Virginia Lacrosse’s Ryan Conrad and Matt Dziama denied medical redshirts by the NCAA

Virginia Lacrosse got some bad news this week as they found out that midfielders Ryan Conrad and Matt Dziama did not receive hardship waivers for an additional season.

“Let me share that two rising 4th years, Ryan Conrad ’19 and Matt Dziama ’19, will be competing in their final seasons in 2019,” Head Coach Lars Tiffany said in an email. “Unfortunately, as we expected, medical redshirts for an additional season were not granted due to their participation in more than 30% of our contests last year.”

Conrad started five games last season before suffering a knee injury against Syracuse. He finished with four goals, three assists, and 23 ground balls. A third-team All-American in 2017 and an Inside Lacrosse First Team Preseason All-American for 2018, Conrad was expected to have a mammoth season for the Hoos. Conrad was one of two captains last season for the Cavaliers and was expected to be a huge piece for Virginia on the face off wings and as part of Tiffany’s run-and-gun scheme.

Dziama’s situation is a little different as he missed the first four games of the season thanks to an off-season lower extremity injury. He debuted against Syracuse and saw action in seven games, but re-aggravated the injury and missed the final seven games of the season.

The NCAA has strict rules around hardship waivers and how much action a player can see and still receive a medical redshirt. From Section 12.8.4 of the 2018-19 Division I Manual:

In team sports, the injury or illness occurs when the student-athlete has not participated in more than three contests or dates of competition (whichever is applicable to that sport) or 30 percent (whichever number is greater) of the institution’s scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in his or her sport.

Virginia went 12-6 last season, winning their first ACC game since 2014 and returning to the postseason after a two-year hiatus. Scrimmages factor in with the total number of contests, putting both Conrad and Dziama over the limit.

Your first chance to see the Hoos (and check out the new NCAA lacrosse shot clock in action) will be this fall when they scrimmage Penn State on October 7 at Georgetown Prep.