The Ohio State Buckeyes had no answer for Payton Cormier, who scored a career-high seven goals on 12 shots as the University of Virginia Cavaliers men’s lacrosse team improved their record to 3-0 Saturday night in the finale of the 2023 Southwest Florida Shootout. They beat Ohio State 17-6.
The Cavaliers never trailed in their first appearance of the SWFL classic, which debuted last year with Ohio State beating Harvard. This year the Shootout expanded in a big way as they hosted four Division I powerhouse programs. Marquette beat Michigan in the opener 14-9.
Virginia jumped out to a strong start in front of a record crowd in Naples, with Jeff Conner and Patrick McIntosh opening up the scoring for the Cavs before Ed Shean got the Buckeyes on the board to make the score 2-1. On the ensuing faceoff, Petey LaSalla responded with a fac-eoff win and goal to push the led to 3-1. Lasalla controlled the draws early, winning 7 of 11 first half faceoffs.
Ohio State’s goalie Skylar Wahlund, last week’s ‘Big 10 Specialist of the Week’ winner, was asked to expand his role to offense this week as he scored a goal from his restraining line after Virginia’s 10-man ride left the Cavalier net open. Petey LaSalla again had the answer for UVA on the next faceoff with another goal to restore Virginia’s two-goal advantage.
Ohio State star attackman Jack Meyers netted two goals in the second quarter, as the Buckeyes tried to claw back into the game.
The Cavaliers began the second half with a three-goal run with goals from Xander Dickson, Cormier and Griffin Schutz to put Virginia ahead 10-4.
The Cavaliers never looked back.
After leading 7-4 at halftime, the Virginia defense shut down the Buckeyes, limiting them to just two second-half goals. Virginia net-minder Matthew Nunes made eight saves on only 14 shots on goal for the Buckeyes. On the offensive side, UVA continued their success with Payton Cormier leading the charge on a scoresheet that included nine different goal scorers for the team.
Saturday’s win solidified the Cavs as the best team in the country. Virginia’s offense hung 17 goals on an Ohio State defense that held North Carolina to just five goals last week, and was talked about going into this game as having one of the best defenses in the country. Defensively, Virginia looked strong after allowing 13 and 21 goals in the first two games of the season.
Virginia will return to action on Saturday, March 4th against Richmond at Klockner Stadium at 6p .m.
The Buckeyes will look to rebound as they host Cornell, March 4th at 12 p.m.
Hear from MVP Payton Cormier:
