A frustrating Final Four defeat over Memorial Day weekend is still fresh for the Cavaliers. Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier are gone. They were two of the greatest players in school history — and a majority of the Virginia offensive power. Now the duo plays for the New York Atlas, leaving a gigantic void worth a combined 162 points scored in 2024.
Rising sophomore McCabe Millon is the only notable returning attackman and posted 41 goals and 25 assists in a stellar freshman campaign, but that will not be enough. To replace the production of those Cavalier legends, Coach Lars Tiffany and company worked hard to win through recruiting, and in the end, Virginia acquired a star-studded 2024 recruiting class of playmakers on offense to supplement Millon — through three similar versions of him.
Incoming freshman Ryan Duenkel is regarded as one of, if not the best, attack recruit in the country. A consensus five-star recruit out of Washington, D.C., he stands at 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, but he is lightning fast and has registered gaudy goal-scoring numbers reminiscent of Cormier. Kyle Colsey — brother of current Cavalier Ryan Colsey — is also a consensus five-star recruit and is considered to be a top-five recruit across the nation. The sharpshooting lefty checks in at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, similarly to Millon, who is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds. In this trio of elite talent, none are over six feet tall, and none are over 200 pounds. However, all three are incredibly quick, creative and can take over a game with a flash of goals at any second.
As talented as the group of Shellenberger, Cormier and Millon was, all three players had very different skill sets. Shellenberger operated best in plenty of space or behind the goalkeeper, while Cormier was optimal at point-blank range. A smaller attackman like Millon — as well as Duenkel and Kyle Colsey — can provide more opportunities to dissect a defense that plays with aggressive man coverage such as Maryland, the team that eliminated Virginia in the 2024 Final Four. Millon, Duenkel and Colsey are essentially clones of each other — a modern, smaller attackman with the speed to quickly score in transition as well as the ability to somehow always be open, even against handsy defenders.
This attack of Millon clones will lead the Cavalier offense, but even more help is on the way. Sean Browne from Dallas is yet another incoming five-star attackman. At 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds, his play style is different from Millon and company but harkens comparisons to a former Virginia legend and current professional teammate of Shellenberger and Cormier — Xander Dickson. A move to midfield could be necessary to receive playing time because of a crowded attack group, but that could also prove difficult as the No. 6 recruit in the country, Hudson Hausmann, is joining the Cavaliers at midfield with the ability to contribute on both offense and defense.
The Virginia offense works best when there is an abundance of scoring talent. The 2024 team was over reliant on its star trio, but now, the roster looks more like the 2021 National Championship squad that featured a vast arsenal of legitimate high-end scorers.
Notre Dame’s back-to-back National Championships can be attributed to having an expansive cohort of scorers, and the Cavaliers can learn from this blueprint. The Fighting Irish were led by the Kavanagh brothers, both of whom are also under six feet tall and 200 pounds but are speedy and equipped with a lightning-fast release. Notre Dame outscored Virginia 18-29 in two frustrating losses this season with their offensive approach. Lacrosse is ever-changing, and while bigger attackmen like Brennan O’Neill of the Denver Outlaws are still dominant at times, the key to a winning offense is depth and speed.
Looking at the defenses Millon and the offense will face, the current trend is to deploy gigantic defensemen taller than 6-foot-5. A “bigger” attackman is generally considered around 6-foot-2, giving the defender a slight advantage. But matched up with a shorter star like Millon, the advantage swings to the attackman, who can contort and blow past lumbering defenders with ease.
Millon and the new-look Cavaliers will likely face a brutal schedule. As one of the nation’s best teams in 2025, the Cavaliers will no doubt find abundant success, and should they make a deep postseason run again, the difference-maker this time around for Tiffany and Offensive Coordinator Kevin Cassese will be a talented cohort of underclassmen.
The rest of the national heavyweights — Notre Dame, Maryland and Duke — will be reloading in terms of personnel to a higher extent than the Cavaliers, giving Virginia a prime opportunity to claim another national title as other teams take time to rebuild. The Fighting Irish will lose Pat Kavanagh, Maryland will lose Ajax Zappitello and Duke will lose O’Neill. While the Cavaliers will miss Shellenberger and Cormier, arguably no other team will see the return of a superstar of Millon’s caliber, with the exception of Notre Dame’s Chris Kavanagh.
Plus, Millon is just a freshman, one who scored 40-plus goals in his first campaign while also sharing the ball with Shellenberger and Cormier. Tiffany has previously had the luxury of several top-notch scorers when Virginia won consecutive titles in 2019 and 2021, and had the 2020 season not been canceled due to the pandemic, the Cavaliers may have even achieved a three-peat. With the talented Millon running the show alongside Duenkel and Kyle Colsey, a National Championship is ripe for the taking.
Read More
Despite a frustrating end, Virginia baseball produced an elite season
By Ryan Weiner | YesterdayThe Cavaliers lost both of their games at the College World Series, but showed tremendous resolve to get there in the first place.
Two Virginia women’s soccer players called up for national teams
By Peter Kratz | 3 days agoMcCormack will be fighting for a spot on the United States U-20 team, while Safradin will look to help Croatia's national team qualify for the European Championship.
Williams, leading 15 Cavaliers at Olympic Trials, earns first visit to the Olympics
By Michael Liebermann | 3 days agoThe week and a half of intense competition whittled the flock of entrants to a handful of Olympians, and Class of 2019 alumna Bridget Williams was among them.
