No. 6 UVA Opens 90th Lacrosse Season Saturday at No. 4 Loyola
Virginia Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Video
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Virginia men’s lacrosse team, ranked No. 6 in the preseason USILA coaches and Inside Lacrosse/Maverik media polls, opens the 2019 campaign on the road Saturday against the Loyola Greyhounds. Loyola is ranked No. 4 in the coaches and media polls. The game will be contested at the Ridley Athletic Complex Stadium with faceoff slated for 12 p.m.
Live stats of Saturday’s game will be available at VirginiaSports.com. The contest will be broadcast on television via Stadium/Charge. It will stream live on the Patriot League Network. Brett Hollander will call the play-by-play, while Chris Gunkel and Dave Cottle provide analysis.
Saturday marks the 23rd all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and the Greyhounds in a series that began in 1938. The series took a 23-year hiatus before being rekindled for the 2014 season. Saturday marks the fourth time in five seasons these teams have met in Baltimore. Virginia leads the all-time series with a 15-7 margin and the Cavaliers have a 4-2 record in the series since 2014.
Loyola head coach Charley Toomey is in his 14th season at the helm of his alma mater and returns 33 letterwinners from last year’s 13-4 squad that fell in the NCAA quarterfinal round to Yale, the eventual national champion.
UVA and Loyola clashed twice in 2018. Dox Aitken scored in the second overtime to secure the season-opening win over the Greyhounds, 13-12. Ian Laviano added five goals and was named ACC Player of the Week in his collegiate debut. The Greyhounds bested UVA in the second meeting of 2018, a 14-12 triumph in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cavaliers are 51-33-1 (.606) all-time in season openers, including a mark of 17-16 (.515) when opening up the season at the road, including winning the last six. Saturday’s game will mark the eighth time in the last 20 seasons the Cavaliers have opened the season on the road.
Virginia enters 2019 after finishing with an 12-6 record in 2018 and falling to the Greyhounds in Baltimore in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. UVA returns 33 lettermen and seven starters from its 2018 squad.
Virginia returns to action on Feb. 16 when the Cavaliers return to Charlottesville for their home opener against No. 13 Lehigh. The game will faceoff at 12 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.