Virginia beats Maryland 11-10 in ACC Lacrosse Tournament

Posted Saturday, April 28, 2007

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Durham, NC – Second-seed Virginia used a 6-2 surge in the second and third quarters en route to an 11-10 win over third-seed Maryland in the opening round of the 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. The Cavaliers (12-2) got three goals and two assists from junior Ben Rubeor, while Dan Groot netted four goals and added an assist for the Terrapins (9-5).

Virginia opened the scoring 40 seconds into the contest with a goal by Jack Riley. Riley took a pass from behind the cage by Garrett Billings and ripped a shot from 15 yards out into the top of the net. Maryland answered with four straight goals to take a 4-1 lead. Michael Phipps started the run with a goal at the 13:07 mark with Bryn Holmes assisting on the play.

Groot added an unassisted goal at the 8:18 mark and Jeremy Sieverts scored off a pass from Thomas Alford at the 7:38 mark to give the Terrapins a two-goal edge. Chris Feifs capped off the four-goal run with an extra-man goal with 2:17 remaining in the opening quarter.

Virginia countered with two goals from Ben Rubeor in a 29 second span. The Towson, Md., native scored off a pass from Drew Thompson at the 1:48 mark and added an unassisted goal with 1:19 remaining to trim the Maryland lead to 4-3 after one quarter.

Maryland took the opening faceoff of the second quarter and moved ahead 5-3 on Groot’s second goal of the day. Phipps assisted on the play. Virginia countered with three straight goals beginning with a Steve Giannone goal off a pass from Rubeor at the 13:22 mark. Rubeor assisted on an extra-man goal by Danny Glading with 11:20 remaining in the quarter and scored an unassisted goal at the 6:47 mark to give the Cavaliers a 6-5 edge.

The Terrapins responded with a goal from Brian Farrell off a Joe Cinosky pass with 5:54 left in the half to tie the contest at 6-6. Riley and Billings connected for their second scoring play of the day just over 40 seconds later to give Virginia a 7-6 lead that it carried into the half.

The Cavaliers came off in the third period and dominated the action scoring two goals and limiting Maryland to five shots on goal. Billings gave Virginia an 8-6 lead with an unassisted goal at the 10:09 mark and Giannone tacked on another Cavalier goal with 2:30 left in the period.

Virginia pushed its lead to 10-6 just under five minutes into the final quarter on an unassisted goal from Ryan Kelly. Maryland countered with an unassisted goal by Phipps (9:38) and an extra-man goal by Groot (7:01) to trim the deficit to 10-8. Virginia moved ahead 11-8 with 5:13 left in the contest on a goal by Brian Carroll off a pass from Danny Glading.

Maryland trimmed the deficit to 11-9 with 2:04 remaining on an Alford goal with Groot assisting on the play. The Terrapins added an extra-man goal by Groot at the 1:21 mark with Max Ritz assisting on the play. Maryland won the ensuing faceoff but Virginia goalie Kip Turner saved a shot by Groot with just under a minute left and the Cavaliers ran out the clock to secure the 11-10 win.

Virginia posted a 41-39 edge in shots in the contest and held a 17-8 advantage in faceoffs. Turner finished with nine saves, while Maryland goalie Harry Alford also had nine stops.

Billings (1 goal, 2 assists) and Riley (2 goals, 1 assist) each had three point games for the Cavalier, while Giannone added a pair of goals and Glading had a goal and an assist. The Virginia bench came up with eight goals and three assists in the contest.

Phipps finished with three points on two goals and an assist, while Alford and Sieverts each had a goal and an assist for the Terrapins. Ritz added a pair of assists in the loss.

Virginia advances on to play Duke in the ACC Championship game on Sunday, April 29. The title game begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised live by Fox Sports Net.