Tomorrow's men's lacrosse matchup between the ACC's top two teams promises excitement as the Cavaliers (5-1, 0-0 ACC) travel to College Park, Md., to take on the Terrapins (6-1, 1-1).
The No. 2 Cavaliers are coming off an impressive 12-6 rout of Johns Hopkins, who was ranked first in the nation at the time. The victory extends the Cavaliers' current winning streak to four, and they will look to make it five this Saturday against the No. 5 Terrapins.
The Cavaliers have already faced all of the teams who made last year's Final Four in the NCAA tournament. They emerged from that series with an impressive three wins, and their only loss came in a bitter 15-13 loss to Syracuse, who is now ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Instead of resting on their laurels after the impressive Johns Hopkins win, the Cavaliers realize that they must focus on the immediate future, since defeating the Terrapins will be no easy task.
"We've looked at them already," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "This is the start of our ACC schedule and we'll have our hands full with Maryland. You have to prepare properly for every game."
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Maryland comes into the game boasting its own four-game winning streak. The Terrapins are undefeated at home this season. They had an impressive 15-10 win over Towson on March 9to avenge their loss to the Tigers in the NCAA quarterfinals last year.
The Cavaliers have proved this year that freshmen do not just sit on the bench and pray for playing time.
Virginia's leading scorers are freshmen Joe Yevoli with 17 goals and John Christmas with 12. Christmas is tied with senior attackman Conor Gill for the team lead with 20 points.
In an amazing seven-point performance against Johns Hopkins, Christmas scored the game's first goal en route to a three-goal, four-assist performance that earned him ACC player of the week honors.
Rather than being intimidated in his first year, Yevoli has said he looks forward to the challenge of a top ranked team.
"We've played so many good teams before" playing Johns Hopkins, Yevoli said. "And we've played in some close games, too, which has really helped us."
History is inconclusive in picking the winner in this matchup. Of the 68 games between the two teams, the Cavaliers have lost 39, which is second only to the Cavaliers' 51 losses to Johns Hopkins. However, when these teams met last year, the Terrapins came in as the nation's first-ranked team but were held to an embarrassing two goals as they were routed by the seventh-ranked Cavaliers, 7-2.
The only team that both the Terrapins and the Cavaliers have played this year has been Towson, and both Virginia and Maryland won their respective games by a margin of five goals.
In addition to its four-game winning streak this season, Virginia also has won four straight games over the Terrapins, dating back to 1999. The Cavaliers hope to continue their recent success, both overall and against Maryland, on Saturday.
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