Virginia dethrones Yale, wins men’s lacrosse title
PHILADELPHIA – This time the Virginia men’s lacrosse team didn’t need a comeback. The Cavaliers took charge with big runs in the second and third quarters Monday and cruised to a 13-9 victory against defending champion Yale before 31,528 at Lincoln Financial Field. It is the school’s sixth national championship and first since 2011.
The third-seeded Cavaliers (17-3) controlled the game at both ends. Matt Moore paced the attack with four goals and an assist, Michael Kraus added a hat trick and Dox Aitken and face-off man Petey LaSalla each scored twice.
Tournament most outstanding player Alex Rode made 13 saves in the Virginia goal. In front of him, defenseman Cade Saustad effectively shut down Yale’s leading scorer Jackson Morrill, who managed only one assist. Freshman Matt Brandau recorded a hat trick and two assists for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (15-4), but Yale was held to its lowest goal total of the season.
“Fantastic, fantastic performance by Alex Rode,” said Virginia coach Lars Tiffany of his sophomore goalie. “Early on Yale found some openings, and our defense was still getting settled in, trying to figure out who Yale is. With one day to prepare for a team and not a lot of film to watch, it’s a difficult scout for both teams. Alex made big saves early, when we made mistakes, when there were openings. That allowed our defense to grow more comfortable.”
The Cavaliers led 2-1 after a defensedominated first quarter. A Matt Gaudet goal with 11:41 remaining in the second quarter pulled Yale even for what would prove to be the last time, as Virginia closed the half on a 4-0 burst. Two quick tallies to start the second half gave Yale a bit of hope, but the Cavaliers scored five in a row to build the cushion to 11-4 to put it out of reach. TD Ierlan was his usual dominant self at the face-off X as Yale won 19 of 25 draws, but the Bulldogs committed 20 turnovers.
“This is really hard, saying goodbye to this (senior) class and all that,” said Yale coach Andy Shay. “But at the end of the day it’s still a game, and I get paid to do this in this country because of people that gave their lives . ... I wanted to mention that on Memorial Day. I want to congratulate Virginia on the incredible game they played today. I wish we’d fared better, but we will be back.”
The game contrasted from the Cavaliers’s last two tournament wins, late rallies for 13-12 overtime victories.
“We’re not usually winning — as most of you know, we’re more comfortable losing at halftime,” Tiffany said. “Not that we want to but we’re more comfortable there. So we talked about it as a staff, what do we do? We don’t want to stall, you can’t do that in the shot clock era, but the men made us look smart. They understood shot clock awareness.”
As a side note, Virginia becomes the third school to pull off the rare men’s basketball-men’s lacrosse championship double in the same season. Not surprisingly, the other two schools also reside in the Atlantic Coast Conference. North Carolina did it in 1982 and Duke was the second in 2010.