Defending national champion and preseason #1 Virginia led big early, then had to fight off #14 Loyola to win 12-9 in the Cavaliers’ season opener on Saturday at Klöckner Stadium.
UVA goalie Alex Rode tied his career high with 19 saves, including 13 in the first half, as Virginia built a 9-3 heading into intermission.
“Maybe this is a little bit of a challenge for a team who was used to coming from behind last year, and now we’re playing a good opponent, Loyola, and now we have a lead. How do we deal with playing with a lead? I don’t know if we passed that test with flying colors. I’d probably give us a C. Good enough to win, we’re happy about that. But we can do a better job in that situation,” Virginia coach Lars Tiffany said afterward.
The ‘Hoos opened the game on a 4-1 run in the first quarter, getting goals from Ian Laviano, Matt Moore and two from Payton Cormier. Moore’s unassisted score at 3:16 in the first capped the run.
After Loyola scored an extra-man goal at 13:42 by Adam Poitras, via a Aidan Olmstead helper, the Cavaliers reeled off five-straight goals.
Loyola, then, made it interesting late, closing out the game on a 7-3 run to make the score respectable.
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