Virginia Men's Lacrosse Wins National Championship
A.J. Shannon scores four goals to lead the Cavaliers to a 9-7 victory over Johns Hopkins.
Virginia's Hunter Kass leads the charge off the bench onto the field to celebrate Virginia's 9-7 NCAA lacrosse finals victory.

Virginia's Hunter Kass leads the charge off the bench onto the field to celebrate Virginia's 9-7 NCAA lacrosse finals victory.

May 26, 2003

David Ginsburg
AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE - Virginia won its third NCAA lacrosse championship Monday, getting four goals from A.J. Shannon and 13 saves from Tillman Johnson in a 9-7 victory over Johns Hopkins.

Chris Rotelli had a goal and four assists for the Cavaliers (15-2), who raced to a 5-0 lead and avenged an earlier 8-7 loss to the top-seeded Blue Jays (14-2).

The Cavaliers, whose previous Division I titles came in 1972 and 1999, outscored their opponents 54-26 in four playoff games this month.

Hopkins was denied its bid to win its eighth NCAA title - the first since 1987. It was the Blue Jays' first appearance in the championship game in 14 years.

The game was played before 37,944 fans at M&T Bank Stadium, the largest crowd ever to watch the championship. It was the fifth game in three days on the damp field, leaving the area in front of both goals virtually devoid of grass and extremely sloppy.

That hurt the offensive-oriented Blue Jays, whose 11-game winning streak ended.

Hopkins' frustration could also be attributed heavily to Johnson, who had 18 saves Saturday in the Cavaliers' 14-4 semifinal win over Maryland. This time, Johnson repeatedly foiled the Blue Jays, especially at the outset of the fourth quarter when he turned away three close-in shots in the span of 15 seconds.

Down 6-4 at halftime, Hopkins turned up the defense and cut the margin to one goal when Greg Peyser scored with 5:41 remaining in the third quarter.

But the Cavaliers responded with an extra-man goal by John Christmas, and Shannon tallied his fourth of the game with five seconds left in the period for an 8-5 lead.

The Cavaliers then went into a slowdown on offense, and Johnson made sure the lead stood up.

Virginia went up 2-0 in the opening four minutes. Rotelli scored on the Cavaliers' first shot, and Shannon began his productive afternoon by scoring from close range after taking a pass from Christmas.

 

 

Johnson made four solid saves on the other end before Shannon scored on a one-hopper. Billy Glading scored for Virginia with two seconds left in the period.

It was only the fourth time this season that Hopkins was held scoreless over an entire quarter.

After Shannon's third goal made it 5-0, Joe McDermott finally ended the Blue Jays' drought with 8:17 left in the half. Bobby Benson and Corey Harned then scored in a nine-second span to bring the Blue Jays to 5-3.