Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/28/18
From Press Release
Playing in its first ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship since 2013, Virginia made the most of its opportunity and upset top-seeded Syracuse, 11-10, in the second semifinal Friday night at Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, VA.
With the win the Cavaliers improve to 11-4 and advance to play No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the title game on Sunday at Noon. The Orange drop to 7-6.
Virginia freshman midfielder Matt Moore (Garnet Valley) led all scorers with four goals and had two groundballs and a caused turnover, while sophomore midfielder Justin Schwenk (Spring-Ford) won 16-of-23 faceoffs and set a single-season program record for faceoffs won. Sophomore Dox Aitken (Haverford School) had two goals and two assists.
Syracuse red-shirt sophomore attackman Stephen Rehfuss and freshman midfielder Tucker Dordevic tallied two goals apiece to lead the Orange.
It was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than two goals. Trailing by a goal in the midway through the second quarter, Virginia sophomores Aitken and Michael Kraus scored the only two goals of the period to take a 5-4 lead into halftime. It was a lead the Cavaliers would never relinquish. Moore pushed UVA’s lead to 6-4 with his goal 41 seconds into the third quarter.
Moore again found the back of the net with 10 seconds remaining in the third to keep a two-goal advantage in favor of the Cavaliers, 9-7.
With UVA up 11-9 with a 1:36 to play, Syracuse senior Seth DeLisle scored his first goal of the season after winning the faceoff to keep hope alive for the Orange. However, Syracuse’s final efforts fell short as Dordevic’s last shot went wide and Virginia held on for the win.
For the game, Syracuse out shot Virginia 38-34 while putting 20 shots on goal. Virginia freshman goalie Alex Rode made 10 saves for the game.
