No. 3 Virginia Grabs ACC Road Triumph at No. 9 Maryland, 12-8

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Steele Stanwick tied a career high with eight points, pacing the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers (9-1, 1-0 ACC) to a stellar road victory, 12-8, against the No. 9 Maryland Terrapins (5-3, 1-2 ACC) on Saturday afternoon, inside Byrd Stadium. Stanwick had three goals and five assists, his fifth-straight game of the season with at least a trio of helpers.

It was the third game of Stanwick’s career where he had eight points and the first since the Bucknell game in the 2011 NCAA First Round. He also reached the number against Mount St. Mary’s last season.

Chris Bocklet registered his 22nd career hat trick and his three goals moves him past Garrett Billings and into sixth-place all-time at UVa in goals scored. The eight points for Stanwick gives him 236 for his career, only three behind Kevin Pehlke (239) for No. 4 all-time and 13 from tying Doug Knight’s (249) program record.

“Great effort by both teams today,” said Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia. “It was a real slug fest there, especially through the first half – but all we talked about at half was how Maryland was winning the ground ball battle. We made that a point of emphasis in the locker room before we came out. I think the most gratifying thing is to have the ground balls 19-8 in the second half. It was a good win on the road for us in a conference game.”

Stanwick set the table early for UVa, assisting on the first two Cavalier goals. He found Chris Bocklet at 8:27 in the first, followed by Rob Emery at 7:04 to give UVa the 2-0 lead.

Maryland found the net for the first time at 4:37 on a John Haus score, cutting the deficit to one goal, 2-1. UVa finished the first quarter scoring with two seconds remaining on a Bocklet score from Owen Van Arsdale, pushing the Cavalier advantage back to two goals, 3-1.

The Terrapins outscored UVa 4-2 in the second frame, tying the game heading into the intermission, 5-5. After Bocklet scored on a Stanwick helper during an extra-man possession with 8:09 left in the second quarter, Landon Carr tied the game with 1:57 left on a Niko Amato pass. The Maryland goalie was credited with the assist when he found a streaking Carr, leading him into the transition score.

Maryland opened up the third quarter on a run, taking its first lead of the game, 7-5, after back-to-back unassisted goals by Joe Cummings and Michael Shakespeare. The goal by Shakespeare at 10:24 capped the Maryland run. Maryland wouldn’t score for the next 16:23, as UVa made a game-defining 4-0 run, retaking the lead, 9-7. Stanwick scored the first and last goal of the run, while assisting Emery’s score during the run. Colin Briggs also scored. Stanwick’s goal at 10:33 in the fourth quarter ended the streak.

Drew Snider, the son of former UVa All-American Kris Snider, managed a goal on a Cummings pass with 9:01 remaining, ending the Maryland scoring. The score after Snider’s goal was momentarily a one-goal game, 9-8.

UVa scored three unanswered goals to secure the victory. Stanwick assisted a Matt White score, followed by a highlight-reel score of his own at 7:34. Surrounded by Terps, Stanwick rolled to his right from behind the cage and jumped parallel with the crease. Four Maryland defenders could not keep Stanwick from tying his career high with his eighth point for the game.

“When there isn’t a lot of sparkle out there you need your big boys to step up,” said Starsia. “I think as this game was being decided that is exactly what happened.”

UVa won the shots (38-32), ground balls (33-25), faceoffs (13-10) and saves (15-12).

Virginia returns to action on Saturday in Chapel Hill. UVa and North Carolina will meet at 1 p.m., and the contest will be televised live on ESPN in HD.

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