Sign up for the latest news & updates

© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.

Four days after Virginia suffered its first loss of the season to Syracuse, the No. 6 Cavaliers got back on track and stymied an upset bid from High Point. 

Matt Moore bounced back with three goals and two assists, nine different players scored and Alex Rode clamped down late for Virginia (4-1) during a chaotic finish to preserve a 12-11 win on Wednesday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium. 

“That one stung and I think this was a great opportunity to just put that one behind us,” Moore said, referencing the 20-10 loss at Syracuse. “Obviously we learned from it. We watched the film and took our medicine, as coach would say.” 

Faced with a 12-8 deficit in the fourth quarter after Connor Shellenberger assisted Ian Laviano on the crease, High Point (1-3) mounted a late comeback. The Panthers held the Cavaliers scoreless over the final 12-plus minutes and went on a three-goal run. Freshman Brayden Mayea (two goals) scored the last of those goals at the final buzzer, but the outcome was already determined.

The matchup between two teams that each absorbed lopsided losses over the weekend proved much more compelling than their previous contests. That’s become the norm for this series, of which Virginia has now four of seven meetings. 

“This is never going to be an easy opponent to play,” UVA head coach Lars Tiffany said.  

Virginia raced out to a 6-1 lead in the first quarter on a pair of three-goal runs. A couple days after his 29-game goal streak was snapped in the 20-10 defeat at Syracuse, Moore first returned to the scoring column with a time and room shot from 12 yards. 

Seven seconds later, faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla, who went 11-for-17 at the faceoff X, scored his 12th career goal to extend the Cavaliers’ lead to 5-1. Freshman defenseman Ben Wayer punctuated the Cavaliers’ impressive start with an exclamation point in transition. It was his first collegiate goal.

High Point, which fell 27-12 to North Carolina on Saturday, flipped the script in the second quarter. The Panthers mounted a five-goal run that started with a pole goal of their own from senior Clayton Krol and was followed five seconds later with a tally from a faceoff specialist AJ Kiernan.

After a loose ball scrum, senior attackman Asher Nolting (one goal, two assists, 12 turnovers) found Lynchburg grad transfer Kevin Rogers (two goals, one assist) near the crease to cut Virginia's lead to 6-4. Nolting tied the score at 6 with 7:32 to play in the second quarter after forcing his way to the goal with an inside roll dodge during a man-up opportunity. 

“It’s a tribute to Jon Torpey and the way he builds his teams, his men,” Tiffany said about High Point’s comeback. “They’re not intimidated by anyone, and they made some nice adjustments with their offense.”

Virginia carried their momentum from a Xander Dickson goal with less than a second to play in the first half after the break. The Cavaliers outscored High Point 3-1 in the third quarter to take an 11-7 lead. Moore had a hand in each goal in the period. While he left the game in the fourth quarter with what the ACC Network broadcast team speculated was a cramp, he later returned to action. 

“We all knew he was going to come out and have a good game today,” Tiffany said. “It was personal for him when he goes [without a goal] as he did in the Syracuse game. He’s a competitor, and he’s a great lacrosse player. Really excited to see the way he bounced back today.”

Despite High Point’s 4-1 advantage in the fourth and the turbulent ending (the teams combined for 52 turnovers), Alex Rode sealed the win with six saves in the final period. He made several in the last couple minutes. Those stops — and Rode’s 17 total saves (.607 save percentage) — don’t include the Nolting pass he intercepted with 19 seconds to play. 

“He’s back, and he’s in great form,” Tiffany said of Rode, who was the Most Outstanding Player during Virginia’s 2019 championship run and was unavailable for UVA’s wins earlier this season over Army and Loyola due to COVID-19 protocols. “Boy, were we leaning on him in those final five, six minutes when we were hanging onto that two-goal lead. Alex is our goalie, and we’re really grateful for his ability to make a lot of saves.” 

Although a subsequent turnover led to Mayea’s buzzer-beating goal, Virginia endured the late surge to get back in the win column. 

“After Syracuse, we saw so many glaring mistakes, especially on the defensive end,” said senior defenseman Kyle Kology, who collected five ground balls and caused a career-high five turnovers while tasked with guarding Nolting. “We saw a lot of holes and tried to patch them up in this game. I think we did a really great job of it.”

While the Cavaliers return to play on Saturday at home against Air Force, High Point will have to wait a week before traveling to Durham next Wednesday to take on No. 1 Duke for the Panthers’ third matchup against a top-10 team in as many games.