March 24, 2007

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The fifth-ranked Virginia men's lacrosse team jumped out to a 4-1 first quarter lead and then held off a late rally by third-ranked Johns Hopkins as the Cavaliers slipped past the Blue Jays 7-5 in front of 4,784 at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win, Virginia's first at Homewood Field since 2001, is the Cavaliers' seventh straight, while Hopkins had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Virginia (7-1) spotted the Blue Jays the first goal of the game before scoring four straight to take the 4-1 lead. It took Danny Glading (Bethesda, MD/Georgetown Prep) just 24 seconds to answer Jake Byrne's (Potomac, MD/Landon) opening salvo and knot the game at 1-1 and just over three minutes later the Cavaliers took the lead for good when Glading punched home an extra-man goal off an assist from Garrett Billings (Langley, B.C./R.E. Mountain Secondary).

The Cavaliers struck for two more goals in the next four minutes, both by junior Ben Rubeor (Towson, MD/Loyola). From the "he'll take it" file, Rubeor notched the first of his three goals just over a minute after Glading's second goal as he tried to thread a pass inside that missed its intended mark, but skipped past a surprised Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville) into the Blue Jay goal. Rubeor netted a more conventional goal with 4:33 remaining in the first period when he dodged from behind the goal and bounced a shot into the far corner to make it 4-1.

A 15-minute scoreless drought was finally broken when Paul Rabil (Gaithersburg, MD/DeMatha) took a pass from classmate Stephen Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) and one-timed a shot past Virginia goalie Kip Turner (Severna Park, MD/Severn) with 5:30 remaining in the second quarter. Four minutes later what turned out to be the play of the game gave the Cavaliers a three-goal lead heading into the half. A scramble situation found Byrne with the ball 10 yards in front of the goal. He found Peyser alone six yards in front of goal, but Turner came up with a great save and started a fast-break for the Cavaliers, who quickly worked the ball to Rubeor. Rubeor found Will Barrow (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) cutting to the goal and Barrow beat Schwartzman from eight yards out to make it 5-2 at the half.

The opportunistic Cavaliers came up with a pair of empty-net goals in the third quarter as Brian Carroll (Towson, MD/Gilman) punched home his fourth of the year after a failed Blue Jay clearing attempt with 4:44 remaining and Rubeor scored with six seconds left in the period after Virginia came up with another loose ball in the Blue Jay zone. Both failed clears for the Blue Jays came after good defensive plays had forced Virginia turnovers.

Hopkins made one final push in the fourth quarter, but came up short in its bid for a third straight win at Homewood Field over the Cavaliers. Freshman Michael Kimmel (Towson, MD/Loyola) needed just 58 seconds of the fourth quarter to punch home his eighth goal of the year and Rabil made it a 7-4 game with an unassisted goal just under six minutes later. The Blue Jays let a golden opportunity slip by when they failed to score on a two-man advantage with just under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and Peyser closed out the scoring with his fourth goal of the year with 1:19 remaining to account for the final margin.

Rubeor paced the Cavaliers with three goals and one assist, while Glading scored the two goals and Billings added three assists. Turner registered seven saves in goal for the Cavaliers, who won 10-of-16 faceoffs, won the ground ball war, 34-29, and held a 33-30 advantage in shots.

Rabil scored the two goals for the Blue Jays, who also got the one goal and one assist from Peyser. Schwartzman posted 14 saves in goal for Hopkins, which returns to action next Saturday at North Carolina. The Tar Heels dropped a 14-8 decision at Maryland on Saturday. Virginia hosts Maryland next Saturday.

Virginia (7-1) 4-1-2-0/7
Johns Hopkins (4-2) 1-1-0-3/5

Goals: V: Rubeor-3, Glading-2, Carroll, Barrow. J: Rabil-2, Peyser, Kimmel, Byrne. Assists: V: Billings-3, Rubeor. J: Boyle, Peyser. Saves: V: Turner-7. J: Schwartzman-14. Shots: V-33. J-30. EMO: V: 1-for-2. J: 0-for-2. Attendance: 4,784.

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