PHILADELPHIA — Matt Moore scored four goals and Virginia won its sixth NCAA lacrosse championship, beating defending champion Yale 13-9 in the national title game Monday.
Michael Kraus added three goals and Alex Rode made 13 saves for the Cavaliers (17-3), who stifled Yale’s high-powered attack to dethrone the Bulldogs in front of 31,528 fans at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
Many of the spectators were wearing Virginia orange, cheering loudly as the Cavaliers took home their first championship since 2011. They previously won in 1972, 1999, 2003 and 2006.
Matt Brandau led the Bulldogs (15-4) with three goals, including one with 4:30 left that gave them the record for most goals in a single NCAA tournament. Yale finished with 68 goals across four NCAA tourney games.
The Bulldogs, seeded fourth, had stormed past top-seeded Penn State 21-17 in Saturday’s semifinals after the third-seeded Cavaliers nipped second-seeded Duke 13-12, snapping an 11-game losing streak to their ACC rival.
Trailing 6-2 at halftime, Yale quickly got back into it with two goals in the first 1:09 of the second half. But Virginia retook control with the next five goals, including two unassisted strikes from Moore.
Moore, a native of nearby Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania, also scored the first two goals for a 2-1 advantage after the opening quarter. He set Virginia’s single-season points record in the win.
Matt Gaudet (two goals) snapped a 16-minute scoreless streak for Yale early in the second quarter, scoring into an empty net after Rode left his post. But UVA ripped off four straight goals to end the period: the first two from Kraus and the last from Petey LaSalla, who scored twice directly after winning faceoffs.
Yale was playing its second straight ACC opponent in the NCAA title game after beating Duke 13-11 behind four goals from Gaudet in last year’s finale. This was Yale and Virginia’s first meeting since 1991.
