Despite the fact that Virginia men's lacrosse has beaten North Carolina 41 times dating back to 1938, Saturday's 15-9 drubbing of the Tar Heels will always hold a special place in the history books.
The win, which boosted the Cavaliers' record to 8-1 overall, also was coach Dom Starsia's 138th victory at the University, making him the most successful men's lacrosse coach in school history.
Starsia moved into first place after passing Jim "Ace" Adams, head coach from 1978-1992.
"I think guys knew [the record was coming up] in the back of their heads, but no one brought it up all week," junior Matt Poskay said. "It's a very prestigious honor for him to have, and I'm just lucky to be part of this win and part of this team."
Breaking from their early-season tendency to start off slowly, the Cavaliers came out firing from the opening face-off. The team netted 10 goals in the first half and largely was able to control North Carolina's Jed Prossner, the ACC's leader in goals scored.
Virginia's John Christmas, Ben Rubeor, Matt Ward and Poskay each had two goals apiece before halftime. Christmas, the ACC Player of the Week who has scored at least three points in every game this season, added two assists to top off his blazing start from behind the cage.
"It was a nice day, we came out here, Kyle [Dixon] had a nice shot to get it started and we just kept on rolling," Christmas said.
Other Cavaliers were glad the team finally had caught a break after getting off to slow starts over the past few weeks.
"We didn't change anything -- we just put the ball in the net to start the game," Poskay said. "We have been struggling early, but we just keep playing our game, and eventually they're going to fall like they did today."
In the third quarter, however, the Tar Heels seemed to get a breath of air, out-scoring the Cavaliers 5-3, including two early goals less than 15 seconds apart.
"Teams are always going to rally back, especially in the ACC, because they're all good," Christmas said. "It got pretty close, but we knew we could count on scoring, so we weren't too worried."
Rubeor took it upon himself to get the Cavaliers back on track late in the third quarter, driving from the left side of the cage before ripping a shot into the top corner.
Junior Kyle Dixon followed Rubeor's goal with one of his own, a laser beam from 20 feet out.
Virginia continued to pepper North Carolina's goalie with shots into the fourth quarter, sealing the game for good. After two final goals from Poskay and Ward, the Cavaliers worked the ball around until time expired.
While it was not quite as heart-pounding as other games this season, Saturday's contest helped the Cavaliers prepare for a tough upcoming week.
The team will host Denver Thursday, a game that was postponed from the beginning of the season, and later will travel south to face Duke, the second-ranked team in the country.
Luckily for the Cavaliers, Starsia knows a little bit about winning tough games like these. After all, he already has 138 of them under his belt.
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