Monday Motivation: Doyle Smith Cup stays in its rightful place

Whatever, no one wanted to go to dumb Houston anyway.

Keep those chins up, Wahoo fans. I'm here to help.

Rapid Fire

-Women's Softball makes their Monday Motivation debut after taking the series against Pittsburgh this weekend. The Hoos won 8-5 and 4-2 to secure the series, picking up their first conference wins and pushing their record to 11-23 (2-7 ACC). In the first game of the series, Virginia got home runs from Allie Ameson and McKall Miller as the Hoos used a big first inning to run out ahead of Pittsburgh.

Home runs proved to be the difference in the rubber match of the series as once again two Hoos homered, this time Iyana Hughes and Allison Davis. Next up, the Cavaliers host Radford and JMU (for a double header) midweek before hitting the road for Boston College.

-The No.13 Women's Lacrosse team overcame a 6-3 halftime deficit to defeat JMU 10-9 to break a four game losing streak. Kasey Behr, Posey Valis, Kelly Reese, and Kelly Boyd all had two goals each in the win and Besser Dyson and Avery Shoemaker each contributed a goal.

Next up, Virginia hosts Boston College on April 2 for Senior Day.

-Virginia alum Steve Marino (c/o 2012) came in second place in the Puerto Rico Open on the PGA tour, falling in a three-hole playoff to Tony Finau. The second place finish earned Marino a nice paycheck of $324,000, and he is currently ranked 237th in the World Golf Rankings. In the FedExCup rankings, Marino sits at 102nd.

-No.2 Men's Tennis took down ACC foes Notre Dame and Boston College, working their way towards another epic conference winning streak. Against the Fighting Irish, Virginia won the doubles point and all but one singles match to take a 6-1 victory. The Hoos then blanked Boston College 7-0 to push their season record to 16-2 (6-0 ACC). Next up, Virginia travels to Chapel Hill to take on No.1 North Carolina (who beat Virginia in the ITA Indoor Finals), then visits Duke.

-No.12 Women's Tennis shut out Florida State 4-0, winning the doubles point and three straight-set singles matches to secure the victory. Julia Elbaba, Victoria Olivarez, and Meghan Kelley picked up the singles points for Virginia. Next up, the Hoos host No.10 Duke and No.22 Georgia Tech on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

-The No.9 Baseball team stole the series opener from No.7 Louisville, 6-3, behind some big shots. Both Matt Thaiss and Pavin Smith hit three-run homeruns in the game, providing all of Virginia's scoring. Connor Jones got his fifth win (to go with no losses) of the season with 7.1 innings of four strikeout work for the Cavaliers.

Earlier in the week, Virginia pounded JMU 15-6. The Hoos are now 17-8 (5-4 ACC) and will host Old Dominion on Tuesday.

HOO-mongous Win

-For the third straight year, Virginia defeated No.8 Johns Hopkins by way of overtime. The last two seasons, Greg Coholan was the hero, but this time a different star emerged for the struggling Wahoos. With the win, Virginia retains possession of the coveted Doyle Smith Cup.

Hopkins opened the game with four straight goals, but the Cavaliers responded with a six goal run to take a 6-5 lead into halftime. Five different goal scorers - James Pannell, Greg Coholan, Zed Williams, Jason Murphy, and Ryan Lukacovic - tallied at least one goal (Coholan had two) in the six goal spurt for Virginia.

In the second half, Virginia extended their lead to 8-6 before Hopkins went on a mini run of their own, scoring three goals in 32 seconds to take a 9-8 lead. From there, both teams alternated goals, culminating in Coholan tying the game with 20 seconds remaining to force overtime.

In overtime, Virginia won the faceoff due to a violation on the Blue Jays, and Zed Williams managed to draw a penalty flag (their first of the game). That penalty proved to be unnecessary as Mike "Super" D'Amario went to the cage and ended the game just 19 seconds into the extra period.

Pannell and Coholan each had three goals for the Cavaliers, while D'Amario and Williams each added two. Matt Emery, Murphy, and Lukacovic all had one goal in the game.

Jason Murphy shone from the faceoff X, as he has all season, winning 63% of his attempts as he went 17-for-27. While the Cavaliers have struggled mightily this season with shooting, they showed much improvement against Hopkins, finishing with 13 goals on 39 shots. Virginia is now 4-5 (0-2 ACC) on the season.

Next up, the Hoos host VMI on Tuesday before traveling to Richmond on Saturday.

Go Hoos!