#7 UVA (8-2) cruised to a 17-6 triumph over the visiting Utah Utes (4-7) on Sunday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium. The victory is the seventh in a row for UVA, giving the Cavaliers their first seven-game winning streak since starting the 2012 season 8-0.
Virginia got after Utah early, opening the game on a 6-0 run before the Utes managed to get their first shot off. Utah, a first-year program, didn’t record its first shot until the 3:03 mark in the first quarter. During that span Matt Moore scored three goals and Michael Kraus scored two, while adding an assist. In the first quarter the Cavaliers picked up 19 ground balls and made 19 shots, while Utah managed just four shots and picked up 11 ground balls.
Kraus started the game’s scoring at 13:03 in the first quarter. A shot by Moore was blocked and Kraus picked up the ground ball in front of the cage and scored easily. The goal was the 100th career goal of his career. Kraus is the 16th different Cavalier to reach 100 career goals and in career game No. 42 he is the third fastest. Only Dough Knight (39 games) and Kevin Pehlke (40 games) reached the milestone quicker.
The Cavaliers opened the game on a 9-0 run. Ryan Lamb capped the streak with an unassisted goal at 8:46 left in the second quarter. After Utah scored its first goal with 2:35 left before the intermission, UVA finished the quarter on a 4-1 streak, which included scoring two goals in the final eight seconds.
After Jack Peele scored his first career goal unassisted with eight seconds left, Ryan Conrad picked up the ensuing faceoff’s ground ball win. From the V-sabre at midfield Conrad shucked a shot and found nylon with 0.7 seconds left on the clock, sending UVA into the break with a 13-2 lead.
UVA started the third quarter on a 4-0 run, which was capped by back-to-back goals by Mikey Herring at 3:53 in the third quarter. Halfway through the third quarter UVA head coach Lars Tiffany began to empty his bench as for the second game in a row 35 different Cavaliers saw action.
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Chris Graham
