The weekend of the college lacrosse championship is ahead of us and for the first time in four years, Virginia is not one of the last four teams competing for the men’s national lacrosse championship.
Last weekend, UVA’s season and reign as a two-time national title defender ended in a brutal 18-9 defeat by the undefeated and probably tied to the Maryland Therapins Championship. As expected from the results as it was, it is still quite unusual for Virginia to lose in May. This was the first UVA defeat in the postseason since May 12, 2018.
Now Virginia is entering a unique off-season, the first in four years that the Cavaliers will enter after losing their last game of the season.
“He will definitely lead us,” said another student, Cole Kastner, after Virginia’s defeat by Maryland on Sunday. “I think this feeling will stay with me and the other guys for a while.
The Cavaliers will surely have a chip on their shoulder next season, and the good news is that they will also bring back one of the most experienced and talented teams in the country. Virginia should return over 80% of their points from this season, and they will also return essentially the entire defense and starters in special positions.
Of the entire list, the only players who have exhausted their conditions are striker Matt Moore, midfielders Jack Simmons, Jack Peel, Reagan Quinn, Paul Rodriguez and goalkeeper Miles Thompson. Banning any announcements in the off-season that any of the seniors of the fourth year decides not to return, UVA will return the rest of its list.
Of course, Matt Moore is a huge loss for the Cavaliers, as the three-time All-American left Virginia as the leader in the program of all time by 277 points with 143 goals and 134 assists.
Virginia returns the other two members of its unit for deadly attacks to Peyton Cormier and Conor Schellenberger. Cormier led the team for the second season in a row with 50 goals. Schellenberger led the UVA in points (76) and assists (44) and was second in the team in goals with 32. The most prominent player in the 2021 NCAA tournament was held without a point in a disappointing game against Maryland in the quarterfinals, but the second season in red shirts was is largely successful for Schellenberger, who for the second season in a row was named a Tevaraton finalist and USILA the first All-American team.
There are many quality candidates who could move out of the midfield and replace Meta Moore in the UVA attack. Xander Dixon was the team’s third leading scorer with 31 goals and proved to be a solid option in attack when Matt Moore missed time due to injury. The same could be said for Griffin Schutz, a former No. 1 recruit in the 2021 class who scored 23 goals and seven assists in his first season in Charlottesville.
UVA is also bringing back Jeff Conner, who missed time due to injury, but was one of Virginia’s most useful players at both ends of the field below, spending a lot of time in the defensive midfield and also scoring 14 goals and 18 assists. In addition, Virginia returns Peter Garn, Villa Corya and Patrick Mackintosh.
Virginia will essentially return the entire defense, including all the American defenders on the long sticks of Cole Kastner and Cade Sustad, as well as the third starter in Quentin Matsui and the defenders of the second line, Scott Bauer, Mitchell Veylen and Ben Veyer. With the exception of Jack Peel, UVA will continue to have the services of its main defensive midfielders on short sticks at the All-American Graison Sallade, as well as Evan Zine, Noah Bootmaker and Danny Parker.
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Behind the defense will be the current ACC freshman of the year Matthew Nunes, who finished his first season as a cavalier with 159 defenses, which is the highest defense of the first year goalkeeper in the history of the UVA program.
To that list, Virginia will add a transfer from Vermont and double All-American USILA Thomas McConnew, who has scored 60 goals this season and leads the Catamounts until their second consecutive appearance in the American East Championship and NCAA Tournament.
Virginia also brings in one of the best recruiting classes in the country, including three of the top 10 potential candidates in the 2022 class: no. 3 Joey Terenzi (midfielder), no. 4 Truit Sunderland (attack) and no. Mac Eldridge (faceoff). The 2022 UVA recruiting class also includes five-star defender John Schroter, four-star midfielder Mecca Till, four-star striker Ryan Colsey, four-star defender Malachi Jones and four-star goalkeeper Kyle Morris.
The Cavaliers are certainly disappointed that they did not finish the tri-peat, but there are many reasons for excitement because of the men’s lacrosse of Virginia in 2023.
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