What We Learned About Virginia's Season-Opening Win Over Michigan

The 2023 Virginia men's lacrosse season began on Saturday with the Cavaliers outlasting Michigan for a 17-13 victory at Klöckner Stadium. That the Cavaliers avoided the early season upset became even more important as Saturday ended up being a day of big upsets across the college lacrosse with three top ten teams losing. No. 2-ranked and defending national champion Maryland lost to Loyola 12-7, Jacksonville knocked off No. 8 Duke 13-12, and Johns Hopkins took down No. 3 Georgetown 13-12. The array of early upsets strengthens Virginia's position as the top team in the country.

With that said, let's dive into some key takeaways from UVA's victory over Michigan:

“Michigan 13, Virginia 9, Canada 8, so we beat Canada by one,” said Coach Tiffany.

With the departure of UVA's all-time points leader in Matt Moore, there were questions about who would fill his void on offense and Vermont transfer Thomas McConvey certainly showed he is capable of being a significant contributor for the Virginia offense. McConvey recorded three goals and three assists while his fellow Canadian teammate and longtime friend Payton Cormier added five goals and an assist. McConvey demonstrated that he is capable of initiating the offense and Cormier showed that he will continue to be a reliable scorer. The two of them also ran multiple two-man games which was entertaining to watch and will be something to look forward to as the season progresses and Virginia continues to find an offensive balance beyond the efforts of Connor Shellenberger.

Connor Shellenberger now receives all of the attention

Now that his counterpart in the UVA offense, Matt Moore, is gone, Shellenberger has embraced the role as the primary initiator of the Cavalier offense. It also means that Shellenberger will receive more attention than last year and almost guarantees he is paired up with the opposing team’s best defender every game. Defender Jack Whitney for Michigan gave Shellenberger a tough time early on as he only had two points in the first half. Despite the slow start, Shellenberger finished with three goals and added three assists and found rhythm in the second half, demonstrating why he was a preseason All-American and an early candidate for the Tewaaraton Award. Shellenberger will have to continue to be the aggressor this season, attacking his matchups against the opposing team's best long pole defenseman.

Virginia stout on man-down defense, but shaky during six on six play

Virginia’s defense went man-down four times, which is something that certainly needs to be addressed moving forward. But on all four occasions, there were no goals scored, a testament to the efforts and experience of the veteran group led by Cole Kastner, Cade Saustad and Grayson Sallade on the UVA man-down unit. Other than man-down situations, the Cavaliers struggled dealing with Michigan picks and two-man games which led to open opportunities that were difficult for goalie Matthew Nunes to stop. Virginia also struggled with slide packages as there were a few occasions in which a Cavalier short-stick defensive midfielder was beaten by his man and no one came to help. The lack of communication gave Michigan players a free path to the goal and forced Nunes to make multiple miraculous saves. Additionally, Virginia’s short-stick defensive midfielders were getting beat a little too easily which is something that needs to be tightened up especially as UVA's schedule only gets tougher from here.

The faceoff room looks strong

After missing both scrimmages with a foot injury and warming up in a boot before the game, Petey LaSalla took the field and went 13/24 from the x and added two goals on four shots with one of those missed shots hitting the left post, just a couple of inches away from giving LaSalla a hat trick. In his fifth and final season, LaSalla made it clear in game one he is aiming to leave Charlottesville on a high note. In addition to LaSalla’s solid performance, freshman Mac Eldridge showed promise going 4/7 on faceoffs as he looks to back up LaSalla since Gable Braun is medically redshirting this season. The two of them forced Michigan's Justin Wietfeldt to go 5/15 after Wietfeldt went 61.5% last season, which was good for 4th in the country.

Ricky Miezan needs to shake off some rust, but is clearly capable of putting on a show on the lacrosse field

In his first time taking the field in college lacrosse after spending five seasons playing football at Stanford, Ricky Miezan took his first touch and blew by his defender before ripping a shot while on the run that found the back of the net. It was as if Miezan had never stopped playing lacrosse in the first place. A few possessions later, though, Miezan attempted to do the same thing, but Michigan slid to him early and Miezan attempted a pass that went over the head of a player wide open on the crease for a turnover. If Miezan can shake off the rust and tighten up his fundamentals, then he could be an unstoppable presence and provide another lethal playmaking option for the Cavaliers out of the offensive midfield.

Virginia returns to action on Saturday at 4pm against Harvard at Klockner Stadium.

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