Maryland dominated in the faceoff x, winning 10 of 12 in the first half en route to a 7-3 lead, and the Terps were even more dominant on defense, holding Virginia to six goals on 39 shots in a 12-6 win in the national semifinals on Saturday in Philadelphia.
The loss for UVA (12-6) ends another ‘Hoos season a game short of an appearance in a national-title game.
Maryland (11-5) advances to meet defending national champ Notre Dame (15-1), a 13-6 winner over Denver in the other national semifinal.
Maryland faceoff specialist Luke Wierman was the MVP in this one. Wierman, ranked third nationally in faceoffs (62.4 percent), won 15 of the 22 faceoffs he was in on the day, giving the Terps a distinct advantage in possession.
Virginia actually got on the board first, on a goal from Connor Shellenberger 55 seconds into the game.
Maryland stormed back to score the game’s next four goals, the fourth coming on a Wierman sprint toward the goal after a faceoff win that put Maryland up 4-1 going into the second.
Joey Terenzi scored at the 11:49 mark of the second quarter, assisted by Chase Yager, to get the score to 4-2, but that would be as close as it would get the rest of the way.
Maryland scored twice in the opening minute of the second half, on goals by Jack Koras and Eric Spanos, to up the lead to 9-3, and the rout was on.
Virginia did cut the margin to 11-6 on back-to-back fourth-quarter goals from Payton Cormier and McCabe Millon, but the ‘Hoos were scoreless for the final 7:13 as Maryland closed things out.
Cormier’s goal was 65th of the season in the fourth, extending his UVA program record, and the 224th of his career, the most ever in D1 men’s lacrosse.
Millon’s fourth-quarter goal, his second of the day, was his 41st, establishing a new UVA freshman goals record.
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Chris Graham
