Following the programs worst loss in 47 years, a 17-2 loss at Duke Saturday, the Virginia men's lacrosse team bounced back Sunday to defeat Denver 9-6 at Klöckner Stadium.
Paced by three goals from junior midfielder Matt Poskay and two from junior attackman Matt Ward, the Cavaliers avenged last season's 9-7 loss at the hands of the Pioneers -- although it wasn't easy by any means.
Denver struck first when a third Matt, Matt Brown, faked out Virginia goalie Kip Turner for the goal and the lead.
Ward evened the score at one apiece with a goal from the crease.
Following two more goals by Virginia, Denver used a three-goal run of their own to take a 4-3 halftime lead.
Ward credited the flat start to a combination of factors.
"I think you can attribute that to the short time [between the two games] and also getting whopped up on yesterday," Ward said.
Luckily for Virginia, the sloppy play that plagued it in the first half disappeared in the second, although the Pioneers didn't go down without a fight.
To start the third quarter, the teams traded three goals over a one-and-a-half-minute span, ending when Virginia senior midfielder Hunter Kass tied the game at 5-5 with 9:32 remaining in the third.
Kass's rocket shot from 15 yards out set the stage for Ward's goal one minute later from the right side of the goal, that gave the Cavaliers the lead for good at 6-5. With the home crowd and the lead back on their side, the Cavaliers showed new life.
For Virginia coach Dom Starsia, the minor comeback spoke volumes.
"As the game wore on we seemed to get a little more energy and show a little bit more resolve," Starsia said. "We reached down and found something I wasn't sure we had. This is the first game that we really had a little bit of a gut-check in the second half. We showed some real courage."
While it took a team effort to earn the victory, it was Poskay who was able to put the finishing touches on the win for Virginia, scoring the team's last three goals of the night. It was the Denver defense, who unlike Duke, slid to cover the Cavaliers dangerous attackmen, which opened up opportunities for Virginia's cutting midfielders to get in on the scoring action.
Ward may have stepped up, but fellow attackman John Christmas had no impact on the outcome, besides his one assist. Entering this weekend, Christmas had won the ACC Player of the Week Award for the past two weeks but took only two shots against Denver and repeatedly backed off rather than shoot when faced with one-on-one matchups close to the goal.
It was only one victory, but, following Saturday's debacle which earned Duke the ACC regular season Championship and No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament, it was unbelievably necessary.
"Knowing we have two weeks off now, that would have been a tough thing to stomach coming off two straight losses," Ward said. "Today was a big win for us, and we needed it to get back on track for the ACC tournament." With its 2-1 record in ACC play, Virginia received the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament and will face Maryland in the second semifinal on April 29th at 8 p.m. in Baltimore.
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