No. 4 UVa Set for ACC Championship Tangle With No. 9 North Carolina
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (10-2, 2-1 ACC) hold the No. 2 seed in this week’s ACC Championship and will face the No. 3 seed North Carolina Tar Heels ( 9-4, 1-2 ACC) in the semifinal round on Friday night, inside Klöckner Stadium. UVa is ranked No. 4 in this week’s USILA coaches poll and No. 6 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll. UNC holds down the No. 9 spot in both polls. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the winner will face either Duke or Maryland for the ACC title on Sunday at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available for the entire ACC Championship at VirginiaSports.com
UVa is hosting the ACC Championship for the first time since 2008 and has won six ACC Championships since the league went to a tournament format. The Cavaliers are in search of their first title since the 2010 season.
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 Cavaliers Live. John Freeman will bring the play-by-play, Al Sadtler will provide the analysis and Jack Bird will roam the sidelines. ESPNU will televise the game live in HD with Eamon McAnaney bringing the play-by-play and Quint Kessenich providing color analysis. There will be a webcast of the ESPNU broadcast live on ESPN3.
Friday marks the 74th all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and the Tar Heels, a series the Cavaliers own a 49-24 advantage in since 1938. Facing the Tar Heels every year since 1964, UVa and UNC face each other for the first time in the ACC Championship since the 2004 edition in Chapel Hill. The Cavaliers were the victors of the first meeting this season, 15-10, in Chapel Hill on April 7, UVa’s first trip to Fetzer Field since the 2008 season. Steele Stanwick led the way with three goals and four assists as nine different Cavaliers scored.
Stanwick, named an All-ACC honoree this week, leads UVa with 39 assists and 57 points. His ratio of 3.3 assists per game ranks No. 1 in the nation. Chris Bocklet leads UVa with 29 goals, while six other Cavaliers are already in double figures. Rob Emery and Stanwick are No. 2 and No. 3 on the team with 19 and 18 goals, respectively. Chris LaPierre leads UVa with 50 ground balls, which is the second-most by any player in the country who is not a faceoff specialist. Rob Fortunato is saving 59.3 percent of shots against him and posting a 8.32 goals against average in between the pipes.
North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi is in his fourth season at North Carolina and returns 31 letterwinners from last year’s 10-6 squad. UNC comes into the game with a 9-4 record and a 12-9 triumph over Hofstra the last time out. All-ACC honoree Marcus Holman leads UNC with 23 goals, 26 assists and 49 points. Jimmy Bitter has 21 goals and Joey Sankey is next on the list with 18 scores. R.G. Keenan is winning 61.6 percent (159-of-258) of faceoffs and has a team-high 76 ground balls. Steven Rastivo is saving 51.5 percent of shots against him and posting a 9.87 goals against average in the cage for the Tar Heels.
General admission tickets for the ACC Championship are $20, which includes both semifinal games on Friday, April 20 and the championship game on Sunday, April 22. Individual day tickets are $10 per session. One ticket is good for both semifinal games on Friday. Tickets can be purchased at any time online at Virginiasports.com, in person at the main Virginia Athletics Ticket Office located in Bryant Hall (Scott Stadium) between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday, or by phone by calling 800-542-8821 between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.
Public parking for men’s lacrosse and track & field ACC Championships will be available in the University Hall, JPJA and McCue parking lots as well as the Emmett/Ivy Garage. Fans are encouraged to arrive early.