UVA beats Richmond 17-8 in opening round of NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Payton Cormier scored five of his team-high six goals in the second half leading 2-seed Virginia to a dominating 17-8 win over Richmond Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Connor Shellenberger added two goals and four assists. Virginia scored the first two goals of the game and never trailed. The game was delayed by 30-minutes due to a thunderstorm following the first quarter. The field was a wet, sloppy mess for the remainder of the game. Virginia led 10-4 at halftime and extended its lead to 12-4 scoring the first two goals of the second half.

Virginia advances to the quarterfinals where it will play next weekend in Albany, New York against either Yale or Georgetown.

WITH THE WIN…

Virginia improved to 58-34 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 9-1 in the series against Richmond.
Only Johns Hopkins (71), Maryland (70) and Syracuse (65) have more NCAA Tournament wins than UVA.
The Cavaliers have won 10 of their last 11 tournament contests dating back to 2019.
Virginia improved to 14-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament games held at Klöckner Stadium.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Xander Dickson broke Doug Knight’s 1996 single-season goals record (56). With two goals on the day, Dickson is up to 58 goals in 2023.
With two goals and four assists in his seventh career NCAA Tournament game, Connor Shellenberger is averaging 5.43 points per game, the best by any UVA player in school history.
With one goal and one assist, Thomas McConvey extended his point streak to 67 games. Having registered at least one point in all 67 career games, McConvey’s streak is the longest among all active Division-I players. For his career, McConvey has amassed 154 goals and 68 assists.
McConvey, now with 27 goals and 21 assists on the year, is fourth on UVA’s single season points list by a midfielder and tied for third in assists. He needs just five more points to break Dox Aitken’s 2019 record of 52 points.
With six goals, Payton Cormier extended his point streak to 43 games. During his streak, Cormier has registered 130 goals and 25 assists.
Cormier’s six goals also tied the UVA single-game record in NCAA Tournament contests. Only Doug Knight (1995), Mikey Herring (2019) and Connor Shellenberger (2021) have scored six goals in NCAA Tournament games.

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.

Copyright 2023 WVIR. All rights reserved.