Virginia Defeats the Mount, 14-6

In a mid-week matchup, the newly No. 4 Virginia men's lacrosse team made the trek to Emmitsburg, Maryland to face the Mount of Mount St. Mary's. The game was the last chance for Coach Starsia's squad to tune up before new conference member and No. 6 ranked Syracuse comes to town on Saturday night.

Owen Van Arsdale, who notched a new career high in points (6) and assists (4) against Rutgers on Saturday, kept rolling Tuesday, scoring back to back goals to open the game. James Pannell tallied another for the Hoos before the Mount cracked the scoring column, and Mark Cockerton got one of his own to put Virginia up 4-1 at the end of the first quarter.

Mount St. Mary's Mike Fields cut the deficit to two a couple minutes into the second quarter, and then the Mark Cockerton show really got rolling. The lefty Canadian fourth year scored four of the next five goals (the other was by Virginia first year Ryan Lukacovic) as the Cavaliers jumped out to a six goal lead at half time, 9-3.

After the break, the Mount scored three of four goals in the third quarter, with James Pannell getting his second of the day on a feed from short stick midfielder Carlson Milikin. Virginia let Mt. St. Mary's get within four goals before clamping down in the fourth quarter and tallying the final four scores of the game to claim the 14-6 win.

At the end of the day, Cockerton finished with a career high seven goals, outscoring the entire Mount St. Mary's team. He now has 18 goals and 24 points, both of which lead the nation at this point in the season. Cockerton had 49 goals last season in 14 games, averaging over a hat trick (3.5 goals) per game. He is just above that mark in the early going this year (3.6 goals per game), and some are already wondering if he is on his way to the record books at Virginia.

@jjiloty @UVAMensLacrosse Cockerton can get a shot off in his sleep. Doug Knight's school record for goals at 56 in 1996 could go down!

— Paul Carcaterra (@paulcarcaterra) February 26, 2014

Pannell and Van Arsdale both finished with two goals, while Ryan Tucker, Lukacovic and first year Joe French each added one tally. Fellow first year Zed Williams assisted French's goal, and the points were the first for each of them, but certainly not their last.

On defense, Greg Danseglio had a phenomenal day off the ground, grabbing a team high nine ground balls. Joe Lisicky caused four turnovers, while Tanner Scales and Bobby Hill each had three. Goalie Matt Barrett had another double digit save day with 10.

Virginia's season gets serious over the next four weeks with games against Syracuse, Cornell, Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins. The contest with the Orange on Saturday night will be a big litmus test as to where the Cavaliers currently stand. Come out following the basketball game and give the guys some support...just remember to dress warmly!