The Virginia men’s lacrosse team used a fourth quarter comprised of eight unanswered points to vault itself to a 13-6 victory against Dartmouth Saturday.
“We haven’t played offense well for a month,” senior attackman Garret Billings said, “even in [this] whole game, except for the fourth quarter.”
It was senior day at Klöckner Stadium, and the Cavaliers (13-1, 2-1 ACC) found themselves in a 5-5 tie at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Lackluster play had the Cavaliers down 5-3 at halftime. Even after a slightly more inspiring third quarter, Virginia only managed to pull even with the Big Green (4-9) heading into the final period.
“We weren’t playing smart in the first half,” senior attackman Danny Glading said. “We told ourselves at halftime that we got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. I think we were sulking the past couple of weeks instead of doing.”
With 13 minutes remaining in regulation and with their team down by one goal, Billings and Glading ignited an offensive explosion. The two connected first when Glading got the ball to Billings, who was undefended eight yards from the cage. Billings put a shot in the back of the net that tied the score at six apiece. The senior duo was not done, though. Just more than a minute later, after a quick restart behind the cage, Glading found Billings again. This time, Billings was just in front of the right pipe with a defender on his hip. As his momentum from the cut carried him behind the cage, the only shot the Canadian native could manage was a behind-the-back shot that Dartmouth goalie freshman Fergus Campbell could not stop.
“That might be one of my favorite goals that Danny and I have hooked up for,” Billings said.
The two scores initiated by the pair of Terwaarton Trophy nominees were just the start of Virginia’s 8-0 run in the final period.
Another senior who excelled in the fourth quarter was midfielder Chad Gaudet. During the first half, faceoffs were a clear problem for the Cavaliers.
“The single answer to the first half was that we didn’t win a faceoff,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “They would have long possessions on offense and the hardest thing to do in college lacrosse is to come down on offense after you haven’t had it for a long time and work to get a good shot. I thought we were sloppy and impatient in the first half.”
The Cavaliers only managed to win one of the 10 faceoffs during the first two quarters of the game. Gaudet, who attended undergraduate school at Dartmouth, drastically upped his performance level in the fourth quarter, winning six of the first seven faceoffs. Overall, Virginia had an 80 percent faceoff percentage in the last quarter.
When all was said and done, Virginia finished its regular season with a win and a 13-1 record. A trio of hat tricks from Billings, junior midfielder Brian Carroll and senior midfielder Steve Giannone led to a win that seemed to honor the commitment and accomplishments of the Cavaliers’ nine seniors.
“It couldn’t have been a better senior day,” senior defenseman Matt Kelly said.
With its regular season complete, Virginia is now set for a rematch against Duke this weekend in the first round of the ACC tournament.
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