Men’s Lacrosse Season Opener Moved Indoors, Closed to Public

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Due to forecasted frigid temperatures at game time, the Virginia men’s lacrosse season opener against Colgate on Sunday (Feb. 8) has been relocated to the George Welsh Indoor Football Practice Facility. 

The game will be closed to the public. In addition, spectators will not be permitted to congregate outside the facility. Both policies will be strictly enforced. 

Sunday’s contest remains scheduled for noon and will stream live on ACC Network Extra. Live stats will also be available on UVA.Statbroadcast.com and the Virginia Sports mobile app.

MEN’S LACROSSE TICKET INFORMATION  
All UVA men’s lacrosse tickets for the Colgate game are eligible for exchange to another regular-season home game through ticket holders’ UVAtix.com online account. Single-game ticket purchasers are subject to an upgrade charge for marquee matchups against Johns Hopkins (Feb. 28), Notre Dame (March 28) and North Carolina (April 18). Ticket Exchange → 

FOR OPENERS 

• Virginia is playing its sixth consecutive season opener at home. 

• Sunday’s contest marks the first-ever lacrosse game held at the George Welsh Indoor Football Practice Facility.

• The Cavaliers were ranked No. 14 in the both the USILA coaches' and Inside Lacrosse preseason media polls. 

SEASON OVERVIEW 

• The Cavaliers will face eight teams that participated in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including non-conference foes Colgate, Richmond, Towson and Maryland. 

• UVA hosts eight home contests, highlighted by its non-conference matchup against Johns Hopkins, and ACC contests against Notre Dame and North Carolina. 

• The Wahoos return five starters from their 2025 roster, including preseason All-Americans McCabe Millon (attack) and John Schroter (defense). With their entire 2025 starting attack back, including Millon, UVA also returns nearly 70% of its total point production. 

• The Hoos look to fill the void left by 2025 All-Americans Ben Wayer (LSM) and Griffin Schutz (midfield) and four-year starting netminder Matthew Nunes, who concluded his career No. 2 in career saves in program history. 

• Lars Tiffany is entering his 10th year as Virginia head coach. He's also only two wins from the 100th of his UVA tenure. 

• In the summer of 2025, Tiffany announced the addition of UVA legend Connor Shellenberger as assistant coach. Shellenberger is the program's only four-time first-team All-American, a two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist and guided the Hoos to a national championship in 2021. 

• The University of Virginia was named the host of this year's NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships (Championship Weekend). The event, which encompasses all three Divisional championships and the Division I semifinals, will commence at Scott Stadium May 23-25. 

SERIES HISTORY 

• Virginia opens its season for the second consecutive year by hosting Colgate. The two teams rekindled the series in 2025 after a 66-year hiatus (since 1959). 

• The Cavaliers lead the series, 5-0. All five games were held in Charlottesville. 

• After missing the last seven games of the 2024 season due to an injury, attackman Truitt Sunderland had a career day in last year's 19-9 rout of the Raiders. His six goals and three assists are both career bests. 

• The Cavaliers fired a season-high 69 shots compared to Colgate’s 46, while also controlling the ground ball battle, 56–32. UVA’s man-down unit held the Raiders scoreless on all four extra-man opportunities, offering an early glimpse of how the Cavaliers emerged as the nation’s top man-down defense. 

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS 

• Colgate finished its 2025 campaign with a overall 10-8 record. The Raiders captured the 2025 Patriot League Championship, their first conference title in 10 years, in a 17-10 victory over Boston University.  

• In the program's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, Colgate fell 13-11 to Penn State in the first round of the tournament. 

• Coincidentally, the Nittany Lions defeated the Raiders 18-14 in the two teams' 2026 season opener last week. 

A WIN FOR THE CAVALIERS WOULD... 

• Improve UVA’s record in the all-time series with Colgate to 6-0. 

• Be their seventh consecutive in season openers. 

• Give Lars Tiffany a 9-1 record in season openers as UVA head coach. 

• The 99th of Tiffany’s head coaching tenure at UVA. 

ON THE HORIZON 

• The Cavaliers look to avenge their 2025 setback in the series with Richmond on Saturday (Feb. 14). 

• Opening faceoff from Robins Stadium is set for noon on ESPN+ and WINA (1070 AM/98.9 FM).