Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Ben Rubeor scored 3 goals to lead UVa to an 18-13 win over Towson Saturday.
TOWSON, MD—For the second Saturday in a row, Virginia used a big run early in the second half to break open a tight contest and defeat Towson 18-13 before a crowd of 1851 fans at Johnny Unitas Stadium and extend the nation’s longest winning streak to eight games.
Ben Rubeor scored three goals to lead a balanced offensive effort for the second-ranked Cavaliers. Thirteen different Cavaliers scored as Virginia improved to 8-0 on the season.
Towson lost for the eighth consecutive time to Virginia as the Tigers fall to 1-3 overall.
Virginia scored twice in the opening three-and-a-half minutes, but the Tigers answered with goals 37 seconds apart to forge the first of three first-half ties.
Garett Ince, who won 14 of 26 faceoffs, scored quickly after the faceoff following Towson’s second goal as Virginia scored three of the game’s next four goals to build a 5-3 lead midway through the first quarter. Rubeor and Garrett Billings tallied 12 seconds apart to give UVa its second two-goal lead of the quarter.
Jonathan Engelke and Bill McCutcheon strung together goals for Towson late in the quarter to knot the score at five.
Brian Carroll’s extra-man goal and Gavin Gill’s goal from the right side pushed Virginia’s lead to 7-5 halfway through the second quarter.
Towson used goals by McCutcheon and Engelke to send the teams to the locker room tied at seven and marking only the second time all season Virginia was tied at the break.
As they did in last week’s win over Princeton, the Cavaliers came out of the locker room with a purpose by scoring four goals in the opening four minutes to build their biggest lead of the game at 11-7. Gill got the Cavaliers started with his second of the day and was followed 18 seconds later by Mike Thompson’s second goal of the year. Brian Carroll tallied at the 12:11 mark and Will Barrow less than a minute later to give Virginia some breathing room.
“I was pleased that we battled in the second half,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “I thought that we played better when we came out of the locker room—that’s been a characteristic of this team. But we’ve got to play better in the beginning of the game.”
Ben Rubeor’s goal at the 9:12 mark was Virginia’s fifth in a row as the Cavaliers scored on five of their first eight shots of the half to build a five-goal cushion at 12-7.
Towson chipped away at the Cavaliers’ lead with scores by McCutcheon and Eric Boyle, but goals by Billings and Steve Giannone enabled Virginia to take a 14-9 lead into the fourth quarter.
Randall Cooper’s extra-man goal and Tim Stratton’s third goal of the season cut Virginia’s lead to 14-11. Drew Garrison notched an extra-man goal of his own to push Virginia’s lead to four, but Adam Hagelin and Boyle strung back-to-back goals together to pull Towson within two at 15-13. The Tigers would not be able to get any closer however as Virginia closed the contest with three unanswered goals.
Adam Ghitelman recorded a career-high 14 saves, including 10 in the second half to give the Virginia defense an important lift.
“I thought we did a better job defensively in the second half,” Starsia said. “Ghitelman seemed like he had his eye on the ball a little better and I thought we were much more alert on the defensive end of the field. If we had just stayed out of the penalty box and not turned the ball over on some of those man-down clears, we would have been even more successful.”
The Cavaliers return home to Klöckner Stadium next Saturday to play host to Johns Hopkins. The game is scheduled to faceoff at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.
Virginia 5-2-7-4—18 record: 7-0 Towson 5-2-2-4—13 record: 1-3 att—1851
Scoring (G-A)— V: Ben Rubeor 3-2, Garrett Billings 2-4, Gavin Gill 2-3, Brian Carroll 2-1, Mike Thompson 1-1, Will Barrow 1-0, Shamel Bratton 1-0, Drew Garrison 1-0, Steve Giannone 1-0, Danny Glading 1-0, Garett Ince 1-0, Max Pomper 1-0, Jack Riley 1-0, Rhamel Bratton 0-2. T: Jonathan Engelke 3-1, Bill McCutchon 3-0, Eric Boyle 2-3, Adam Hagelin 2-0, Randall Cooper 1-1, Tim Stratton 1-1, Brian Vetter 1-0, Blake Best 0-1, Matt Latonick 0-1.
Goalie Summary—V: Adam Ghitelman 60 mins., 14 saves, 13 goal allowed. T: Billy Sadler 46:41 mins., 11 saves, 14 goals allowed; Matt Antol 13:19 mins., 2 saves, 4 goals allowed.
Shots: V—54, T—36 Ground Balls: V —45, T —41 Clearing: V —18x23, T —15x21 Faceoffs: V —16, T—17 Penalties: V —8-7:30, T—3-2:30 EMO: V —2x3, T—3x7
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Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
