No. 5 UVA Hosts No. 11 Syracuse for Senior Day on Saturday Afternoon
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia Cavaliers (10-3, 2-3 ACC) conclude the regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon against the Syracuse Orange (5-4, 1-3 ACC) at Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m. UVA is ranked No. 5 in this week’s USILA coaches Inside Lacrosse media polls. Syracuse is ranked No. 11 in both the coaches and media polls.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. Anish Shroff will call the play-by-play, while Paul Carcaterra will provide analysis. ESPN2 will also simulcast the broadcast on the WatchESPN app, or by logging onto ESPN.com/watch. There will be a live radio broadcast in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM and 98.9 FM. Luke Neer will provide the play-by-play and Doug Tarring will add analysis.
CAVALIER TIDBITS
• Saturday marks the 200th all-time UVA men’s lacrosse game at Klöckner Stadium.
• Thirteen fourth and fifth years will be honored prior to the game as part of Senior Day festivities. UVA will honor M Dox Aitken, M Jackson Appelt, A Charlie Bertrand, LSM Jared Conners, M John Fox, A Griffin Harris, D Kyle Kology, A Ian Laviano, A Matt Moore, M Jack Peele, M Ryan Pride, M, Regan Quinn and GK Alex Rode.
• UVA is No. 14 in the nation in caused turnovers per game (8.85), No. 1 in the nation in opponent clearing percentage (.774) and No. 1 in the nation in ground balls per game (44.00)
• FO Petey LaSalla is No. 5 in the nation with 8.46 ground balls per game and No. 6 in faceoff winning percentage with a 66.9 percent success rate.
• Payton Cormier leads UVA with 36 goals in 13 games. He had 12 goals in UVA’s six games in 2020. Cormier also has at least a hat-trick in 10 of his 19 career games. Cormier is No. 5 in the nation with 36 goals.
• Connor Shellenberger leads the nation’s freshmen with 52 points, which ranks No. 8 in the country overall. Shellenberger is also No. 5 in the nation with 29 assists.
• Kyle Kology is No. 6 in the nation with 19 caused turnovers.
SERIES INFO
• The Cavaliers and Orange are meeting for the 38th time in series history, but are playing each other for only the eighth time as part of ACC play. Virginia has won 10 of the last 18 regular-season meetings, but four of the last eight losses have come at the Carrier Dome (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2021).
• Syracuse leads the series, 19-18.
• UVA and Syracuse won four combined NCAA titles between 2006-11.
• Five of the last six games in the series have been decided by one goal, three of which have been won by Syracuse.
• The two schools battled only three times between 1938-93, but have met at least once each season between 1994 and 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic snapped the streak in 2020.
SYRACUSE
• John Desko is in his 23rd season as the Orange’s head coach.
• Syracuse went 5-0 during the 2020 season before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down.
• The Orange are led by Stephen Rehfuss and his 42 points on 21 goals and a team-high 21 assists. Owen Hiltz has 31 points on 16 goals and 15 assists, while Tucker Dordevic has 18 goals and 23 points. Brendan Curry rounds out the top scorers for the Orange with 14 goals and 23 points.
• Drake Porter is saving 51.3 percent of shots between the pipes and posting a 12.88 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 24.
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 awaits the 2021 NCAA Tournament announcement. The Selection Show is on Sunday, May 9. The show will air on ESPNU at 9 p.m.