/
.
No. 10 UVa and No. 8 Maryland Meet in ACC Showdown for NCAA Title on Monday
Story Links
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (12-5) enter the final round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament as the No. 7 seed, the program’s lowest seed since 2001 when UVa was the No. 8 seed. This weekend is the program’s fourth-straight semifinal appearance and first trip to the finals since 2006. In the final regular season polls, UVa was ranked No. 10 in the USILA coaches poll and No. 9 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll. UVa will face the unseeded Maryland Terrapins (13-4) on Monday for the NCAA title. Maryland, the ACC champion, was ranked No. 7 in the final media poll and No. 8 in the final coaches poll.both final regular season polls. The neutral site game will be contested at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. The game is set to face off at 3:30 p.m. Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
There will be a live radio broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM, which will be simulcast as an audio webcast on VirginiaSports.com through Virginia Sports Online Radio. John Freeman will bring the play-by-play and Doug Tarring will provide the analysis.
The game will be televised on ESPN in HD. Sean McDonough will provide the play-by-play, Quint Kessenich will add analysis and Eamon McAnaney will patrol the sidelines.
This is Virginia’s 34th tournament appearance overall, second all-time behind Johns Hopkins (40). Virginia won the national championship five years ago (2006) and has received a bid in 18 of the last 19 seasons. UVa has made it to the semifinal round in each of the past four seasons and 13 times in head coach Dom Starsia’s 19 seasons in Charlottesville. This is UVa’s ninth appearance in the NCAA title game.
After UVa’s quarterfinal win over Cornell, Starsia passed legendary coach Jack Emmer (326) for most victories by a head coach at a NCAA Division I school. He brings 328 career victories into the Maryland contest.
2011 marks the 63rd straight-season the Cavaliers and the Terripans have clashed in a series that began in 1926, the second-longest active series in program history (Johns Hopkins – 65). Maryland holds the all-time advantage with a 45-41 mark, however Virginia has won nine of the last 11 meetings, including the ACC title game, 10-6, last season at Byrd Stadium. Maryland bettered UVa in the only meeting (12-7) in 2011, at Scott Stadium on April 2.
ACC Player of the Year and Tewaaraton finalist Steele Stanwick leads UVa with 69 points and 37 assists, while scoring 32 goals. Chris Bocklet is tops on the team with 44 goals and has 49 points. Bocklet enters the week with the nation’s longest consecutive game goal streak at 35 games. All-ACC pick Colin Briggs is next on the team with 24 goals. All-ACC honoree Chris LaPierre leads the team with 88 ground balls through the first 16 games, and through 11 games (65) bested UVa goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman’s 2010 team-best of 62 in 18 games.
Ghitelman has 49 career wins in the cage and is tied for No. 3 all-time at the NCAA Division I level with Air Force’s Ken Wessels (1984-87) for the No. 3 spot. Ghitelman is saving 53.3 percent of shots against him and registering a 9.70 goals against average this season.
Maryland head coach John Tillman is in his first season after a successful three-year run at Harvard and inherits a program that returns 32 letterwinners and nine starters off last year’s 12-4 squad who lost in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Terrapins made it to the NCAA final for the first time since 1998. Ryan Young leads Maryland with 28 assists and 47 points. Grant Catalino leads Maryland with 29 goals, while goalie Niko Amato leads the team with 52 ground balls. Amato is saving 59.0 percent of shots against him in the cage and is posting a 6.64 goals against average.
Tickets may be purchased online via Ticketmaster by clicking here, or by calling the Baltimore Ravens ticket office at (410) 261-7283.