Brown overcame a six-goal deficit and a marvelous performance by Virginia’s Matt Moore to upset the sixth-ranked Cavaliers 14-13 on Sunday, spoiling Lars Tiffany’s return to Providence.
The Bears, coming off consecutive overtime losses, trailed 8-2 late in the second quarter. Jack Kniffin and Ryan Aughavin scored 22 seconds apart to ignite the offense, then Brown exploded for eight goals in the third quarter to take a 12-10 lead.
After Virginia tied it at 12, Colby Gendron scored the go-ahead goal with 6:17 remaining. Aughavin scored on an empty net with 42 seconds left, but the Cavaliers roared right back, as Moore took a feed at the point from faceoff man Justin Schwenk and deposited his seventh goal of the game to make it 14-13.
Schwenk won the ensuing faceoff as well, but Moore turned the ball over out of a timeout and the Bears hung on for the one-goal win.
“Easy game right? Never in doubt?” Brown coach Mike Daly joked afterward on the ESPN+ broadcast of the game. “That took a couple of years off the [life] expectancy.”
BRUNO!@BrownLacrosse upsets Virginia 14-13 in Lars Tiffany’s return to Providence. Bears erased an 8-2 deficit in a run-and-gun thriller that saw the teams combine 100 shots and 33 saves. pic.twitter.com/Nya7p9udFB
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 8, 2020
The game marked the first between Brown and Virginia since Tiffany left for Charlottesville after leading the Bears to the 2016 NCAA semifinals. The Cavaliers won the NCAA championship last year in Tiffany’s third season. He spent 10 seasons at Brown, his alma mater.
Daly, hired as Tiffany’s successor, is an NCAA championship-winning coach in his own right, having led Tufts to three Division III titles. The Bears (3-2) were bolstered by 16 saves from All-American goalie Phil Goss and some unanticipated production from Gendron, the 6-foot-7 sophomore midfielder who equaled his career total with two goals.
“We just gave Colby the game ball,” Daly said. “He’s been injured and hasn’t really had the impact he wanted and the team needed. Today, he stepped up in a big way.”
For Virginia (4-2), it was a tale of two halves and a disappointment considering Moore’s monstrous game. He added three assists to his seven goals for a game-high 10 points. Goalie Alex Rode made 17 saves.
The Cavaliers outshot the Bears 54-46, as the two teams lived up to their run-and-gun reputations, combining for 100 shots.
CORNELL OVER PENN STATE IN A CLASSIC
Cornell’s 18-17 win over Penn State in the Crown Lacrosse Classic had it all, and it had some fantasizing about what a rematch might look like in May.
Jeff Teat scored the game-tying goal with 18 seconds left and faceoff man Angelo Petrakis scored the winner with 8 seconds left, as No. 9 Cornell remained unbeaten.
No. 1 Penn State rallied from a nine-goal deficit to take the lead late in the fourth-quarter, but could not hold on. Read more here.
DREXEL UPENDS VILLANOVA
The Villanova buzz saw hit an unanticipated snag Sunday, as Drexel scored the last four goals to defeat the 17th-ranked Wildcats 15-12 in the Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic at Saint Joseph’s.
Reid Bowering scored six goals for the Dragons (3-3), who coughed up a four-goal lead and trailed 12-11 with 6:30 remaining before their game-ending flurry. Bowering assisted Casey Waller for the tying goal and Jack Mulcahy finished a Matt Varian feed for the game-winner. A man-up goal by Aidan Coll and Bowering’s seventh tally iced the upset.
Villanova (4-3) was without starting goalie Will Vitton in the second half after he took a hit at the end of the second quarter. Brendan Haggerty played the final 30 minutes between the pipes. Drexel snapped a four-game Wildcats winning streak that included victories over two top-10 teams in Maryland and Penn, the latter coming in the Philly 4 opener Friday.
PENN SURVIVES AT ST. JOE’S
Patrick Burkinshaw made 17 saves, Adam Goldner scored five goals and both came up huge in the final minute as No. 10 Penn defeated No. 20 Saint Joseph’s 13-12 in the Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic finale Sunday in Philadelphia.
Neither team led by more than two goals through the entirety of the closely contested game. Saint Joseph’s goalie Mike Adler, who made 20 saves in the Hawks’ win over Drexel on Friday, made another 19 saves Sunday against the Quakers.
After Adler’s 19th save, however, Goldner collected the rebound and scored the game-winning goal with 48 seconds remaining.
Penn’s Kyle Gallagher, who went 21-for-27, committed a violation on the ensuing faceoff and Goldner got a delay-of-game penalty, giving Saint Joseph’s (5-2) a chance to tie it. With Burkinshaw closing the gap, Levi Anderson hit the post and then Ryan Doran missed wide as the Quakers (2-3) held on to win.
Saint Joseph’s faceoff specialist Zach Cole (75.6 percent this season) did not play due to injury.
Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20
No. 9 Cornell 18, No. 1 Penn State 17
Brown 14, No. 6 Virginia 13
No. 10 Penn 13, No. 20 Saint Joseph’s 12
Drexel 15, No. 17 Villanova 12
Other Scores
Air Force 15, Canisius 11