Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications
No. 3 Virginia Gets Back on Track With 12-8 Win Over No. 10 Notre Dame
After a humbling 23-12 loss against No. 1 Maryland last week in Washington D.C., the Cavaliers had little time to lick their wounds as they returned to Charlottesville to host another top-10 opponent on Saturday. No. 3 Virginia used a stifling defensive effort to bounce back and beat No. 10 Notre Dame 12-8 on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.
After giving up 23 goals to the Terrapins last week, the UVA defense delivered one of its best performances of the season, holding the Fighting Irish to just one goal through nearly the entire first half. Notre Dame did not score an even 6-on-6 goal until less than a minute remained in the first half.
On the offensive end, Virginia got goals from four different scorers in the first quarter. Notre Dame's only first period goal came on an extra-man opportunity and UVA led 4-1 at the end of the first quarter.
Griffin Schutz scored on an unassisted dodge to start the second quarter. Three UVA penalties gave the Fighting Irish back-to-back 6-on-4 man advantages, but the Virginia defense held tough and Matthew Nunes made a great save as the Cavaliers escaped without allowing a goal. That led to another goal for Schutz to make it 6-1.
Notre Dame scored a goal with less than a minute left in the first half to make it 6-2 at halftime, then the Irish scored again to start the second half as Pat Kavanagh found the back of the net to make it a three-goal game.
With Notre Dame threatening to get back in the game, Connor Shellenberger took over. The redshirt sophomore threaded a pass to Xander Dickson on the doorstep for a goal. Then, Shellenberger scored goals on back-to-back possessions, the second of which was a brilliant fadeaway jump shot that stung the bottom corner of the goal. Shellenberger finished the game with three goals and two assists, his 12th-straight game with at least five points.
Notre Dame had a 16-8 advantage in faceoffs and outshot Virginia 47-38, but the UVA defense continued to play sound defense and forced the Irish to take low-percentage shots. Pat Kavanagh recorded just two goals and an assist on eight shots, while his brother Chris Kavanagh was held scoreless on five shots.
On the few occasions where the Irish managed to generate a quality shot on cage, Matthew Nunes was there to make several key saves with a high degree of difficulty. Early in the fourth quarter, Pat Kavanagh was left wide open in front of the crease, but Nunes made a spectacular save to keep Notre Dame's star attackman from scoring. Nunes allowed just five goals and made 12 saves in the game.
Virginia scored three straight goals to make it 12-4 with six minutes to play. The last of those goals was a great play by Evan Zinn, who came onto the field as a penalty was released, scooped a ground ball, and then scored on a shot from well outside the box that found the back of the empty Notre Dame net.
With Virginia's starters out of the game, Notre Dame scored three goals in the final 70 seconds of the game to make the final score 12-8.
With the win, Virginia improves to 7-1 on the season and 3-0 in ACC play. The Cavaliers travel to Richmond next Saturday for an in-state battle with the Spiders.
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