The Virginia Men’s Lacrosse program has the talent and experience to win a national title every season. The ACC has been loaded from top to bottom this season, so many people have slept on Virginia’s ability to make it this far despite their talent.
The team looked almost perfect until April 14th, with five ranked wins and only one loss to Johns Hopkins in a close game. The fun stopped when they met consecutive losses to Duke, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Notre Dame again in the ACC tournament. Thankfully for Cavalier faithful, their resume was deep enough that the NCAA tournament selection committee thought they should be seeded. Virginia knocked off Saint Joseph at home before advancing to the quarterfinals against the Hopkins Blue Jays. The Cavs avenged an earlier season 13-12 loss by defeating the Jays in double overtime to book their trip back to Championship Weekend.
Virginia just has a way of getting hot at the right times. The Cavaliers are in search of their all-time eighth NCAA title, which would be three of the last five. A victory on Memorial Day would be the 10th national championship in the history of the program since the introduction of the NCAA. UVA has made its 26th all-time appearance in the NCAA semifinals this season and fourth in the previous five NCAA Tournaments since 2019. In Tiffany’s tenure, the Cavaliers have qualified for six of seven possible postseasons, including last year when Virginia fell to eventual national champion Notre Dame, 13-12 in overtime, in the NCAA semifinals.
Maryland and Virginia also share a long-time athletic rivalry, in which the Terps lead the all-time series over Virginia, 50-47. The two teams have played each other in the NCAA Tournament nine different times, with Virginia holding a 5-4 advantage in those games.
Virginia’s talent is going to carry them in this game. Any player that has ever played for Lars Tiffany talks about how special he is as a coach, and how his approach differs from any other coach they have had. Obviously, this has worked out very well for the Cavaliers, with players like Shellenberger currently ranking third in assists and seventh in points among all of Division I while Cormier leads all players in goals per game.
Virginia is going to need everyone to show up down the stretch in order to win it all however. Rocky goalie play from Nunes has led to Morris getting some minutes down the stretch here. Confidence is super important for a netminder, and Nunes better be ready to face a hungry Maryland squad.
If the Virginia Men’s Lacrosse program secures another title, there is no doubt that this team would be considered a dynasty, with many new pieces waiting for their opportunity to continue the legacy.
