Cavaliers Ready for Top-5 Showdown at Maryland

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 4 Virginia (5-1) travels to No. 5 Maryland (5-1) for the sixth meeting between the two teams in as many seasons on Saturday (March 16). Opening faceoff from SECU Stadium is set for 3 p.m. Big Ten Network.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

2 – The only two active programs that currently own at least a three-game win streak over Virginia are Duke (5) and Maryland (3).

5 – After setting the program’s career assists record in UVA’s most recent game, Connor Shellenberger (113-160-273) needs just five points to become the program’s all-time career points leader.

827 – Jack Boyden (327), Connor Shellenberger (273) and Payton Cormier (227) combine for 827 career points. No other team in the nation has three active players on its roster combine for that amount.

SERIES HISTORY

• Maryland leads the all-time series, which began in 1926, 50-46, and is currently riding a three-game win streak over Virginia.
• In last year’s meeting at Klöckner Stadium, Maryland goalkeeper Brian Ruppel made three saves in overtime before Daniel Kelly found the back of the net at the midway through the sudden death period. The Terrapins won, 14-13.
• The last time the Cavaliers defeated Maryland at SECU Stadium (then Byrd Stadium) was on March 31, 2012, when UVA won 12-8. Steele Stanwick (3g, 5a) matched his career high with eight points. The score was tied 7-7 heading into the fourth quarter before the Hoos outscored Maryland 5-1 in the final period.
• Virginia and the Terrapins have met nine times in the NCAA Tournament, including in three consecutive tournaments from 2019-22.
• Among those nine NCAA Tournament contests, two of them were title games, 2011 and 2021. The Cavaliers won both matchups 9-7 and 17-16, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT

• Connor Shellenberger (3g, 7a) tied his career high of 10 points on the way to becoming Virginia’s all-time career assists leader in the Cavaliers’ 19-15 win at Towson last Saturday (March 9).
• Payton Cormier (7g, 2a) also set a career high in points in the win, and his seven goals matched his career best.
• The score was tied 10-10 early on in the third quarter before the Hoos exploded for nine consecutive goals.
• The Tigers claimed the final five scores of the game as UVA began to mix in its reserves.
• Defensively, Ben Wayer (2g, 6gb), Joey Terenzi (1a, 6gb) and Chase Yager (4ct) stood out for the Hoos.

CAVALIERS AMONG THE NATION’S STATISTICAL LEADERS

• For games played through March 14, Virginia leads the nation in assists (11.33).
• The Cavaliers are second in ground balls (38.50) and points (27.33), third in clearing percentage (.943), fifth in scoring offense (16.00), seventh in saves (14.17), eighth in man-up offense (.500) and 10th in scoring margin (4.83).
• Virginia’s 38.50 ground-balls-per-game average also leads the ACC.
• Payton Cormier leads all players nationally in goals (4.00) and is 15th in points. Connor Shellenberger is eighth in both assists (3.33) and points (5.67). McCabe Millon is 16th in goals (3.00) and 26th in points (4.50). Matthew Nunes is 19th in save percentage (.543) and 30th in saves (11.67).

VIRGINIA IN THE POLLS

• After falling out of the top 5 of the USILA coaches poll on March 4, Virgina returned at No. 4 in this week’s poll.
• UVA has been ranked in the top 5 in 332 polls all-time, including in the most recent edition of the poll.
• Virginia has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in 70 all-time polls.
• UVA has been ranked in 524 out of 545 (.962) total USILA polls all-time.
• The USILA Poll began in 1973.

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers return will have two days off from competition before hosting UAlbany (1-4) on Tuesday (March 19).
• Opening faceoff from Klöckner Stadium is set for 4 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.