No. 1 Virginia Opens New Meadowlands in Style with Triumph over No. 2 UNC
Steele Stanwick paces the UVa attack with a hat trick and one assist
East Rutherford, N.J. – Steele Stanwick scored three goals and assisted another to lead the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers (11-0, 2-0 ACC) to a 7-5 triumph over No. 2 North Carolina (10-1, 2-1 ACC) in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic on Saturday afternoon, in front of 25,710 fans inside the New Meadowlands Stadium. The record crowd for a regular season lacrosse only game saw Stanwick named the Player of the Game by Inside Lacrosse, helping UVa clinch a share of the ACC regular season crown in the very first event inside the new NFL edifice.
“Great win for us,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “It was another hard fought ACC league game and all our games are like this. I thought there were two very good defensive lacrosse teams out there.”
North Carolina won the battle of shots (47-35), while both squads tied ground balls (31-31) and faceoffs (8-8). Virginia, one of the nation’s best in clearing the ball, was successful on 17-of-18 attempts.
Virginia scored early and often to take a quick 5-0 lead, including shutting out the Tar Heels in the opening quarter. Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) scored his first goal in transition on a Ken Clausen (Downingtown, Pa.) pass with 12:34 left in the first quarter. Colin Briggs (Narragansett, R.I.) then picked up a ricocheted shot in front of the cage and deposited it in the goal at 9:35 to give UVa the 2-0 lead. John Haldy (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) scored from 13 yards out on a pass from George Huguely (Chevy Chase, Md.) at 4:46 to cap the first quarter scoring, 3-0, UVa’s advantage.
Stanwick started things in the second quarter, scoring his second goal via a Shamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) assist on the extra-man situation at 11:36 in the second quarter. Stanwick scored again with the highlight play of the game, capping the 5-0 run at 11:25. Stanwick tallied the score with his back to the goal and shot the ball over his right shoulder as he was being checked to the ground by the UNC defense. The shot cleared the pole and bounced between the legs of UNC goalie Chris Madalon.
North Carolina answered back with three-straight goals to cut its deficit going into the intermission, 5-3. Billy Bitter scored back-to-back unassisted goals at 11:02 and 9:34 in the second quarter. Jimmy Dunster then capped the UNC run at 7:59 via a Gavin Petracca score in the extra-man chance when UVa’s Bray Malphrus (Chevy Chase, Md.) was penalized for an illegal body-check on Bitter’s second score.
The Tar Heels cut its deficit to one goal, 5-4, when Cryder DiPietro opened up the third quarter scoring at 7:59 with his unassisted goal. Virginia ended the UNC scoring spree at the 4:04 mark when Stanwick found a wide-open Matt White (Ridgefield, Conn.) on the restart, pushing the UVa advantage to two goals, 6-4.
Chris Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.) capped UVa’s scoring for the game with his unassisted score at 11:27 left in the game, pushing the Cavalier advantage to 7-4. Michael Burns took a Sean Jackson pass with 3:35 remaining for the score, but it wasn’t enough as UVa rode out the clock to secure the 7-5 victory.
“We never really got on track offensively, but I give credit to Carolina for that,” said Starsia. “They are the best defensive team we have faced all year. We battled for 60 minutes, some days there isn’t a lot of magic happening and you need to fight it out when it happens. You run into these type of games in the conference more times than not. Certainly a good victory for us over a quality team.”
Bocklet added a game-high five ground balls, while causing three turnovers. Adam Ghitelman saved 12 shots, picking up the victory between the pipes.
Milton Lyles matched Bocklet’s game-high five ground balls for UNC, while Madalon saved 14 shots in goal despite allowing seven scores.
No. 2 Georgia Tech Evens Series With 9-7 Win Over No. 4 Virginia
Parker ties UVa career triples record in loss
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 4 Virginia baseball team dropped a 9-7 decision to No. 2 Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 4,219 at Davenport Field. The attendance figure tops the previous UVa school record which was set on Friday night. The series is now tied at a game apiece, with the rubber game set for noon Sunday.
Near-capacity crowds are once again anticipated on Sunday, and fans are encouraged to arrive early.
Virginia (26-7, 9-5 ACC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning, only to see Georgia Tech (27-4, 12-2) storm back to score the next nine runs. UVa got the potential winning run to the plate in the ninth inning before the Yellow Jackets closed out the game.
Virginia starting pitcher Robert Morey (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) worked five innings and pitched to the first batter in the sixth. Morey (4-2) allowed eight runs (seven) earned, eight hits and two walks while striking out four in taking the loss. Branden Kline (Fr., Frederick, Md.) pitched the final four innings and allowed just one unearned run as he kept the Cavaliers within striking distance.
Buck Farmer (3-1) pitched six strong innings of relief and held the Cavaliers in check as Georgia Tech made its comeback. He entered after starting pitcher Brandon Cumpton failed to retire any of the five batters he faced. Cumpton’s first 11 pitches were balls, and he walked four of the five batters. Andrew Robinson got the final six outs to record his second save.
Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) tied the UVa career record for triples with his fifth-inning triple. He now has 13 career triples, matching the school record set by Brian Buchanan (1992-94). Parker finished with two hits and two RBI. Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) and John Hicks (So., Sandy Hook, Va.) each had two hits, while Stephen Bruno (Fr., Audubon, N.J.) had a hit and two RBI as he pushed his hitting streak to 13 games.
Virginia scored four runs in the first inning. After Cumpton walked the first two batters, Bruno smacked a 3-2 pitch into left field for a single to score Gosselin. Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) and Dan Grovatt (Jr., Tabernacle, N.J.) then drew back-to-back walks to force in a run.
Farmer entered the game and gave up a two-run single to Hicks. UVa put runners at second and third with one out but were unable to do more damage.
In the second Virginia padded its lead on a Bruno groundout to score Gosselin, who led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on a Cannon ground-rule double to left. With one out Cannon stole third, but Farmer avoided more trouble when he struck out Grovatt and forced Hicks to ground to third baseman Matt Skole, who made a diving play and perfect throw to first to end the inning.
Morey gave up a leadoff single to Thomas Nichols in the third before recording two outs. Jeff Rowland singled off the glove of diving first baseman Kenny Swab (Jr., Kernersville, N.C.) before Derek Dietrich worked the count with several foul balls before crushing a three-run home run to pull the Yellow Jackets to within 5-3.
In the fifth Dietrich hit an RBI single to score Evan Martin and cut the lead to 5-4. On the next pitch Tony Plagman went opposite field with a three-home run just inside the left-field foul pole to give Georgia Tech a 7-5 lead.
The Yellow Jackets took advantage of UVa defensive lapses to double their lead in the sixth inning. With one out and runners at second and third, Martin grounded into a fielder’s choice to Proscia, who stepped on third base for one out but made an errant throw to first to allow Jacob Esch to move third. Martin moved to second on a passed ball and both runners scored on a Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.) fielding error at first base.
Virginia broke a five-inning scoreless drought with a seventh-inning run. With one out Hicks doubled down into the left-field corner and moved to third when Martin bobbled the ball. Hicks scored on a sacrifice fly by Parker.
The Cavaliers brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth before falling short. UVa pulled within two runs on Parker’s two-out RBI single, but Robinson forced Chris Taylor (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) to fly out to left field to end the game.
-UVA SID official releases
