Virginia senior midfielder Billy Glading is known primarily for his defense, but it will be the memory of his offensive skills which will haunt Duke and North Carolina for a long time to come.
Glading scored an overtime goal to lift No. 2 seed Virginia to a 13-12 victory Friday night against the No. 3 seed Tar Heels (5-6). He went on to tie a tournament record of five goals Sunday to help the Cavaliers win the ACC tournament with a 12-6 win over No. 4 seed Duke (8-6) at Klöckner Stadium.
With the victory, Virginia extends its winning streak to four games and improves to 9-2 overall. The triumph also gives Virginia possession of the conference crown for the first time since 2000. Glading took tournament MVP honors for his performance.
"This really means a lot to us," junior goalie Tillman Johnson said. "Personally, I've never won anything in my life playing lacrosse. I've really been looking forward to winning at least something, and I think this is a real happy day for all of us."
Virginia jumped out to an early 3-1 advantage over the Blue Devils on a trio of tallies from Glading, but Duke quickly tied the score with two early second quarter goals. Duke midfielder Matt Zash moved past Virginia midfielder Trey Whitty to score on a diving low shot to the left side and give the Blue Devils their first lead of the day with 9:15 left in the second quarter.
The Cavaliers would not let the Blue Devils hold onto their lead for long. A sidearm bullet to the right side from freshman midfielder Kyle Dixon tied the score with just under two minutes to play. Dixon's goal was followed by another when sophomore attackman John Christmas came around from behind the net to score with 5:55 left in the half and give Virginia a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the afternoon.
"We were getting out in transition early on against them," Duke coach Mike Pressler said. "The game of lacrosse is a momentum game though, and goals come in strings and bunches, and Virginia just had a little bit more than us in the second half"
The Cavaliers began to pull away in the third quarter, grabbing a 7-4 lead on Glading's fourth goal of the afternoon, a low sidearm bounce shot to the right side. Senior midfielder A.J. Shannon scored three goals in the third and fourth quarter to help Virginia push their lead to 12-5.
Duke's Matt Rewkowski found the back of the Virginia net with 1:21 remaining to break a 16-minute long scoring drought for the Blue Devils but it was too little too late. The Cavaliers succeeded in shutting down the Duke offense throughout the second half.
"We played a little zone at the end of the third quarter, and we sort of felt like we found a little chink there," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "I felt like we could drop in and play a zone and defend them effectively for the rest of the game if we had to. They kind of hurt us off the dodge and going to a zone helps to take that threat away."
The Virginia defense had much more trouble in the semifinal against the Tar Heels, who were able to fire 30 shots on goal. It was Johnson's career-high 18 saves, including several spectacular stops during one-on-one situations, which kept the Cavaliers in the game.
Virginia appeared to be in control against the Tar Heels, holding a 12-9 lead with under three minutes remaining, but North Carolina scored three goals before time expired to force overtime.
The Tar Heels had the ball with a man-advantage after Virginia freshman Matt Ward was called for a 30-second pushing penalty, but freshman attackman Ryan Blair stepped out-of-bounds with the ball, giving the Cavaliers possession.
Virginia took advantage of the opportunity, as freshman attackman Joe Yevolli found an open Glading in front of the goal. Glading easily found the back of the net to send Virginia to the championship game. Duke upset No. 1 seed Maryland, 7-6, in the other semifinal Friday night.
The two victories move the Cavaliers to 9-0 when scoring 10 goals or more and 6-1 at home this season. Virginia will finish off its regular season schedule with two more games at Klockner next weekend, against No. 18 Penn State and Denver.
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