No. 4 UVA Hosts Utah on Saturday Afternoon in Non-Conference Action
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (9-3) return to action on Saturday afternoon against the Utah Utes (3-5) at Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m. UVA is ranked No. 4 in this week’s USILA coaches poll and No. 3 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com. The game will be televised live on ESPNU. Anish Shroff will call the play-by-play, while Myles Jones will provide analysis. ESPNU will also simulcast the broadcast on the WatchESPN app, or by logging onto ESPN.com/watch.
CAVALIER TIDBITS
• Matt Moore needs two assists to become the fifth player in program history to join the 100-goal/100-assist career club.
• UVA is No. 15 in the nation in caused turnovers per game (8.75), No. 2 in the nation in opponent clearing percentage (.771) and No. 2 in the nation in ground balls per game (42.75)
• FO Petey LaSalla is No. 5 in the nation with 8.25 ground balls per game and No. 8 in faceoff winning percentage with a 66.0 percent success rate.
• Payton Cormier leads UVA with 34 goals in 12 games. He had 12 goals in UVA’s six games in 2020. Cormier also has at least a hat-trick in 10 of his 18 career games. Cormier is No. 4 in the nation with 34 goals.
• Connor Shellenberger leads the nation’s freshmen with 49 points, which ranks No. 6 in the country overall. Shellenberger is also No. 3 in the nation with 29 assists.
• Kyle Kology is No. 6 in the nation with 19 caused turnovers.
SERIES INFO
• Utah and Virginia are meeting for the second time in series history. UVA won the first meeting, 17-6, in 2019 at Klöckner Stadium.
• The 2019 season was the inaugural men’s lacrosse campaign for Utah.
UTAH
• Utah head coach Brian Holman is in his third season as the DI head coach at Utah. He is no stranger to UVA as he was an assistant coach from 2009-16 at ACC rival North Carolina. He also was the defensive coordinator and goalkeeper coach at Johns Hopkins from 1987-90 and from 1999-2000.
• Utah assistant coach Adam Ghitelman is a 2011 graduate of Virginia. Ghitelman was the starting goalie on UVA’s 2011 NCAA title team. He was a two-time All-American and left Charlottesville No. 1 all-time at UVA in career goalie wins (50) and No. 2 in all- time saves (586). Ghitelman’s win record was previously owned by UVA assistant coach Kip Turner (40). Ghitelman was also MVP of the 2010 ACC Tournament.
• Tyler Bradbury leads Utah with 13 goals, 21 assists and 34 points. Jordan Hyde is second on the team with 12 goals, four assists and 16 points. Branden Wilson rounds out the top scorers with 10 points.
• Zack Johns is saving 52.9 percent of shots and is posting a 10.42 goals against average between the pipes. Zion Dechesere is also seeing time in goal and is saving 51.7 percent of shots and notching an 8.98 goals against average.
ATTENDANCE GUIDELINES
Due to the limited number of tickets, the new attendance policy will include pre-sale ticket access for UVA students and each sport program’s donors and season ticket holders. Following the pre-sale process, remaining tickets will be made available to the general public at 10 a.m. on April 17.
Fans must purchase a pair of tickets. All tickets are general admission and will be $5 each. Tickets can be purchased on UVATix.com or from Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by calling the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at 434-924-8821.
UP NEXT
UVA concludes its regular season slate on Saturday, April 24 against Syracuse at Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.