Five Takeaways From Virginia Lacrosse's 12-13 Loss to No. 6 Johns Hopkins

Virginia (2-3) drops a second straight game, this time against No. 6 Johns Hopkins (5-1) on Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Maryland. Here are our five takeaways from the game.

UVA Bounces Back from Ohio State, Still Not Enough

This game was an important response from Virginia following a rather embarrassing 14-5 loss to the then-unranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Despite winning 14 of the 20 draws against the Buckeyes, holding them scoreless on all three of their man-up opportunities, and outshooting them, the Cavaliers were beaten up and down the field. It didn’t help that UVA coughed up 21 turnovers and looked paralyzed against Ohio State’s Caleb Fyock, who had 12 saves on the day.

The Hoos were rolling early on offense on Saturday in Baltimore, however, taking a 5-2 lead in the first quarter. Johns Hopkins woke up in the second thanks to goals from Hunter Chauvette, Chuck Rawson, and Stuart Phillips, but still headed into half down one––a deficit that didn’t last.

Similar to the scoreless droughts that plagued the Cavaliers against Ohio State, it was a four-goal swing in the third quarter that would put UVA in trouble against the Blue Jays. While a late push from the Hoos would bring them within one, it was too little, too late.

UVA’s offense must find a way to break out of their stagnation, or these dry spells will continue to lose them close games.

Turnovers Plague the Cavaliers

Coach Tiffany has always encouraged his teams to push in transition and outshoot their opponents. Turnovers are inevitable with this fast-paced play style, but that doesn’t make them acceptable––especially at the rate UVA is committing them this season. Virginia has turned over the ball 91 times through its first five games, an average of 18 per game––a five turnover increase from last season.

This statistical increase is already concerning, but it doesn’t quite capture the negligence with which UVA treats the ball. Every coach will tell you that he (or she) prefers mistakes made at full speed rather than errors resulting from lethargic indecision. The Hoos, unfortunately, seem to be susceptible to the latter problem. Many of their 18 turnovers today were unforced. Passes were lazily floated over the tops of their intended targets, deflected by the on-ball defender because the passer didn’t create enough separation, or sailed out of bounds by a defender trying to “Gilman” their way out of a failed clear.

The Hoos have a successful-clear percentage of 80% so far this season, the lowest ever under Lars Tiffany. A Cavalier offense that is turning the ball over more than usual is getting fewer opportunities than usual. None of this bodes well for an offense that has already been inefficient in the half-field so far this season. The Cavaliers need to find a way to get more out of their possessions, or they should expect a long, unforgiving season ahead.

McCabe Millon Answers Back, Colsey Falls Silent

Ryan Colsey, the one bright spot from Virginia’s game against Ohio State, scoring four of the team's five goals, was unremarkable today. Colsey’s goal to begin the third quarter was his only point contribution on the day.

Millon, on the other hand, bounced back from a poor performance against the Buckeyes with three goals and one assist against Johns Hopkins. A performance that will hopefully quiet some of the criticism which followed the goose eggs he laid in Columbus.

To be clear, though, McCabe has still not separated himself as a top attackman in 2025. He has only scored on 15.9% of his shots this season, and despite taking more shots than Truitt Sunderland and Ryan Colsey, he has fewer shots on goal than both of them.

Colsey, on the other hand, has impressed this season. In five games, the lefty attackman has already surpassed his point total from last spring and, aside from his performance today, has been a reliable offensive threat.

For UVA to succeed, however, Millon and Colsey have to both have productive performances, especially against top-ranked opponents.

The Goalie Battle Concludes

The goalie, the final line of defense, the bedrock of a good program, has been the least reliable part of this UVA team so far. More consistency can be expected, however, as the goalie battle between Morris and Nunes appears to be over. While they split time against Colgate and High Point––and Nunes relieved Morris against Ohio State––Morris has played almost all of the meaningful minutes between the pipes in 2025 so far.

The team continues to emphasize the razor-thin margin between the two in practice, but it doesn’t appear that Nunes has done enough to reclaim the starting spot he lost at the end of UVA’s playoff run last year. Nunes had a 52.7% save percentage last season, but was sat for the final game following a string of poor performances. Morris has been a respectable netminder this season, but his 47.1% save percentage is still underperforming Nunes from last spring.

While he has made some significant improvements in his play––preventing rebounds, involving himself in the ten-man ride, and being a reliable outlet in UVA’s clear game––more is to be expected from him.

Otherwise, people may begin to wonder if Nunes––a former All-American quality goalie––should be given another shot.

Virginia’s SSDM’s Need Help, Zone Defense Might be the Answer

Virginia’s short-stick defensive midfielders continue to struggle in settled offense. Johns Hopkins consistently beat UVA’s midfielders top-side or underneath in settled offense. While Virginia purposely slid late today, the Blue Jays still forced several awkward rotations, leaving players open on the crease and the backside.

The worst of this happened at the end of the first half when JHU’s Dylan Bauer beat midfielder Will Erdmann clean down the alley, drawing slides from both Ben Wayer and Noah Chizmar, and leaving Blue Jay Stuart Phillips naked with time in front of the net.

The Hoos did try their hand at some zone defense, something they should seriously consider implementing regularly. UVA has only allowed their opponents one goal on twenty-one extra man opportunities so far this season. While this isn’t a one-to-one comparison to running a zone defense in settled six-on-six, it certainly isn’t insignificant. If UVA can play solid zone defense, bumping the ball away from their SSDMs, and letting Schroter, Fulton, or Kology get their sticks in the passing lane, Virginia may find some success.

Zone defense is rarely relied upon at the highest-levels of lacrosse, but it appears UVA may actually excel at it.

For their next test, Virginia (2-3) will travel down to Houston, Texas this Saturday for a neutral-site competition against Towson (1-4). Faceoff from The Kinkaid School is set for 1:30 pm ET and the game will be streamed on Corrigan Sports Network.

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