The University of Virginia escaped with a 10-9 victory surviving a furious rally from Long Island’s Stony Brook University. The hosting and #8th seeded Seawolves played with a lot of passion and heart. The Hoos were heavy favorites, but made many unusual, and uncharacteristic mistakes throughout the game.
The #1 seeded Wahoos never trailed in the game, but the Seawolves tied things up 4 separate times. Virginia looked tired and out of sorts at many times in the game.
Virginia was led by attackman Chris Bocklet who scored 3 goals and had 2 assists. Shamel Bratton also added 3 goals on 4 shots. Virginia’s goalie Adam Ghitelman, who at times played splendidly, and other times looked quite beatable, made 13 saves.
Stony Brook’s rowdy and raucous student body absolutely inspired the play of their team this afternoon. The attendance was announced at a little over 10,000, which is quite a bit more than would fit at UVA’s Klockner Stadium! Along with Baltimore, Washington D.C. , and Upstate New York, Long Island is one of the great lacrosse Meccas. Virginia has nine players on their roster from Long Island.
Virginia was outshot by Stony Brook 36-29. The Sea Wolves also dominated the faceoffs in a huge way coming away with and 18-5 advantage. Stony Brook showed amazing toughness by their center middies today. I’m not sure I have ever seen a game that had more excruciatingly long faceoffs in all my years watching lacrosse! Virginia was also out hustled on ground balls as the Sea Wolves won that battle 32-28.
Stony Brook’s outstanding Junior middie Kevin Crowley, who hails from British Columbia, Canada, added 2 goals and one assist on only 3 shots. Attackman Kyle Belton, who is also from British Columbia, chipped in 2 goals in the losing effort.
The Hoos will play their arch nemesis and 5th seeded Duke in the National Semi-finals on Saturday, May 29th in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium. The game will either be played at 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. Virginia was 1-1 against the dreaded Blue Devils this season with the Hoos coming out on top in their last meeting in the ACC Tournament 16-12. Earlier this season, Virginia lost to Duke in Charlottesville 13-9 in a game that was not nearly as close as the final tally.
Go Hoos!
