Coming into their game against Air Force, the young Virginia defense had looked decidedly shaky. They had given up 16 goals to Princeton a week before, and had allowed High Point to score 15, their second-highest total all season.
Then came the Air Force game. The Hoos surprised everybody by managing to hold an Air Force team that had defeated Duke to a mere 5 goals. The impressive performance included holding the visiting Falcons to a scoreless third quarter.
The game was huge for confidence, especially after the aforementioned High Point near-disaster. The Panthers had managed to score 15 goals only once, and had been walked on all over by the majority of their opposition. So when they were able to pick apart Virginia’s defense, it was a major point of worry.
High Point is probably better than their meager 2-5 record shows. After all, they were ranked in the Inside Lacrosse preseason media poll. The simple reason for their preseason rank and the collapse since is that they have a lot of pieces that just haven’t been able to play effectively together.
The “talented player” part was certainly apparent as they provided quite a scare for then sixth-ranked Virginia (now eight). Devon Buckshot came out of nowhere, scoring 5 goals and notching 1 assist. He was a big reason that the Panthers kept it so close, and his third quarter buzzer beater was a dagger to the hearts of many a UVa fan.
Asher Nolting was similarly incredible, scoring 1 but racking up 5 assists.
Those two players, added to the wrecking ball that was Michael Sowers in Virginia’s loss to Princeton, exposed many of the vulnerabilities of the Virginia defense. Sure, Freshmen Scott Bower and Quentin Matsui are good Freshmen.
That said, good as a Freshman does not necessarily translate to good as a starter for the number eight team in the nation. Kyle Kology was good as a starter for the national champs last year. But he, too, had been making a number of mistakes.
That’s why holding a team to five goals was such a monumental feat.
Like the other games, there were a couple of frustrating errors in the early going. Yet the Hoos shored up the defense in a big way after that. While they may not be out of the woods yet, Virginia’s defense is certainly moving in the right direction.
Offense remains solid
Yes, the 18 goals that Virginia dropped against High Point was a lot. But they weren’t all that impressive… Because High Point came into that showdown allowing 20 per game.
Nevertheless, it was good to build some momentum, momentum that they continued with their 15 against Air Force. The Hoos currently average about 14 goals a game, good for 17th in the nation.
If this were basketball, where 17th would put you in the top 4%, that would be impressive. In lax, it’s still solid, but when there’s only 73 other teams, it’s not as significant of a standing.
Still, Virginia’s offense has been consistent, if not their potent selves from a year ago. This version may even be preferable over the one that decided to wait until they trailed by a substantial amount of goals with very little time left to actually do anything.
Either way, this offense has been chugging along at a fairly steady rate for the whole season. The only thing that seems to faze them is zone defense, a method that Loyola employed to great success in the second half of the season opener. Other than that, the offense remained satisfactory in both wins.
Mixed results from the “stars”
Satisfactory, that is, on the whole. There were a couple of players who have been way more than satisfactory in this last week.
Michael Kraus is the first one that comes to mind in this regard. Lars Tiffany wasn’t even sure that he would play against High Point as he fought the flu. Play he did, and the senior attacker recorded an obscene 5 goals and 2 assists. He scored Virginia’s last two goals, one of which was a vintage Kraus goal and the other an easy one on the empty net.
His stats weren’t quite as absurd against Air Force, but they were still impressive. After all, 3 goals and an assist would be taken every day of the week by most college lacrosse players. But the more enticing stat has to do with his accuracy.
Kraus has been known to take lots of shots every game. And he puts a lot of them on frame, and scores a bunch as well. But he does have a tendency to miss the goal on a fair share of attempts. So hitting the target on all seven of his shots is nothing to overlook. Nobody’s going to overlook Kraus after his start to the season at any rate.
Payton Cormier, on the other hand, went under the radar for a while. But his time as a secret weapon is long gone now. He had 7 goals and 3 assists this week as he provided a big spark to the offense. The 3 goals in the season opener against Loyola provided a glimpse of his true potential, but it’s being showcased game-by-game at this point.
This is essential, as Ian Laviano has been very sporadic this year. In fact, he lost his spot in the starting lineup for the Air Force game. Through five games, Laviano only has 9 goals and 3 assists. Not terrible, but not exactly the same player we saw ripping the Yale and Duke defenses apart on Championship Weekend last year.
Unlike Laviano, Matt Moore has been the epitome of consistency. He’s scored 2 or 3 goals in every game, and recorded 2+ assists in all but one. He also went off for 6 assists against High Point.
The final member of Virginia’s offensive equation is Dox Aitken. It’s been an underwhelming first five games for the player that received pretty much every accolade a midfielder can get last year. He has a lackluster 7 goals and 1 assist on the year, well below his previous pace. If he steps it up the level of the offense will rise accordingly.
Hoos next?
Dox will get his next opportunity on Sunday on the road against Brown. Last year’s matchup with the Bears was an instant classic. It was a classic “Cardiac Cavs” performance, as they pulled victory from the jaws of defeat yet again.
The Hoos trailed by a score of 12-8 early in the fourth quarter, and 13-10 with six minutes to go. They responded with four straight goals–the final two from Michael Kraus–in a 14-13 OT victory.
This being their first road game this season, we could see some sticky patches. This matchup is a bit of a scary one as well, in addition to the added pressure of a first game outside the friendly confines of Klockner Stadium.
The Bears have been very stingy on defense this year. They only allow 9.5 goals per game, having held their opponents to only 7 on two occasions. Obviously, this could mean that Virginia could have trouble scoring at times.
At the same time, if they revert to their old, sloppy ways, the defense could give up a good amount of goals. We’ve already talked about how the Hoos are playing better defensively, but the hard, scrappy game it will likely be could strip that all away.
The Bears are 2-2, with both of their losses coming by one goal. None of the teams they have faced yet are approaching Virginia’s level though.
As such, the Bears could jump out to an early lead as Virginia may falter as they travel to unfamiliar surroundings for the first time. But in the end, the revamped Virginia defense and the resurgent offense should pull them through to a crucial road win.