No. 3 Maryland Edges No. 1 Virginia in Overtime, 14-13
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Maryland (5-2) attackman Daniel Kelly scored the game-winning goal with 2:19 left in overtime to seal a 14-13 win over No. 1 Virginia (6-1) at Klöckner Stadium Saturday afternoon (March 18). The win is the third straight of the series for the Terrapins, who are ranked No. 3 in this week’s edition of the USILA coaches poll. The game saw two lead changes and four tied scores.
Thomas McConvey (4g, 1a), Griffin Schutz (2g, 2a) and Cade Saustad (2gb, 3ct) led the effort for the Hoos. Virginia goalie Matthew Nunes (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season after tying for a career-high 16 saves, including five in the fourth quarter. Maryland goalie Brian Ruppel (3-1) earned the win in net for the Terrapins with 14 saves.
Saturday’s attendance for the top-3 showdown was 5,745, the most spectators at a UVA men’s lacrosse home game since 2013.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Terrapins scored the first three goals of the game, despite UVA winning the first three faceoffs. Two early turnovers by the Virginia attack proved to be costly and contributed to Maryland’s early lead. The Cavaliers got on the board with a score by McConvey, which was assisted by Schutz.
Getting physical!
️#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/3qe8rW6fYp
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 18, 2023
After the McConvey goal, Payton Cormier (3g), Schutz, and Ricky Miezan (1g, 1a) combined to score the next five goals, capping a 6-0 run with 5:43 left in the second.
A 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓎 shot leads to a 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓎 goal!
️#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/HnF8j3ReYG
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 18, 2023
The UVA defense held the Terrapins scoreless for 12:31 of game time until a Maryland goal with 2:41 left in the half broke up UVA’s run as Cavaliers led 6-4 going into the break.
𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗝𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞
Cade Saustad goes over the head to register his 14th caused turnover of the season pic.twitter.com/3wSgw43pqw
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 18, 2023
Maryland outscored UVA 6-3 in the third period with the help of a pair of goals from Jack Koras and Braden Erksa. McConvey found the back of the net – unassisted – with three seconds left in the third period to cut the Maryland lead to 10-9 heading into the fourth.
The Terps scored back-to-back goals just 11 seconds apart early in the fourth to extend their lead back to three [12-9]. After Xander Dickson (1g) notched his 26th goal of the season on an assist from Jeff Conner (1a), which shrank the Maryland lead to 12-10, neither team found the back of the net for nearly nine minutes of action. Schutz’s second goal of the game with 3:41 cut the Terps’ lead back to one [12-11]. Koras scored a minute later before McConvey found Connor Shellenberger (1g, 2a) on the doorstep, who buried his first score of game with 1:56 to go in regulation.
This place is 𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/FG9RcgFrwE
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 18, 2023
After Petey LaSalla won the ensuing faceoff, McConvey ripped a shot that was placed perfectly in the upper corner to tie the game, 13-13, for the first time since the 5:20 mark in the third. After winning the final faceoff in regulation, Maryland signaled for time with 1:12 to play and ultimately held the ball until the until late in the period. UVA short-stick defensive midfielder tipped a pass in the waning seconds of regulation to erase all hope of a Terrapins’ shot attempt.
𝙰 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚌#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/fbplaunOdN
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 18, 2023
In the overtime period, UVA had three chances to score, including two off a Maryland failed clear. After McConvey’s shot was saved by Ruppel, UVA midfielder Evan Zinn gathered the rebound and fired another shot from the crease that was deflected by a diving Ruppel and the Terps came up with the rebound. With Terps in transition, Nunes made a save on a shot by Kelly with 2:47 to play. After a called timeout by Maryland, Kelly notched the game winner after receiving pass from X and firing a shot from the top of the box, which got past Nunes, to seal the win.
RUPPEL THREE STOPS. UNBELIEVABLE.
He’s a @TerpsMLax FRESHMAN. pic.twitter.com/dyFlWI9xqU
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 18, 2023
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
Lars Tiffany on today’s atmosphere at Klöckner Stadium and UVA’s effort …
“I couldn’t be more grateful for our men to come back, being down three early in the fourth quarter, then being down two with a only couple of minutes left. And just feeding off the energy the crowd and explosion, especially when Thomas McConvey tied it up there with 78 seconds left. Those are some big positives for us. Because, you know, we just haven’t been losing much this year. We’ve been fortunate to be very comfortable a lot of times by the time we get to the fourth quarter. A lot of great things happened today. What a great lacrosse game. Obviously, it stings. It hurts. You get kicked in the gut when you lose it in overtime, but let’s not lose sight. This was a fantastic environment. Thank you to the 5,700 fans. What a great crowd. Great energy and great lacrosse out here today.”
