No. 7 UVA Cruises to Victory Over In-State Foe Richmond, 16-7
The No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers (7-2) cruised to a 16-7 victory over the Richmond Spiders (6-4) on Friday night at Klöckner Stadium.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers (7-2) cruised to a 16-7 victory over the Richmond Spiders (6-4) on Friday night at Klöckner Stadium. The victory is the sixth in a row for UVA, giving the Cavaliers their first six-game winning streak since starting the 2014 season 6-0.
UVA started strong against the Spiders, as Richmond committed 12 first-half turnovers and only registered eight shots. Meanwhile, UVA scored early and often, owning an 8-2 lead at the intermission. In the first half alone UVA shot the ball 34 times, picked up 27 ground balls and won 10-of-12 faceoffs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Ryan Conrad put UVA on the board 55 seconds into the game when Matt Moore found the UVA senior streaking toward the goal. The Cavaliers held the lead the remainder of the night. Dox Aitken, Ian Laviano and Conrad all scored two goals in the opening half. Michael Kraus and Moore also added scores to help give UVA a substantial lead.
In the third quarter UVA outscored Richmond, 5-3. Kraus’ second goal of the game, via a Petey LaSalla helper off a faceoff, capped the scoring in the third quarter as UVA led the Spiders by eight, 13-5. As the third quarter started to come to a close UVA head coach Lars Tiffany began to empty his bench. In the fourth quarter first-year Paul Rodriguez scored his first career goal on an assist by Mitch Gordon. Rodriguez, who made his collegiate debut in the game, gave UVA a 15-5 lead with 6:45 left.
Matt Moore to Dox Aitken for long range left-handed rip!! The Hoos lead 5-1 with 6:57 left in the 2nd quarter!!#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/eiMtRl32gr
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 29, 2019
UVA STAT LEADERS
• A Matt Moore
2 goals, 4 assists
• A Michael Kraus
2 goals, 3 assists
• A Ian Laviano
3 goals, 2 assists
• M Dox Aitken
2 goals
• M Ryan Conrad
2 goals
• M Petey LaSalla
1 assist, 16-of-21 FO, 12 GBs
NOTES
• UVA’s six-game winning streak is its longest since opening the 2014 season 6-0.
• UVA is now 6-0 all-time against Richmond and 3-0 against the Spiders at Klöckner Stadium.
• The nine-goal win equals its largest margin of victory over the Spiders. UVA beat Richmond 9-0 on the road in 2016.
• UVA extended its winning streak against teams from the Commonwealth of Virginia to 71 games. The streak dates back to 1977 when the Cavaliers lost to then-NCAA DI Washington & Lee.
• Michael Kraus extends his streak of games with at least one point to 41, which ranked No. 4 in the nation entering the weekend among active streaks.
• With two goals, Dox Aitken moves to No. 3 all-time at UVA with 90 career goals.
• Aitken now has 115 career points, which keeps him at No. 5 all-time at UVA.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
“Our whole staff is really excited about the energy we brought to this game. Richmond is an opponent that has given us great challenges in the past. I respect that. I am really happy with how we rode today, we created turnovers in the ride, we created goals and scoring situations from the ride and that was key to get off to an early start, because they have a really good team defense. Petey LaSalla was continually giving us the ball and created some offense out of it as well. What he was able to do was very impressive and much needed today.”– Lars Tiffany
UP NEXT
It is a quick turnaround for the Cavaliers. Virginia returns to action on Sunday when first-year program Utah invades Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.