ALBANY — Virginia junior attack Connor Shellenberger scored one of the fastest goals in men’s lacrosse NCAA Tournament history to start Saturday’s quarterfinal match against Georgetown at the University at Albany’s Casey Stadium.
From there, Shellenberger and his Cavaliers teammates were off and running to another Final Four appearance.
Shellenberger scored seven seconds into the game and twice in the first 16 seconds in second-seeded Virginia’s 17-14 victory over No. 7 Georgetown.
“I think it helps you get into that zone pretty quickly,” said Shellenberger, a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award, which goes to the best player in college lacrosse. “A lot of credit to Petey LaSalla to win those two faceoffs early like that, and I think it helped us settle into the game a little bit and try to set the tone.”
Virginia (13-3) advances to the Final Four in Philadelphia, where it will try to win its eighth NCAA title.
“To overcome a team that has just as much athleticism as we do and actually more men drafted in the PLL (Premier Lacrosse League) draft, really feel a sense of accomplishment that we’ve earned our way into the Final Four,” Virginia coach Lars Tiffany said. “And that’s with tremendous respect for (Georgetown coach) Kevin Warne, his staff and what they’ve done.”
Shellenberger showed no signs of a reported lower-body injury that has bothered him this season. He finished with six goals and 10 points, both tying Virginia single-game records for the NCAA Tournament.
After LaSalla won the opening faceoff, he passed to Shellenberger, who beat Georgetown goalie Danny Hincks for a 1-0 lead.
The only players to score faster in an NCAA Tournament game are Syracuse’s Matt Riter, who scored five seconds into a 1993 match with Hofstra, and Hofstra’s John Antoniades, who tallied six seconds in against Johns Hopkins in 2011.
Then LaSalla won the ensuing faceoff, which led to another Shellenberger score and a 2-0 lead with 14:44 to play in the first quarter.
Virginia never trailed in the match and led by as many as three goals in the first half. However, Georgetown (13-4) didn’t wilt and trailed only 10-9 at halftime.
The match was tied at 11 when Virginia ran off four straight goals in the final nine minutes of the third quarter to go head 15-11.
Warne said he didn’t think his team was fazed by Virginia’s fast start. Georgetown fell behind Yale 8-3 in a first-round match last week before rallying for a 19-17 victory. But Georgetown had no answers for Shellenberger, which had Warne longing for his departure.
“I felt like when they got on that run in the third quarter, that just didn’t help,” Warne said. “We couldn’t stop them. But again, (Shellenberger) is a great player. He’s fantastic and at some point, he will graduate.”
Virginia improved to 6-0 all-time against Georgetown. Brian Minicus led the Hoyas with four goals.
Tiffany was complimentary of the atmosphere at Casey Stadium, which hosted the quarterfinals for the first time.
“I know the passion for lacrosse up here,” said Tiffany, who is from Lafayette in central New York. “We don’t get up here very often … You can feel it with the fans, the intensity.”