Cockerton’s Six Goals Lead No. 6 UVa over Mount St. Mary’s, 18-11

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In severe to moderate rainy conditions, the No. 6 Virginia Cavaliers (4-0) used six goals from Mark Cockerton and five points from Rob Emery and Nick O’Reilly to grab an 18-11 triumph over the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (2-2), at the UHall Turf Field on Tuesday evening. The game was moved from Klöckner Stadium two hours prior to faceoff because of heavy rains in the Charlottesville area submerged Klöckner’s grass surface.

“We’re generally a group that is fairly resilient and handles these changes fairly well,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia on the venue change. “Our kids came out and had some energy in the game. I thought we came out and took over the game with enthusiasm in the beginning. I thought we were riding, getting the ground balls, doing the high-energy things that we needed to do. I thought we started to play a little better in the end. It was a good win against a good team that has gotten off to a good start and is very good offensively.”

UVa was very active to start on the defensive end of the ball. The Cavaliers limited Mount St. Mary’s to 4-of-10 clearing in the first half, including stymieing the Mountaineers to only 2-fo-6 in the first quarter. While Mount St. Mary’s tallied the game’s first goal on a Brett Schmidt score from Andrew Scalley at 9:06, UVa retaliated with a 6-1 run to firmly grab control of the game.
Ryan Tucker put UVa on the board for the first time at 3:24 in the first quarter, and the Cavaliers rode two goals by Cockerton in succession before the first stanza ended. Mount St. Mary’s retorted on an Eric Ososki unassisted goal to start the second quarter scoring at 12:56, but Virginia scored three more goals for the 6-2 lead. James Pannell capped off the run on a precision pass from Greg Coholan with 8:58 left before the break.

After Daniel Stranix scored unassisted, Nick O’Reilly found Rob Emery on back-to-back scores, giving UVa an 8-3 lead with 4:42 left in the second quarter. The Mount scored two of the next three goals, sending the game into the intermission in favor of Virginia by four, 9-5. Ososki’s second goal of the game came on an extra-man opportunity with 16 seconds left before the break, courtesy of a Harry Prevas slashing call.

The third quarter scoring was an even 4-4, as Virginia maintained the four-goal advantage entering the game’s final stanza. Cockerton scored three of his game-high six goals in the fourth quarter to solidify the triumph for the Cavaliers. Owen Van Arsdale assisted two of those three Cockerton goals in the fourth quarter.

Eight different Cavaliers scored. O’Reilly had one goal and four assists, while Emery had four goals and one assist. Van Arsdale had two goals and two assists, while Tucker had two goals to help pace the winning cause. Schmidt led Mount St. Mary’s with three goals and two assists, while Scalley had one goal and three assists in the losing effort.

Virginia won the battle of shots (51-34), ground balls (47-27), faceoffs (18-14) and had fewer turnovers (13-16). Virginia finished a perfect 18-of-18 on clears and 1-of-2 on extra-man opportunities. Mount St. Mary’s finished 1-of-4 on extra-man chances and won the battle in saves (16-7).

Virginia returns to action on Friday when the Cavaliers travel to No. 18 Syracuse. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. faceoff and the contest will be broadcast live in the Charlottesville area on WINA 1070 AM. There will be a TV telecast provided by Time Warner Cable, which will be available only in the New York region.

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