Connor Shellenberger had just finished getting past Maryland defensemen Nick Grill, jolting around x and whipping a quick shot to the top left corner of the net past goalie Logan McNaney to give Virginia a 15-11 lead in the fourth quarter, when the Twitter went ablaze.
The heat off of Shellenberger’s stick was matched by the chatter on social media.
“Connor Shellenberger is @PremierLacrosse ready as a freshman…” tweeted Archers LC star Grant Ament.
“Seems like they’re cheating,” tweeted Barstool Big Cat when asked to analyze Shellenberger’s game.
“Connor Shellenberger is gonna be a superstar at UVA,” wrote Matt Hagy.
Shellenberger’s fourth goal ignited the Virginia sideline on the north side of Rentschler Field, and the fans that lined the stands with orange behind him. It gave the Cavaliers their first four-goal lead of the game, and many believed was the breathing room they needed to cruise to a second straight national title.
Maryland made its comeback and almost forced overtime in the final seconds — in one of the most frantic finishes in the history of the national championship game — but when the confetti settled on the field and stands, the attention shifted back to Shellenberger, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Children lined the stands near the Virginia bench and by the Cavaliers’ tunnel, shouting the names of star players for the back-to-back champions.
“Connor! Connor!” could be heard throughout the celebration.
Shellenberger dropped four goals and two assists in Virginia’s national championship victory — the Cavaliers’ second in a row, but his first, as a redshirt freshman. He finishes his run in the NCAA tournament with 24 points on 14 goals and 10 assists — by far his best four-game span of the 2021 season.
Virginia’s leading scorer isn’t the next superstar at Charlottesville. He already is a superstar, and he delivered the best game of his young career when his team needed it.
"He's emerged,” said coach Lars Tiffany. “He was a really good player down in Charlottesville, Virginia, and now the rest of the world is being able to see here in the month of May. He's one of the best in the game, period.”
Against a vaunted Maryland defense, Shellenberger found shooting lanes and made the Terps pay.
“We kind of have this stereotype as an offense that we play hero ball, but we really do whatever the defense dictates us to do,” he said. “We took it as a challenge and we don't want to back down from Maryland's defense, we wanted to go right at them, so that was kind of our mindset going into today.”
His fourth goal may not have even been his most impressive. Shellenberger took a pass from Matt Moore and blasted a stepdown shot to the top left corner to tie the gamer at 4-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Then, he shifted his hips, turned, and absolutely blistered the top left corner, nearside, to give the Cavaliers the 7-4 lead in the second quarter. In the third quarter, he backed down Grill on an inside roll near the crease, created space for himself, and beat McNaney high to make it 13-11.
His fourth goal was the tip of the iceberg for Cavaliers’ fans and casual observers alike. What they were watching wasn’t just a talented freshman stepping up on the big stage — it was a coronation of potentially Division I men’s lacrosse next unstoppable force.
“Connor is one of the best players I've ever seen and he's also an amazing kid which makes it even better,” said Alex Rode, who made the final save with seconds left. “I'm so happy for him and I can't wait to see what he does next as the face of this program coming up.”
Shellenberger was a senior at St. Anne’s-Belfield (Va.) when the Cavaliers won the 2019 championship, watching and hoping he could one day experience the same thing. He was in the stands at M&T Bank Stadium when Virginia took down Maryland to win the 2011 national title.
Inside Lacrosse’s No. 1 recruit was ready to make his college debut in 2020, but Tiffany chose to redshirt Shellenberger — a decision that may have paid off given the season ended in mid-march due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He worked on the scout team, giving an experienced Virginia defense fits in their game preparation. His teammates knew what he could bring to the college game, he just had to wait a year to do so.
“We've known he's this good,” said fifth-year senior Jared Conners. “Last year, he was on the scout team and he was absolutely tearing us apart, and we were like, this kid is really going to redshirt?”
The redshirt freshman made his collegiate debut with a four-goal, three-assist effort against Towson on Feb. 6 in front of 250 family and fans. A little less than four months later, Shellenberger scored four more goals, this time in front of over 14,000.
“I remember redshirting and you have a thousand thoughts in your head like what are people going to think, are you good enough to play here, and then kind of to validate yourself but also the rest of your team and this program and where we're going with this thing,” Shellenberger said. “It's definitely pretty cool.”
“I'm the not-so-smart coach who wanted to redshirt him last year, and of course everyone got last year back but he could have played six games before the COVID shutdown,” Tiffany said. “How lucky am I and how lucky is Sean [Kirwan] and Kip [Turner]. We got that guy for three more years.”