UVa and Johns Hopkins 2013 Meeting Scheduled in Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium
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Oct. 15, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Inside Lacrosse magazine has announced the Virginia men’s lacrosse team is scheduled to face the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays in the seventh annual Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic, a college lacrosse doubleheader contested inside M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on March 23. This will be UVa’s seventh year participating in an Inside Lacrosse regular season event and eighth overall Inside lacrosse event.
The event kicks off with Colgate and Navy at 2 p.m. UVa and Johns Hopkins conclude the event at 4:30 p.m.
“We are very excited to be returning to M&T Bank Stadium for the Face-Off Classic,” said Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia. “Our game with Johns Hopkins is always one of the most anticipated contests of the college season and this setting elevates the event at every level. Two great games in a spectacular setting, there is a lot to look forward to for friends and fans. I would suggest that you put this one down in permanent marker for the 2013 college lacrosse season!”
UVa participated in the Face-Off Classic’s inaugural event in 2007 and again in 2008, facing Syracuse both times. The Cavaliers moved on to Inside Lacrosse‘s inaugural Konica Minolta Big City Classic at Giants Stadium in 2009, facing ACC foe North Carolina. In 2010, UVa helped open the New Meadowlands, now MetLife Stadium, in the second annual Big City Classic, which featured a showdown of No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 2 North Carolina in which UVa was victorious 7-5. Virginia returned to Baltimore in 2011 and 2012 for the Face-Off Classic, facing Cornell both times. The Cavaliers also played in the inaugural Whitman’s Sampler Mile High Classic, facing Penn, in 2012.
The game will be the eighth annual battle for the Doyle Smith Cup, a spoil since 2006 that goes to the regular season winner in the series between the Blue Jays and Cavaliers. Virginia and Johns Hopkins joined together to honor E. Doyle Smith, Jr., for his lifetime of contributions to the lacrosse programs at both schools and on the national level with the annual regular season winner laying claim to the cup. Smith served as team manager and statistician for Johns Hopkins under coach Bob Scott from 1963-68.
Smith enrolled at UVa to pursue a doctorate in the fall of 1968, and became the University’s first full-time assistant sports information director, a position he held for 31 years until his retirement in 1999, serving as the lacrosse team’s publicist for four head coaches: Buddy Beardmore, Glenn Thiel, Jim Adams and Dom Starsia. In 2000, he was elected to the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame and is the only individual inducted who never played the game at some level.
Even though John’s Hopkins’ Homewood Field is only five miles to M&T Bank Stadium, The 2013 Face-Off Classic will be the first regular season matchup in the series between UVa and Johns Hopkins to be played at a neutral site.
Now in its seventh year, the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic gives fans the chance to celebrate the start of another season by placing many of the nation’s top-ranked teams in the same stadium on the same day. This year, the event moves to the fifth weekend of March, with two games scheduled at M&T Bank Stadium.
Inside Lacrosse events have brought unprecedented excitement and fan interest to the regular season. Over the past six years Inside Lacrosse has drawn more than 260,000 fans to its 13 events, including 55,354 fans to its three events in 2012.
Tickets for the 2013 editions of the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic will go on sale Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 at 11 a.m. All seating locations at M&T Bank Stadium will be reserved. Fans are urged to make their plans early to be part of the action by securing the best seats.
Tickets for the Face-Off Classic maybe purchased online at VirginiaSports.com, or by stopping by the ticket office at Bryant Hall when tickets go on sale November 1.
Ticket prices for the 2013 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic are: $35 for Club Level seats, $22 for Lower Level reserved seats, $18 for groups of 10 or more, and $12 for groups of 100 or more. Parking can also be purchased in advance for $15.
Virginia will release the remainder of its 2013 schedule in the near future.