Kraus’ Four Goals Helps Lift No. 11 UVA Over Lehigh on Friday
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers (1-1) used an 8-2 run to overcome an early deficit and dispose of the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (1-2) on Friday night, 11-8, at Klöckner Stadium. The game which was originally scheduled for Saturday was moved up a day due to a forecast for inclement weather in the Charlottesville area.
Cavalier goalie Alex Rode made three key saves in the third quarter, two of which came in man-down situations. The saves aided Virginia in holding Lehigh scoreless for 19:57 from the second quarter until the fourth quarter.
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second week in a row UVA scored first, but then found itself in a hole. With a 2-0 lead over the Mountain Hawks, Lehigh responded by scoring five goals in a row to take a 5-2 lead at 7:42 in the second quarter.
Lehigh owned a two-goal lead, 6-4, at halftime. UVA, who handed Lehigh three extra-man goals in the first half on four penalties, settled in nicely. Dox Aitken scored a big goal to lead the third-quarter scoring. Michael Kraus scored back-to-back goals to give UVA the lead for good.
Michael Kraus with back to back low angle rips from the right wing. Virginia has the lead 7-6 with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter!!#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/zVcQ63b1lW
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) February 15, 2019
UVA STAT LEADERS
• A Michael Kraus
4 goals, 1 assist
• M Dox Aitken
2 goals, 2 assists
• A Ian Laviano
2 goals, 1 assist
• D Kyle Kology
4 GBs, 3 CTs
NOTES
• A Michael Kraus extended his active-point scoring streak to 34 games, which is tied for No.4 in the nation heading into this weekend’s play.
• M Dox Aitken scored two goals, tying Rob Emery (73) for No. 10 all-time at UVA in career goals for a midfielder.
• The win gives UVA a win in its home opener in 14 of the last 15 seasons.
• Friday’s game was the first-ever between UVA and Lehigh in men’s lacrosse.
• M Jeff Conner scored his first career goal.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
“We had a couple man down stops in the third quarter and those two stops were big. Rode made a couple nice saves that could have been big momentum goals for Lehigh. From there we just got smarter about what we were doing physically. We’re a physical team, we put some people on the ground after they take shots and we want to get after it in the ride. We take a lot of pride in our riding here and we had another good game in that phase. You have to put a lot of pressure on the ball and sometimes we do foul. Michael Kraus right here at the midline got that hold and I can’t get upset with Michael because we’re asking him to be relentless. We tell our attackmen that they are the defensive frontline of a football team, you got to get pressure. If we can get pressure with three or four rushing the passer then we don’t have to implement a 10-man [ride] and we can cause turnovers, which we saw tonight. But it stars with our defensive line, they have to pressure. We tell them you don’t have to make the sack, just force a bad pass or an interception because our safeties, our middies, they’re ready to jump on errant passes. I was really excited with the way we rode the ball and that all starts with Michael Kraus, Ian Laviano, and Matt Moore.” – Lars Tiffany
UP NEXT
Virginia returns home on Mon., Feb. 18 when No. 16 High Point comes to Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.