Postseason lacrosse is officially upon us as the ACC Tournament gets underway in Charlotte with a full day of quarterfinal action from American Legion Memorial Stadium.
Syracuse is lined up for the second game of the day at 2 PM on ACC Network.
Last week’s regular season finale loss to Boston College not only ended ‘Cuse’s 12-game winning streak, but also dropped the Orange down to the No. 4 seed in this week’s tournament, where they ended up matched up with the No. 5 seed Virginia Cavaliers.
If SU
is going to get back on the winning track, they’ve got to figure out some invention on the offensive end. Despite their amazing defense ranking T-fifth in the country at 7.31 goals-against per game, their offense has sputtered to 95th nationally with a sub-10, 9.69 goals per.
Regular Season
Virginia completed an 8-8 regular season last week with a win over in-state rival Virginia Tech to improve to 6-4 in the ACC.
When the Cavaliers lost to Syracuse on March 21, it dropped them to 5-6 on the year. After that, they continued their struggles with a surprising home loss to James Madison, a brief-interlude win over Louisville, and a 19-4 loss to North Carolina that put their record at 6-8.
With two games to play, the Cavs were in must-win mode with a visit from Boston College looming on their Senior Day. They delivered, with their backs against the wall, a 17-14 win over the Eagles before their win over the Hokies last week to get to 8-8.
The bad news for the Orange is they’re playing a team who’s still in must-win mode with a .500 record, meaning UVA has to win today in order to even be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to be quite the task to face-off with a team that’s playing to keep their season going.
Scouting Virginia
Statistically, the ‘Hoos have been as middle-of-the-road as their record suggests they’ve been. Their offense ranks 76th nationally at 10.75 goals per game, while their defense ranks T-67th at 11.12 goals-against per game.
In their last two must-win games, their offense did show up much better to help get the job done with 30 combined goals.
On the year on offense, UVA ranks 79th nationally in shots per game (26.5), 64th in shots on goal per game (19.25), and 72nd in shooting percentage (.406). Their best attributes are free position percentage, 34th in the country at .488, and turnovers, which rank them 26th at 12.88 per game.
They’re an excellent clearing team, ranking fifth nationally at a .935 success rate, and they’re also a solid draw team with a .577 win percentage on restarts, good for 25th in the country.
Notably, they are not a good ground ball team, ranking T-111th with 13.25 GBs per game.
Names to Know
UVA is led by a trio of juniors in Madison Alaimo, Kate Galica and Jenna Dinardo.
Alaimo leads the team with 40 assists and 54 points as the conductor of the offense from behind the cage. Dinardo is one of their best finishers inside the eight-meter and is second on the team with 24 goals and third with 31 points, although her production has been down across the board from her great first two seasons on campus.
Galica is the team’s all-around best player, leading the team in goals (35), ground balls (30), caused turnovers (21) and draw controls (135). On top of that, she’s also second on the team in assists (17), points (52) and free-position goals (8).
A few sophomores help round out the offense. Fiona Allen is third on the team with 22 goals and fourth with 24 points while shooting 59.5 percent on the season. Gabby LaVerghetta is right behind her with 19 goals, 22 assists and a .613 shooting percent. Jayden Piraino adds 10 goals and 15 points.
Galica leads the draw unit with 135 draw controls, and she’s flanked by Dinardo’s 37 DCs and Alex Reilly’s 30. The trio has combined for a whopping 93 percent of the Cavs’ draw wins on the season.
In goal, Florida graduate transfer Elyse Finnelle has started since the first two games of the season and has made 94 saves with a 10.81 goals-against average and a .378 save percentage. H0wever, she had her best game of the season during the regular season meeting with 10 saves and a .625 percentage.
