No. 3 Virginia Set for Road Test at No. 16 Richmond

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Coming of its season opener, a 19-11 rout over then-No. 8 Michigan, No. 3 Virginia (1-0) travels to No. 16 Richmond (1-1) on Saturday (Feb. 17) for the Cavaliers’ first road game of the 2024 season. Opening faceoff from Robins Stadium is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

PAYTON CORMIER RECORD WATCH

• Payton Cormier (164g), who has led UVA in goals the past two seasons, needs just two scores to break UVA’s all-time career goals record set by Doug Knight (165g) in 1997.
• Among all of UVA’s 100-career goal scorers, Cormier is the only one to average at least 2.93 goals per game.
• Cormier is also the only player in program history to log a pair of 50-goal seasons, having recorded 52 goals last year and 50 goals in 2022.
• In 15 appearances last season, he recorded 12 multi-goal games, including 10 hat tricks.

LAST TIME OUT

• Virginia won its 2024 season opener, 19-11, over then-No. 8 Michigan at Klöckner Stadium last Saturday (Feb. 10).
• In their UVA debuts, attackman McCabe Millon (5g) and midfielder Jack Boyden (2g, 3a) tallied five points each. Cormier scored five goals and dished out one assist.
• Newcomers Anthony Ghobriel (15-23 FO) and Thomas Colucci (6-8) combined to win 21 of the game’s 32 total faceoffs.
• Defenseman John Schroter (5gb, 3ct) and LSM Ben Wayer (5gb) also stood out for the Cavaliers.

SERIES HISTORY

• Virginia leads the all-time series 9-1 over the Spiders, including 3-1 in at Robins Stadium.
• The series began in 2014, when UVA played at Richmond in the Spiders’ inaugural game.
• In the most recent matchup, last year’s NCAA Tournament first round contest at Klöckner Stadium, a lightning delay halted play between the first and second quarters. The No. 2-seeded Cavaliers cruised to a 17-8 victory after Cormier’s six goals tied the UVA individual record in an NCAA Tournament game. Connor Shellenberger (2g, 4a) and Petey LaSalla (18-27 FO) were also spectacular in the win. With his first score of the game, Xander Dickson shattered Doug Knight’s previous single-season record of 56 goals.
• In last year’s regular-season meeting between the two teams, the Cavaliers dealt Richmond its largest margin of defeat in the series. Dickson set a series record with six goals.
• Virginia won the first seven games of the series before the Spiders defeated UVA, 17-13, at Robins Stadium in 2022. The Cavaliers led by as many as four goals in the second quarter before the Spiders scored seven straight to lead it the rest of the way after Matt Moore and LaSalla exited the game due to injury.

KASTNER, NUNES, SHELLENBERGER NAMED TEWAARATON AWARD WATCH LIST SELECTIONS

• Cole Kastner (defense), Matthew Nunes (goalie) and Connor Shellenberger (attack) were named Tewaaraton Award Watch List selections, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced Feb. 14.
• Only Duke (4), Virginia (3), Notre Dame (3) and Syracuse (3) had at least three selections in this year’s initial list.

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers travel to Ohio State (3-0) on Sunday (Feb. 25).
• Opening faceoff from Klöckner Stadium is set for 1 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.