The Fightin' Blue Hens broke a 7-7 tie early in the second half by scoring seven straight goals, including two each by Jordan Hall and Curtis Dickson.
The win advances the Hens to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals, and they will face the University of Maryland Baltimore County at noon, Sunday, May 20, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. UMBC advanced by defeating the University of Maryland 13-9 on Sunday evening. The game will be broadcast on WVUD-FM 91.3.
Virginia, the defending national champion, entered the game against UD ranked No. 3 and having won eight straight games at home.
“I am so impressed and proud of this team,” UD Head Coach Bob Shillinglaw said. “This is such a great group and the best part is that we get at least one more chance to play. They played their hearts out today but even more importantly, they executed well. We played aggressive defense and created a transition game and our offense took it from there.”
Shillinglaw added, “This win is right up there with any of them we've had here and that means a lot. I think today's win says a lot about the growth of not only our program but about the growth of the game.”
The Hens, playing in the NCAA tournament for the fourth time, earned their first tournament win since downing UMBC in the first round in 1999. Also, they snapped a streak of 20 straight losses to top 10 opponents.
Virginia is the highest ranked opponent the Hens have ever defeated. UD's only other top five win was a 9-5 victory over No. 5 Maryland in 1985.
Dickson, a freshman, led the Hens with four goals and an assist while Vincent Giordano added two goals and an assist, Adam Zuder-Havens contributed a goal and two assists, and Brett Manney dished out two assists. Junior goalkeeper Tommy Scherr played a strong game, with a season-high 18 save. He consistently turned back an offense that entered the game ranked No. 4 in the nation in scoring with 11.6 goals per game.
UD's two-time All-America face-off specialist Alex Smith, the 2007 CAA Player of the Year, was outstanding once again, winning 18 of 26 face-offs and scooping up 10 ground balls. Smith won the first face-off of the game to set an NCAA record for wins in a season at 275 and during the game he became the first player in NCAA history to surpass 1,000 career face-off victories.
Virginia got four goals and one assist from Danny Glading and three goals from Drew Thompson. However, its top two scorers, Ben Rubeor (46 goals) and Garrett Billings (21 goals, 22 assists), both were held without a goal as the Hens came up with a stellar defensive effort.
“We talked all week about coming in here and not being shell shocked because of the big crowd and Virginia's national ranking,” Scherr said. “But when you get here and see it, I think maybe we were at first. But after we made our first stop, we kept building on it and we came out and made the plays. The defense did a great job of making Virginia's shots manageable for me. That's all I can ask for and that made my job a lot easier today.”
UD won a berth in the tournament by defeating Towson University for the Colonial Athletic Association championship. Towson gained a tournament at-large berth but fell 14-6 to Cornell University on Saturday.
The other quarterfinal game in Annapolis will pit Duke University against the University of North Carolina. The two games will be played at noon and 3 p.m.
The quarterfinal games to be played in Princeton will feature games that match Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, and also Cornell and the State University of New York at Albany.
The semifinals and final will be played at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. Semifinal games will be played at noon and 2:30 p.m., Saturday, May 26, with the final at 1 p.m., Monday, May 28, which is Memorial Day.
