Cavaliers Close Out Regular Season, Host No. 9 Duke Saturday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – With postseason implications on the line, Virginia (6-7, 0-3 ACC) challenges its fourth top-10 foe in its last five games Saturday (April 26), when the Cavaliers welcome No. 9 Duke (10-4 1-2 ACC) in both teams’ regular-season finale. Opening faceoff from Klöckner Stadium is set for 3 p.m. on ACC Network and WINA (1070 AM/98.9 FM). 

The winner locks up the No. 4 seed in next weekend’s four-team ACC Tournament (May 2 & 4) at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. 

ALUMNI WELCOME DAY AT KLÖCKNER STADIUM 

• At halftime of Saturday’s game, Virginia will honor its 1970 national championship team, its 1990s teams and former longtime assistant Marc Van Arsdale. 

SERIES HISTORY 

• Virginia leads the all-time series over the Blue Devils, 50-39, but Duke has won the previous 19 regular-season meetings. 
• In last year’s meeting in Durham, N.C., then-No. 2 Virginia had its seven-game win streak snapped after falling 18-12 to the then-third ranked Blue Devils. 
• Last year’s starting attack consisting of Josh Zawada (5g, 1a), Tewaaraton Award winner Brennan O’Neill (4g, 1a) and Dyson Williams (3g) combined for 12 of the Blue Devils’ 18 goals. 
• Ian Laviano’s game-winning goal in double overtime of the 2019 NCAA Tournament semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field marks the last time that the Cavaliers defeated Duke. 
• UVA’s last regular-season win over the Blue Devils was its 13-4 victory on April 17, 2004. 
• In the 2004 win, Matt Poskay, Joe Yevoli and Foster Gilbert scored three goals each, and Virginia’s defense held the Blue Devils scoreless for more than 40 minutes to keep its postseason aspirations alive. The victory, which came on the final weekend of the regular season, marked UVA’s first over an ACC opponent that year. 

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS 

• After losing three of its previous four games, Duke got back in the win column last Saturday (April 19) by topping then-No. 8 Syracuse, 11-7, in Syracuse, N.Y. 
• Blue Devil attackman Eric Malever tied for a career-high five goals in the win and was named the USA Lacrosse Division I Player of the Week and the ACC Offensive Player of the Week. 
• Malever leads all Duke scorers this season with a career-best 56 points on 29 goals and 27 assists. 
• For the eighth time this season and third straight game, Duke held its opponent to single digits.  
• Syracuse’s seven goals are also its fewest in a single game this season. 
• The Blue Devils are led by John Danowski, who is in his 43rd season as head coach, including 19th at Duke. 
• The Blue Devils have tallied at least 10 wins in each of Danowski’s full seasons in Durham, N.C. 
• In addition to Malever (honorable mention), the Blue Devils have four additional Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-Americans: attackman/midfielder Andrew McAdorey (first team), short-stick defensive midfielder Aidan Maguire (first team), midfielder Benn Johnston (third team) and short-stick defensive midfielder Jack Gray (honorable mention). 

HONORING THE 1970 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM 

• This year marks the 55th anniversary of the 1970 national championship team, which is the program’s second of nine national championships overall. 
• The leadership and dedication of Virginia’s 1970 team established a standard of excellence that still permeates in the UVA program to this very day. 
• The 1970 title was the last awarded by the USILA before the inaugural NCAA Tournament was contested in 1971, but it marked the beginning of UVA’s resurgence as one of the nation’s premier programs in the modern era.

THE NOSTALGIC ‘90s 

• The 1990s proved to be a monumental era for Virginia Lacrosse, specifically when the 1994 and 1996 teams reached the national championship game, but fell in overtime to Princeton on both occasions. 
• The decade saw two Hall of Fame head coaches assume the position at UVA, Jim ‘Ace’ Adams and Dom Starsia, who took over the program beginning with the 1993 season. 
• The ’90s Cavalier squads are best remembered for their physical, up-tempo style of play that Virginia Lacrosse fans still know and love today. 
• The success of the 1990s culminated with the program’s second NCAA championship in 1999, which ended a 27-year drought. 
• Virginia will don special throwback helmets and gloves, along with its previously worn throwback uniforms, to pay homage to teams from 90s. 

VAN ARSDALE’S RETURN TO GROUNDS 

• Marc Van Arsdale combined to win 11 NCAA championships as a player at Hobart and assistant coach, including three (2003, 2006, 2011) while at UVA. 
• Van Arsdale served as UVA’s offensive coordinator from 1991-96 and again from 2001-16. 
• Van Arsdale, who currently serves as an assistant at Loyola, has mentored four Tewaaraton Trophy winners, including UVA’s Chris Rotelli, Matt Ward and Steele Stanwick. 
• His offenses also set program single-season goals records in three consecutive years from 1994-96. 

VIRGINIA’S STINGY MAN-DOWN UNIT 

• Virginia’s man-down defense is much improved from last year to this. 
• Through 13 games played this season, the Cavaliers have only surrendered seven goals on 51 opposing extra-man opportunities, a clip of 86.3 percent, which leads the ACC and is good for second nationally. 
• UVA has held its opponent without a man-up goal in seven of its 13 games, and held Richmond (0-6), Towson (2-7) and Notre Dame (1-7) scoreless on at least five chances. 
• Last year, UVA opponents scored on 50.9 percent (28-55) of their EMO chances. 
• The Cavaliers’ man-down unit is guided by assistant coach and former UVA close defenseman Logan Greco. 

LAST TIME OUT 

• In a fast-paced game featuring two teams that imposed aggressive 10-man rides, it was Virginia that was victorious over Lafayette, 13-8, on Senior Day at Klöckner Stadium last Saturday (April 19). 
• With the win, the Cavaliers snapped a three-game skid and improved to 3-0 in all-time series with the Leopards. 
• Thirty-four Virginia players checked into the game, including starting goalie Matthew Nunes (12 saves, 3 assists), who led the way for the Hoos in their penultimate regular-season game. 
• Eight Cavaliers found the back of the net, including attackmen McCabe Millon and Truitt Sunderland, both of whom finished with three goals and one assist. 
• Despite losing the faceoff battle [13-10], Virginia provided itself with extra possessions as the Cavaliers’ ride forced eight Lafayette failed clears among its 25 total turnovers.