UVA Faces Penn Saturday in the ACC Showcase Game

April 27, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (8-6) conclude the 2017 regular season on Saturday against the Penn Quakers (6-5) in the ACC Showcase game. The contest will be played at Duke’s Koskinen Stadium in Durham and faceoff is set for noon. UVA is receiving votes in both the USILA coaches and Inside Lacrosse/Maverick media polls this week.

Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com. The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra, which can be viewed on the WatchESPN app, or by logging onto ESPN3.com. Ryan Craig will call the play-by-play, Jack Rowe will provide analysis and Rebecca Fiorentino will roam the sidelines.

Saturday marks the 10th all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and Quakers, and the third get-together at a neutral location. UVA owns a 6-3 advantage in a series that dates back to 1929, but is being contested for the eighth time since 1997 and the sixth time since 2011. UVA dropped the first two meetings in the series in 1929 and 1931, before winning six in row. Virginia’s streak was snapped on Feb. 25 when the Quakers topped the Cavaliers 11-10 in Philadelphia. The game was UVA’s first-ever contest at historic Franklin Field. Of the nine previous meetings, six have been played in Charlottesville, two at neutral sites and one in Philadelphia. The 2012 meeting took place at Sports Authority Field in Denver, while the 2015 meeting was played at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pa. UVA and Penn are meeting for the second time in three seasons in the ACC Showcase game. In the 2015 ACC Showcase game UVA won, 12-6.

All-ACC honoree Michael Kraus leads UVA with 34 goals and 55 points. Zed Williams, another All-ACC selection, leads UVA with 25 assists and is second on the team with 50 points. Mike D’Amario is second on the team with 31 goals, while Dox Aitken has 28 goals and 39 overall points. Goalie Griffin Thompson is saving 49.2 percent of shots between the pipes and posting a 12.52 goals against average. Virginia is No. 2 in the nation in goals per game (14.64), points per game (24.0) and assists per game (9.36). In the February loss to Penn, UVA received four goals from Aitken and three goals from Williams.

Penn head coach Mike Murphy is in his eighth season as the head coach of the Quakers and he returns 28 letterwinners and three starters off a 2016 team that went 8-7. Murphy was an assistant coach at UVA from 1993-97. Murphy and UVA head coach Lars Tiffany faced each other the last seven seasons while Tiffany was the head coach at Ivy League-foe Brown. Tiffany and Murphy are tied head-to-head, 4-4.

Penn is led by Simon Mathias, who has 23 goals and 18 assists for 41 points. Mathias was limited to two assists in the February contest with UVA. Kevin McGeary is next on the team with 19 goals and 27 points, while Tyler Dunn rounds out the top scorers for Penn with 17 goals and 21 points. Dunn led Penn in the February win over UVA with three goals and four points. Goalie Reed Junkin is saving 49.8 percent of shots against him and posting a 10.30 goals against average.

After Saturday, UVA’s postseason fate will be revealed on Sunday, May 7 during ESPNU’s 2017 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Selection Special, which airs at 9 p.m.