The Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse team represents the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) Division I men's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

. The Cavaliers compete in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) and plays home games at

Klöckner Stadium Klöckner Stadium is a multi-purpose sports stadium located on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The stadium is home to the Virginia Cavaliers's Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer, men's and Virginia Cavaliers wome ...

, or occasionally Turf Field or Scott Stadium, in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

. The team is coached by

Lars Tiffany Lars Tiffany (born 1968) is an American lacrosse coach. He is the current head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse program at the University of Virginia. Tiffany has led Virginia to back-to-back national titles (the 2019 NCAA Division I ...

, who led the team to back-to-back national titles in the 2019 NCAA Lacrosse Championship and 2021 NCAA Lacrosse Championship (the 2020 tournament being canceled due to

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). Winning seven NCAA Championships and nine national titles overall, Virginia is one of the all-time great collegiate lacrosse programs. Virginia's 2006 team was one of the strongest in the history of the sport, finishing 17–0 out of a very competitive ACC, and winning 16 of its 17 games by four or more goals. Each former Virginia head coach in the NCAA era of men's lacrosse (

Dom Starsia Dom Starsia (born April 21, 1952) is an American lacrosse coach. He is the former head coach of the University of Virginia men's lacrosse program, with whom he won four NCAA national championships, in 1999, 2003, 2006, and 2011. Previously, he ...

, "Ace" Adams, and Glenn Thiel) is among the top 25 of all-time lacrosse coaching wins. Both Tiffany and Starsia coincidentally moved into the Virginia position after they first achieved success as head coaches at their ''alma mater''

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. Virginia's historic rivalries have extended to the championship matches of six different NCAA Tournaments, with the Cavaliers winning five of those six—defeating Syracuse in 1999, defeating Maryland in 2011 and in 2021, and defeating Johns Hopkins in 1972 and in 2003—while losing just one, in double-overtime, to Hopkins in 1980.

History

University records show that Virginia fielded lacrosse teams from 1904 to 1907, although no further information from that period is available.''Virginia Men's Lacrosse Media Guide''
, University of Virginia. After a hiatus, lacrosse returned to Charlottesville in 1925 though the team struggled in the ensuing years. Through 1932, the Cavaliers won only one game, while they lost 30 and tied four. Virginia along with Duke, UNC, and Washington & Lee played in the Dixie Lacrosse League from 1938 to 1942 with the Cavaliers winning the championship in the inaugural season. The team was disbanded after the 1932 season and would play sporadically until lacrosse returned for good in 1947. Two years later, Virginia won more games than it lost for the first time in school history when it posted a 7–4 record. The Cavaliers then posted an 8–3 mark in 1950 and 7–2 in 1951. The following season, they recorded an identical tally and the

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsi ...

(USILA) named Virginia the 1952 co-national champions. Virginia-UVA-Johns-Hopkins-lacrosse

In 1970, Virginia finished the season with an 8–2 record and the USILA again awarded them as co-champions with Navy and Johns Hopkins. The following season, the NCAA instituted a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

to determine the national championship, and the Cavaliers made an appearance but were eliminated by

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

in the first round. In 1972, Virginia again secured a tournament berth, and beat in succession

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, Cortland State, and Johns Hopkins for their first NCAA national championship. In 1978, former Army coach Jim "Ace" Adams took over as head coach, and from that season onward, Virginia has been a regular participant in the NCAA tournament. Since then, the Cavaliers have never failed to qualify in two consecutive seasons. Virginia advanced to the championship game in 1980,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

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, and 1996, each time falling to the eventual champion by one goal. In 1993,

became head coach, leading the Cavaliers to national titles in 1999, 2003,

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, and

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. Since the establishment of an ACC tournament in 1989, Virginia has won the regular-season championship ten times, more than any of the other three teams in the league. Virginia's 2006 season was remarkable as the Cavaliers became the first team in NCAA history to finish the season with a 17–0 record en route to the program's third national championship in eight years. The team won its games by an average of more than eight goals per game and drew comparisons to some of the best lacrosse teams of all time. The Virginia offense led the nation in scoring (15.28), while the defense ranked 10th, allowing fewer than eight goals per game. Eight Cavaliers were named All-Americans, the most in program history, and senior attackman Matt Ward received the

Tewaaraton Trophy The Tewaaraton Award is an annual award for the most outstanding American college lacrosse men's and women's players, since 2001. It is the lacrosse equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy. The award is presented by The Tewaaraton Foundation and th ...

as the best player in the nation. In 2011, the Cavaliers posted a 9–5 regular-season record before entering the NCAA tournament, where they defeated Bucknell,

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

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, and finally

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

9–7 to win their fifth NCAA championship. During the tournament, head coach Dom Starsia became the all-time wins leader in Division I men's lacrosse history, breaking

Jack Emmer John S. Emmer is a former American lacrosse coach. He retired in 2005 with 326 wins, making him the lacrosse coach with the most wins in NCAA history. This mark was surpassed in 2008 by Jim Berkman of Division III Salisbury University. Emmer is on ...

's previous mark of 326 wins. Five Cavaliers were named USILA All-Americans. Following the tournament, third-year attackman Steele Stanwick won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation's top player. Starsia left the program at the conclusion of the 2016 season after a poor run of four seasons that included two losing records – only the program's third and fourth since the NCAA championship era began in 1971.

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

head coach

, who had played for Starsia at the college, was named as his replacement on June 21, 2016. In his third season, Tiffany led the Cavaliers to an 17–3 season record, an ACC championship, and back to the 2019 National Championship Game where they defeated

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, 13–9, to claim their eighth title. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19, Tiffany led the 2021 team to a 14–4 season record and the 2021 National Championship Game where they defeated Maryland, 17–16, to retain their title.

Rivalries

Virginia–Syracuse has been an extremely evenly matched series between two lacrosse titans. Virginia has gained the upper hand in the Johns Hopkins and Maryland rivalries since the 1980s and 1990s, but trails in those all-time series (especially to Johns Hopkins) as a "late blooming" national power. * Virginia–Syracuse lacrosse rivalry, Syracuse leads 20–18, but Virginia has a 7–3 edge in NCAA Tournaments. * Virginia–Johns Hopkins lacrosse rivalry, Virginia leads 20–13 since 1994 but trails the overall series 61–32–1. * Virginia–Maryland lacrosse rivalry, Virginia leads 38–18 since 1980 but trails the overall series 47–46.

Season Results

The following is a list of Virginia's results by season as an NCAA Division I program: {, class="wikitable" , - align="center" †NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

Alumni in the
Premier Lacrosse League Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league, composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The le ...
(10)

{, class="wikitable" , - align="center" , 2011 , Adam Ghitelman , Goalie , 5'9 , 180 , Denver Outlaws (MLL) , 8th round (45th overall) , Archers LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2011 , Thomas Kelly , Faceoff , 6'0 , 215 , Undrafted , Undrafted , Chaos LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2017 , Zed Williams , Attack , 6'2 , 230 , Georgia Storm (NLL) , 1st round (4th overall) , Whipsnakes LC , 2x All Star ('20,'21) , 1x MVP ('20), 1x McEneaney ('20) , - align="center" , 2018 , Scott Hooper , Defense , 6'1 , 180 , Charlotte Hounds (MLL) , 4th round (28th overall) , Cannons LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2019 , Ryan Conrad , Midfield , 6'0 , 190 , Atlas LC , 1st round (2nd overall) , Waterdogs LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2021 , Jared Conners , LSM , 6'5 , 215 , Archers LC , 1st round (5th overall) , Archers LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2021 , Dox Aitken , Midfield , 6'2 , 210 , Atlas LC , 1st round (8th overall) , Atlas LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2021 , Charlie Bertrand , Midfield , 6'3 , 220 , Redwoods LC , 3rd round (24th overall) , Redwoods LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2022 , Matt Moore , Attack , 6'2 , 195 , Archers LC , 1st round (4th overall) , Archers LC , None , None , - align="center" , 2022 , Chris Merle , D Midfield , 6'1 , 200 , Undrafted , Undrafted , Archers LC , None , None

References

External links