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Top-Seeded Virginia Set to Host Mount St. Mary's on Saturday in NCAA Tournament
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (14-1) open up the first round of the NCAA Championship as the nation’s top-ranked team in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media and USILA coaches polls. UVa plays host to the unseeded Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (12-4) on Saturday evening, inside Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
The game will also be broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM with John Freeman calling the action and Jamie Leachman doing the color broadcast. The contest will be televised live in HD on ESPNU with Carter Blackburn doing the play-by-play, while Paul Carcaterra and Matt Ward serve as color analysts, with Bob Holtzman patrolling the sidelines.
This is Virginia’s 33rd tournament appearance overall, second behind Johns Hopkins (39). Virginia won the national championship four years ago and has received a bid in 17 of the last 18 seasons.
The Mount was awarded the automatic bid after winning the MAAC championship when freshman Andrew Scalley scored at the buzzer to lift Mount St. Mary’s to a 7-6 win over Siena, the tournament’s No. 1 seed on May 8. Saturday’s game will be the second meeting between these two squads this season. The Mount opened up its 2010 campaign with a 15-7 setback to the Cavaliers on Feb. 23, at Waldron Family Stadium in Emmitsburg, Md. Chris Bocklet tallied four goals for the UVa cause.
This will be Mount St. Mary’s second trip all-time to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Virginia in 2003 in the opening round, 19-8, also held at Klöckner Stadium. Virginia owns a 7-0 all-time mark against Mount St. Mary’s, including a 10-2 triumph in 2009, the last time The Mount came to Charlottesville.
The winner of this game faces the winner of Saturday’s Denver at Stony Brook game in the quarterfinals at Stony Brook on Sunday (May 23). The quarterfinals will be televised on ESPNU in HD.
Bocklet leads Virginia with 43 goals, while Steele Stanwick holds the team lead with 23 assists and is second on the team with 25 goals. Bocklet leads the squad with 46 points. Rhamel Bratton is third on the team with 22 goals, while Brian Carroll and freshman Matt White are tied for fourth on the team with 19 scores. White has tallied at least one point in every game of his young collegiate career. Shamel Bratton is next with 17 goals, while adding 15 assists of his own for 32 points, also tying White. Chris LaPierre has 47 ground balls, followed closely by Ken Clausen and his 43 ground balls. Ghitelman is saving 54.9 percent of the shots against him, while posting an 8.07 goals-against average to go with a team-best 49 ground balls.
Mount St. Mary’s head coach Tom Gravante is in his 15th season at the helm for the Mount. The Mountaineers, owners of a 12-4 record, won the MAAC title in their final season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Mount will join the rest of its sports in the Northeast Conference for the 2011 season.
Cody Lehrer leads the squad with 48 goals and 57 points. Andrew Scalley is next on the team with 29 goals and 46 points. Brett Schmidt leads the team with 19 assists, while T.C. DiBartolo is saving 60.6 percent of shots in between the pipes to go with his 8.81 goals against average.
Tickets may be purchased in person at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall or by calling (800) 542-8821. Tickets can also be purchased online at VirginiaSports.com Reserved seat tickets offering stadium chair seating under cover are $9 each; general admission tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth 18-and-under, seniors 60-and-over and students of participating schools with a valid student ID.
There will be a $5 cash parking charge for the University Hall parking lots, the JPJA surface lot and the JPJA Parking Garage for the men’s lacrosse game Saturday night. Parking is available in the Emmet/Ivy Parking Garage and the Culbreth Road Parking Garage at no charge. Increased parking should be available for the men’s lacrosse game beginning at 4:30 p.m. when the Sesame Street Live show and the Virginia baseball game are expected to be finished.