No. 11 UVA & No. 20 UNC Set for Saturday Night Tilt

April 5, 2018

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.– The Virginia men’s lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday as the Cavaliers (8-3, 0-2 ACC) travel to Chapel Hill to play the North Carolina Tar Heels (6-5, 0-1 ACC) at Kenan Stadium. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m. This week Virginia is ranked No. 11 in the USILA coaches poll and No. 13 by the Inside Lacrosse/Maverik media poll. North Carolina is No. 20 in the coaches poll and receiving votes in the media poll. Both teams are looking for its first ACC win of the season.

Live stats of Saturday’s game will be available at VirginiaSports.com. The contest will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, which can be viewed on the WatchESPN app, or by logging onto ESPN3.com. Chris Hooks will bring the play-by-play and Kyle Straub will provide the analysis. There will be a live radio broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM and 98.9 FM. Luke Neer will bring the play-by-play and Doug Tarring will provide the analysis.

Sunday marks the 82nd all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and the Tar Heels, a series the Cavaliers own a 50-31 advantage in since 1938. Virginia has faced UNC every year since 1964. After winning 19-of-21 meetings dating back to 1997, UVA dropped four straight against UNC until beating them 13-11 at the ACC Showcase Game in April 2014. UNC’s four-game winning streak was the longest in the series for the Tar Heels since winning four straight during the 1990-92 seasons. UVA’s 50 wins over the Tar Heels are the most the Cavaliers have over any opponent in program history.

Michael Kraus leads UVA with 29 goals, 23 assists and 52 points. Dox Aitken is No. 2 on the team with 27 goals and 34 points. Ian Laviano has 25 goals and Matt Moore rounds out the top scorers with 10 goals and 18 points. Justin Schwenk is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 11 in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (62.3), while leading UVA and the ACC with 66 ground balls. The Cavaliers have been using two goalies this season. Griffin Thompson is saving 50.6 percent of shots and has posted a 9.81 goals against average. Alex Rode is saving 52.8 percent of shots and posting an 11.23 goals against average.

North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi is in his 10th season at UNC and returns 35 letterwinners from last year’s 8-8 ACC title squad that lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Albany. Chris Cloutier leads UNC with 28 goals and 35 points. Andy Matthews has a team-high 21 assists and is second on the squad with 26 points. William Perry and Timmy Kelly round out the top scorers with 17 goals each. Jack Pezzulla is saving 45.2 percent of shots between the pipes and posting a 10.21 goals against average. Alex Bassil has seen the second-most time in the cage, saving 49.2 percent of shots and posting a 10.68 goals against average.

Virginia returns to action on Saturday, April 14 when Duke comes to Klöckner Stadium to conclude ACC play. Faceoff for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.