The surging Virginia men’s lacrosse team punctuated the first round of NCAA tournament games Saturday with an emphatic 19-10 win over Robert Morris in Charlottesville, Va.
Mikey Herring scored a career-high six goals, Ryan Conrad added a career-high five goals, and Matt Moore doled out a career-high seven assists in a thoroughly dominant effort by the Cavaliers, who advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2012.
Virginia, the ACC champion, will play either Towson or Maryland next Saturday in Hempstead, N.Y., with a chance to get back to the final four for the first time since winning it all under Dom Starsia in 2011.
The wet conditions at Klockner Stadium contributed to a slow and sloppy start, but once the Cavaliers got going, there was no stopping them. Virginia doubled up Robert Morris on shots 56-28. After faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla left the game in the first quarter, Justin Schwenk came on in relief and was stellar, going 22-for-28.
Michael Kraus added three goals and three assists for Virginia. Moore scored two goals and Conrad snared seven ground balls as part of their big nights.
Alex Heger made 16 saves in the loss for Robert Morris, which was in the tournament by virtue of its Northeast Conference championship. The Colonials had won eight straight games after staring the season 1-7.