Cavaliers commence the 86th season of men's lacrosse on the road
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Virginia Men's Lacrosse team, ranked No. 9 in this week's USILA coaches poll and Cascade/Maverik media poll, opens the 2015 campaign on Saturday in Baltimore against Loyola, ranked No. 7 in the coaches and media polls. The game will be contested at the Ridley Athletic Complex with faceoff slated for 1 p.m.
Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com. There will be a free live video webcast available through the Patriot League Network.
Saturday marks the 18th all-time meeting between the Cavaliers and Greyhounds in a series that began in 1938. The series took a 23-year hiatus before being rekindled for the 2014 season. Saturday's game is the first meeting of the series to be played at the Ridley Athletic Complex, which didn’t exist during the 1990 meeting, UVa's last jaunt to play at Loyola.
Loyola head coach Charley Toomey is in his 10th season at the helm of his alma mater and returns 27 letterwinners from last year’s 15-2 squad, a team that fell to Albany in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The last meeting in the series between UVa and Loyola started the 2014 season off with a bang as the Cavaliers escaped with a 14-13 overtime win at Klöckner Stadium. UVa was cruising with a 12-4 lead through three quarters. The fourth quarter started with UVa's Greg Danseglio serving a one-minute slashing penalty, which helped jump-start a nine-goal run by Loyola. The Greyhounds took a 13-12 lead with 18 seconds remaining in regulation when Tyler Albrecht capped the run. UVa's Mick Parks won the ensuring faceoff and James Pannell found Ryan Tucker, who scored with one-tenth of a second to force overtime. Parks won the overtime faceoff and Pannell tallied the game-winning goal with 2:16 left in the overtime period in the instant classic.
The Cavaliers are 48-32-1 (.599) all-time in season openers, including a mark of 15-16 (.484) when the season opener is on the road. This is the sixth time in the last 16 years the Cavaliers have opened on the road.
Virginia enters 2015 after finishing with a 10-6 record with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, falling to Johns Hopkins at Klöckner Stadium.
With 25 returning lettermen, including five starters, Dom Starsia's squad is ranked in four preseason polls between No. 7-10. Lacrosse Magazine has UVa at No. 7, while Inside Lacrosse's Face-Off Yearbook places the Cavaliers at No. 10. Both the media and coaches polls put Virginia at No. 9.
UVa is again in action on Feb. 14 when Drexel comes to Klöckner Stadium for the Cavaliers' home opener. Faceoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
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Vincent Briedis
Assistant Athletics Media Relations Director
University of Virginia
295 Massie Road-JPJA / Charlottesville, VA 22904
Email: briedis@virginia.edu
Twitter: @Briedis_UVa
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Web: www.VirginiaSports.com