Steele Stanwick tallied seven points to break the UVa career point record held by Dough Knight (249), but it wasn’t enough as the No. 4 Virginia Cavaliers (10-3) fell to the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels (10-4) in the semifinal round of the ACC Championship on Friday night, 11-9, inside Klöckner Stadium. Now with 253 career points, Stanwick is tied with Gary Gait for No. 27 all-time in NCAA Division I points.
Colin Briggs started quickly for the Cavaliers, scoring 32 seconds into the game to give UVa a 1-0 lead. North Carolina scored back-to-back goals by Ryan Creighton and Jimmy Bitter to stake the Tar Heels to a 2-1 advantage with 4:26 left in the first quarter.
Stanwick assisted Briggs and then scored unassisted with 11:54 left in the second period to give UVa the lead, 3-2. The Cavaliers traded goals back and forth as the game was knotted at 4-4, heading into the intermission. Stanwick’s assist to Chris Bocklet with 3:02 left in the second period tied Knight’s career record.
Rob Emery started the second half scoring with a goal on a Matt White assist. The extra-man score came at the 11:03 mark, giving UVa its final lead of the game, 5-4.
Goals by Jack McBride and Joey Sankey gave UNC the lead, 6-5, at the 10:46 mark. Stanwick broke the record with his unassisted goal at 6:06, tying the contest at 6-6. UVa did not get any closer.
UNC went on a 5-1 run to establish an 11-7 advantage. Marcus Holman scored twice during the run, capping the scoring with 1:55 left in the game. Holman was awarded an unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting after the goal, and was charged with a one-minute, fulltime served penalty.
Emery and White scored back-to-back extra-man scores during the penalty, both assisted by Stanwick, cutting UVa’s final deficit to two goals, 11-9.
UVa won the shots battle (41-29), the ground ball battle (38-31) and the saves battle (11-7). UVa was 3-of-5 on extra-man and a perfect 20-of-20 on clears.
Virginia returns to action a week from tonight in Denver, Colo. The Cavaliers will play Penn at Sports Authority field in the Whitman’s Sampler Mile High Classic. The contest commences at 5:30 p.m., local time and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
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