No. 2 Brown Ends Virginia's Season
Story Links
Box Score May 1, 2016
KENNESAW, Ga. – The No. 2 Brown Bears (14-1) outlast the Virginia Cavaliers (7-8) through two lightning delays on Saturday night, 19-11, at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. With the loss Virginia concludes its 2016 season.
“First off, credit to Brown,” said Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia. “That is a good lacrosse team and they are playing really well right now. They bang that ball around with confidence and they are more athletic then some people have given them credit for. I was impressed with their athleticism overall.
“For us, it was more of the same of what our season has been like. We were working and we were getting after it. We just haven’t had enough. We haven’t been able to make that play that we needed to make at a critical time. In these games against these top teams we haven’t had enough to get it done. It is generally not for a lack of effort and I am proud of the kinds overall, but we have just come up on the short end throughout the season. This one probably epitomizes that more than anything.”
Brown took an early 2-0 lead on back-to-back goals by Dylan Molly. Zed Williams found James Pannell at 9:04 in the first quarter to put UVA on the board for the first time, cutting the Brown lead to 2-1.
Kylor Bellistri scored for Brown with 8:11 left in the first quarter, giving the Bears a 3-1 lead. Ryan Lukacovic found Williams with 5:30 left in the first quarter, cutting UVA’s deficit to one goal, 3-2.
As soon as the goal was scored play was halted due to lightning in the area. The delay lasted one hour and 24 minutes. Play resumed at 8:39 p.m. Lukacovic scored unassisted with 28 seconds left in the first quarter, tying the game 3-3.
The Bears retaliated with a 3-0 run, taking a 6-3 lead with 13:01 left in the opening half. Pannell scored with 11:47 left in the second quarter, cutting UVA’s deficit to 6-4. Henry Blynn scored at 10:57, pushing the Brown lead back to three goals, 7-4.
Virginia finished the first half on a 4-2 run. Pannell started the run with 10:18 left in the second quarter and he capped the run with 22 seconds left in the opening half on a Ryan Conrad helper. Michael Howard and Greg Coholan also scored during the run. Brown owned a 9-8 lead going into the intermission.
Brown scored twice in the first 16 seconds of the third quarter, taking an 11-8 lead. However, lightning came into the area again and the second delay commenced.
The second delay lasted only 18 minutes and play resumed at 9:55 p.m. Coming out of the delay Brown went on a 5-0 run, taking a 16-8 lead into the final frame.
Brown scored three open-net goals in the fourth quarter as UVA’s defense tried to double the ball. AJ Fish, Williams and Conrad all scored for UVA in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.
Brown won the battle of shots (57-37), ground balls (41-27), faceoffs (21-12) and saves (13-11).
Pannell led UVA with four goals.