No. 3 Maryland Edges No. 1 Virginia in Overtime, 14-13

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Maryland (5-2) attackman Daniel Kelly scored the game-winning goal with 2:19 left in overtime to seal a 14-13 win over No. 1 Virginia (6-1) at Klöckner Stadium Saturday afternoon (March 18). The win is the third straight of the series for the Terrapins, who are ranked No. 3 in this week’s edition of the USILA coaches poll. The game saw two lead changes and four tied scores.

Thomas McConvey (4g, 1a), Griffin Schutz (2g, 2a) and Cade Saustad (3gb, 4ct) led the effort for the Hoos. Virginia goalie Matthew Nunes (6-1) tallied 15 saves, just one shy of his career high, but suffered his first loss of the season. Maryland goalie Brian Ruppel (3-1), who made three saves in overtime, earned the win in net for the Terrapins with 14 saves.

Saturday’s attendance for the top-3 showdown was 5,745, the most spectators at a UVA men’s lacrosse home game since 2013.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Terrapins scored the first three goals of the game, despite UVA winning the first three faceoffs. Two early turnovers by the Virginia attack proved to be costly and contributed to Maryland’s early lead. The Cavaliers got on the board with a score by McConvey, which was assisted by Schutz.

After the McConvey goal, Payton Cormier (3g), Schutz, and Ricky Miezan (1g, 1a) combined to score the next five goals, capping a 6-0 run with 5:43 left in the second.

The UVA defense held the Terrapins scoreless for 21:32 of game time until a Maryland goal with 2:41 left in the half broke up UVA’s run as Cavaliers led 6-4 going into the break.

Maryland outscored UVA 6-3 in the third period with the help of a pair of goals from Jack Koras and Braden Erksa. McConvey found the back of the net – unassisted – with three seconds left in the third period to cut the Maryland lead to 10-9 heading into the fourth.

The Terps scored back-to-back goals just 11 seconds apart early in the fourth to extend their lead back to three [12-9]. After Xander Dickson (1g) notched his 26^th goal of the season on an assist from Jeff Conner (1a), which shrank the Maryland lead to 12-10, neither team found the back of the net for nearly nine minutes of action. Schutz’s second goal of the game with 3:41 cut the Terps’ lead back to one [12-11]. Koras scored a minute later before McConvey found Connor Shellenberger (1g, 2a) on the doorstep, who buried his first score of game with 1:56 to go in regulation.

After Petey LaSalla won the ensuing faceoff, McConvey ripped a shot that was placed perfectly in the upper corner to tie the game, 13-13, for the first time since the 5:20 mark in the third. After winning the final faceoff in regulation, Maryland signaled for time with 1:12 to play and ultimately held the ball until the until late in the period. UVA short-stick defensive midfielder tipped a pass in the waning seconds of regulation to erase all hope of a Terrapins’ shot attempt.

In the overtime period, UVA had three chances to score, including two off a Maryland failed clear. After McConvey’s shot was saved by Ruppel, UVA midfielder Evan Zinn gathered the rebound and fired another shot from the crease that was deflected by a diving Ruppel and the Terps came up with the rebound. With Terps in transition, Nunes made a save on a shot by Kelly with 2:47 to play. After a called timeout by Maryland, Kelly notched the game winner after receiving pass from X and firing a shot from the top of the box, which got past Nunes, to seal the win.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

Lars Tiffany on today’s atmosphere at Klöckner Stadium and UVA’s effort …
“I couldn’t be more grateful for our men to come back, being down three early in the fourth quarter, then being down two with a only couple of minutes left. And just feeding off the energy the crowd and explosion, especially when Thomas McConvey tied it up there with 78 seconds left. Those are some big positives for us. Because, you know, we just haven’t been losing much this year. We’ve been fortunate to be very comfortable a lot of times by the time we get to the fourth quarter. A lot of great things happened today. What a great lacrosse game. Obviously, it stings. It hurts. You get kicked in the gut when you lose it in overtime, but let’s not lose sight. This was a fantastic environment. Thank you to the 5,700 fans. What a great crowd. Great energy and great lacrosse out here today.”

NOTES

• Saturday’s game hosted 5,745 spectators, the most at a home UVA men’s lacrosse game since April 6, 2013, when the Cavaliers hosted North Carolina and had 6,787 spectators.
• Maryland improved to 50-46 in the all-time series, which began in 1926. Saturday’s game marked the first between the two teams in Charlottesville since 2013.
• Saturday’s game between UVA and Maryland marked the first meeting on a non-neutral site since the two teams squared off in College Park in 2014.
• Two of UVA and Maryland’s last five games have gone to overtime. Three of the last five meetings have been decided by one goal.
• UVA’s last overtime game was against Duke at Klöckner Stadium on April 12, 2021. The Blue Devils won, 13-12.
• The Cavaliers saw their 13-game home win streak, which began in 2021, come to a close.
• The last time UVA lost as the No. 1 ranked team in the USILA coaches poll was on April 13, 2012 in a 13-5 defeat by then-No. 7 Duke.
• The game was Lars Tiffany’s 100th as UVA head coach.
• Virginia held the Terps scoreless for 21:32 (9:12 Q1 – 2:41 Q2) of game time, which marks the longest scoring drought by a UVA opponent this season.
• For the first time this season, UVA trailed entering the fourth quarter.
• With four goals and one assist, Thomas McConvey extended his point streak to 59 games. Having registered at least one point in all 59 career games, McConvey’s streak is the longest among all active Division-I players. For his career, McConvey has amassed 143 goals and 60 assists.
• With three goals, Payton Cormier extended his point streak to 34 games. During his streak, Cormier has registered 102 goals and 20 assists.
• Saturday’s game marked Cormier’s first since Richmond (March 4) after missing two games due to a lower-body injury.
• For the second time this season, Cade Saustad tied his career high of four caused turnovers.

UP NEXT
The Cavaliers open ACC play on the road at Notre Dame (6-0) on Saturday (March 25). Opening faceoff from Arlotta Stadium is set for noon on ESPNU.