The Virginia men's lacrosse team emerged victorious Saturday against Stony Brook without Ben Rubeor, who leads the team in points this season. Even without one of their leaders, the third-ranked Cavaliers blew out Stony Brook 17-4 in an all-around stellar performance on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the Cavaliers were able to spread the ball around. Eight different Cavaliers scored a goal, including four by senior captain Matt Ward and another three by both senior midfielder Matt Poskay and freshman attacker Garrett Billings.
In the past, Virginia has had some trouble getting off to a quick lead. This time, though, there was no such problem as the team scored three goals in the first six minutes of the game. Stony Brook responded with two quick goals to make the score 3-2 with 6:11 to go in the first quarter. Kyle Dixon was able to respond in less than a minute, scoring the first of his two goals with 5:25 remaining in the quarter. He would also add three assists in his best game of the season. The offense reeled off nine more goals before Stony Brook was finally able to respond early in the fourth quarter.
"We moved the ball around, and we started to finish our shots," Poskay said. "At halftime we looked pretty good in terms of shots and saves -- they have a great goalie but putting the ball on the cage makes it harder for him."
Perhaps more impressive than the offensive firepower was the defensive effort put forth by Virginia. The Cavaliers denied passes, captured the ground balls and did not allow the Seawolves to get off any good shots. Stony Brook went on a scoring drought of 36:06, which all but sealed the victory for Virginia. After the game, defensive captain Michael Culver was impressed with the progression of his unit.
"Stony Brook had one of the top-ranked offenses coming into this game," Culver said. "Everybody worked as a group today, and we're molding as a defense."
Virginia's dominance can be seen in two key categories: shots and ground balls. Virginia had twice as many shots on goal as the Seawolves (53-25) and had a huge advantage in ground balls, 63-44.
The lone bright spot for Stony Brook was the play of Jason Cappadoro. The senior, who is the current NCAA leader among active players in career assists, added two more to his total, along with the goal that broke the Seawolves offensive futility. Though Cappadoro's efforts would be a solid game for most players, Virginia was able to limit his touches and deny him the full ability to make big plays.
With the win, Virginia improves to 3-0 on the season and will continue its four-game home stand tomorrow afternoon against VMI. The Keydets are 0-1 after dropping their season opener to Hartford 13-10. If Virginia can get a total team performance like they did on Saturday, the Cavaliers will be a tough team for anyone to beat.
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