College Crosse NCAA Tournament Recap: Virginia Beats Maryland 13-12 In Overtime

Despite never leading in regulation, Virginia was able to put together a 5-0 fourth quarter run when the Cavs were down 12-7 to tie the game up with a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter. Then in overtime Matt Moore capped off Virginia’s comeback with the game-winner thanks to an assist from Michael Kraus to beat Maryland 13-12.

Maryland’s five-goal lead with 10:43 left in the fourth quarter vanished as the Cavs married an aggressive ride, clutch shooting, and face-off wins to fuel their 6-0 run. The Virginia win prevented what would’ve have been the the eighth trip the Final Four since 2011 and sixth in a row for the Maryland Terps.

Virginia was outstanding at the face-off as Peter LaSalla won the last ten, including the one in overtime to help Virginia even be able to make a comeback. Ryan Conrad was great today as he finished with four goals and one assist on the afternoon. Michael Kraus tied Conrad for the team lead in points with five (1G, 4As). While Ian Laviano chipped in with a hat-trick, including a big goal in the fourth quarter to get UVA within two goals.

This is a bitter pill to swallow for the Terps. Maryland was cruising and up five goals with a little over 10 minutes left in the game. Maryland was dominating the 6 on 6 situations and they seemed to have found a way to quell Virginia’s ability to get goals off of unsettled situations. However, the Maryland offense went silent in the fourth quarter as the Terps were unable to win a face-off in the final period.

Maryland’s Danny Dolan had a solid third quarter in the net after getting touched for seven goals in the first half, but UVA’s aggressive rides gave the Cavaliers lots of opportunities and extra shots on the Terps goaltender. Jared Bernhardt played very well for Maryland, as he finished with four goals and one assist. Anthony DeMaio also had a strong game with four goals while Logan Wisnauskas had four points on the afternoon (2Gs, 2 As).

Credit to Virginia for never giving up, but this game will be forever defined by a controversial call with the Terps up one and a little over a minute left in the game.

As you can see above, Virginia’s Michael Kraus let loose a rocket that flew by Danny Dolan but did it entirely cross the goal line? I don’t know, but the ref closest to the ball was calling for a shot-clock reset, so it doesn’t look like he thought it was a goal.

The really sad thing is that that a call like that will forever taint what was otherwise a fantastic game. UVA may very well have tied it up without the whistle by the ref, especially the way they were playing late in the game, but we’ll never know for sure. The controversy from the call will definitely increase the demands for instant replay in the college game.

Virginia will now play the winner of the Notre Dame versus Duke game. A Duke versus Virginia rematch will give the Cavs a chance to end an 11-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.