Virginia survives in quarterfinals

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — The Virginia lacrosse team emerged from three emotional weeks in the pressure cooker of Charlottesville to play its first road game since it was thrust into the national spotlight.

It turned out things were nearly as tense in the NCAA quarterfinals at Stony Brook — for far different reasons.

The top-seeded Cavaliers edged eighth-seeded Stony Brook 10-9 to secure a third straight trip to the Final Four, outlasting the resilient Seawolves before a partisan crowd of 10,024 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

“It doesn’t matter how you got there,” said midfielder Shamel Bratton, who scored three goals, “as long as you’re there.”

Chris Bocklet added three goals and two assists while Adam Ghitelman stopped 13 shots for the Cavaliers (16-1), who will play on the final weekend for the 12th time in 17 seasons. Virginia will meet fifth-seeded Duke in Saturday’s semifinals in at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Much was expected of Virginia, which played for the second time since midfielder George Huguely was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Yeardley Love, a member of the UVa women’s team.

And perhaps more attention was placed on this game after the women’s team lost its own quarterfinal at North Carolina on Saturday.

“You really want to win for them now,” Ghitelman said. “It’s a lot of motivation for me, personally, and I think the team. Those girls deserve everything. We want to play for them for the rest of this year and we’re going to do that.”

Ghitelman played a substantial role in prolonging Virginia’s season.

Stony Brook (13-4), which had already erased three leads, got an open look from the left wing with 29 seconds remaining.

Attackman Jordan McBride zipped a low attempt as Ghitelman edged to his right, ultimately spearing the shot and sending an outlet pass the other way. Virginia cleared and called a timeout, and Bratton ran out the final seven seconds as the Cavaliers enjoyed a muted celebration.

“I think he ended up maybe forcing that shot a little bit,” Ghitelman said. “I guess I had a good angle on it. It came quick. I wasn’t expecting a shot at that moment. I just got my stick on it and I’m just thankful I made a stop there.”

Such a harrowing conclusion seemed unlikely early while Virginia built a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter. But buoyed by the crowd and a dominant faceoff performance, the Seawolves rallied.

Stony Brook’s Adam Rand won 18 of 23 faceoffs, helping his team gradually climb back into it. The Seawolves tied it in the third quarter, only to watch Bocklet score twice to bump the lead to 7-5.

But the edge didn’t last long. Stony Brook scored off a pair of faceoffs to open the fourth quarter, leaving the Cavaliers in a tight game they seemed poised to win with ease just a little while earlier.

“Naturally, you do kind of take your foot off the pedal,” attackman Steele Stanwick said. “I think that’s a natural thing. I think that’s a lesson for us to learn that we have to put the pedal to the metal there, especially against a team like Stony Brook with such an explosive offense. The way they were winning faceoffs, they were never out of the game.”

If there was any lingering weariness from this month’s tumult, it wasn’t obvious in the fourth quarter. Virginia’s reply to the Seawolves’ two-goal burst was a 10-yard dart from Bratton to make it 8-7.

Stony Brook needed more than eight minutes to finally solve the Virginia offense and tie it again. But the Cavaliers collected a rare faceoff win, and Bocklet deposited a Mikey Thompson pass in transition with 5:21 left. Moments later, second-line midfielder Colin Briggs scored off the invert to re-establish a two-goal edge.

“It’s always been a concern over the last couple weeks about whether the emotional tank would run a little dry,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “But I didn’t feel that coming in. I sort of felt that excuse was built-in, but I don’t think it was a factor today.”

Nonetheless, the Seawolves wouldn’t fold in the first quarterfinal appearance in school history. Tom Compitello, whom Clausen blanketed throughout the day, took advantage of a rare misstep by the senior to slice the lead in half with 2:11 left.

Then came McBride’s shot, an instinctual move that might have come a little earlier than the Seawolves would have liked.

“That’s one shot I definitely want back,” McBride said. “I’m going to be thinking about it until next year.”

Next year — and even next month — is the furthest thing from the minds of those in the Cavaliers’ program. Instead, they secured at least a few more days together and the chance to play lacrosse an extra week while continuing to process Love’s death and Huguely’s arrest.

“We’ve been through a lot,” Clausen said. “Something the coaches have been saying and it’s kind of been our motto is we’re not ready for this thing to end yet, and that goes for everything that’s been going on. Lacrosse aside from that, we want to be able to stick together as a team a little bit longer.”