T-34
Ground Balls: V-48, T-26
Clearing: V-21×21, T-18×21
Faceoffs: V-17, T-10
Penalties: V-6-5:00, C-3-2:00
EMO: V-2×3, T-1×6