cville-lax.com

From Media Releases; Photos and additional reporting: cville-lax.com

Virginia tri-captain Ben Rubeor (6) begins a move from behind the Princeton goal, Saturday, March 10, 2007. (Click for a larger version: 112K) Rubeor scored the clutch, game-winning goal as time was close to expiring.

Just one week since the two teams played on the same field in Baltimore, the logical question going into the Virginia – Princeton game was: “Which team’s style would dominate? Virginia’s explosive, uptempo game, or Princeton’s methodical, low-scoring approach?”

It didn’t take long to realize that the matchup looked like a Princeton game, but it did take 59 minutes and 34.6 seconds to know that style didn’t really matter. With just 25.4 seconds on the clock, Virginia attackman Ben Rubeor banged a shot home, lifting the Cavaliers to a 7-6 victory over the #7 Princeton Tigers at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville.

After handing the Tigers their second one-goal loss in as many weeks, the Cavaliers’ fourth victory in a row improves their record to the 4-1 mark for the season. With last week’s double-overtime loss to Johns Hopkins in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic, Princeton drops to 1-2.

Freshman George Huguely (11) battles Tiger middie Brendan Reilly (29) for field position, Saturday, March 10, 2007. (Click for a larger version: 133K) Huguely scored his first collegiate goal about three minutes into the second quarter of the game.

Princeton’s Peter Trombino and Alex Haynie opened the scoring to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead with just over five minutes gone. The Cavaliers forged the first of three ties in the game on goals from Rubeor and Garrett Billings a short time later.

Bob Schneider helped the Tigers regain the lead with his second goal of the season with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

Josh Lesko extended the Tigers’ lead to 4-2 with an unassisted goal in the opening minute of the second quarter.

Freshman George Huguely scored the first goal of his career at the 11:59 mark to draw Virginia within one, but Trombino answered 50 seconds later for Princeton.

The Cavaliers put together a two-goal run of their own on goals by Will Barrow and Billings to knot the score at 5-all at halftime.

Junior midfielder Jack Riley scored on a nifty roll in front to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the day at the 9:27 mark of the third quarter.

Trombino’s third tally of the day created the game’s third tie with 8:24 to play. The Tigers had several chances to take the lead in the final three minutes, but shots by Trombino and Scott Sowanick hit the pipe. Following Sowanick’s miss less than two minutes to play, Mark Kovler picked up the loose ball in front but was stuffed by goalie Kip Turner.

The Cavaliers cleared the ball and called timeout with 1:22 left. They called a second timeout with 32 seconds on the clock. On the restart, Rubeor got inside position on his defender and beat goalie Alex Hewit on a sprint from behind the goal to give the Cavaliers the lead 7-6 with 25.4 seconds on the clock.

Princeton won the ensuing faceoff but was unable to get a shot off in an unsettled situation in front as time expired.

Turner was outstanding in goal for Virginia and finished with 10 saves, including six in the second half. Several of his saves came in one-on-one situations and clearly provided a lift for his team.

Adam Fassnacht controlled the faceoffs for Virginia, winning nine of 12 in his third outstanding performance in a row. For the game, the Cavaliers won 10 of 17 draws.

Ricky Smith joined Turner in the defensive effort by causing five turnovers and scooping four ground balls.

Virginia returns to action this Tuesday (March 13) against Mount St. Mary’s at Klöckner Stadium. The game is scheduled to face off at 7:30 p.m.

Freshman middie Brian Carroll (36) works to win a ground ball despite the efforts of Princeton midfielder Josh Lesko (19) and defenseman Zachary Jungers (36), Saturday, March 10, 2007. (Click for a larger version: 133K)