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On an afternoon where the Virginia men’s basketball team was locking up another ACC regular season title, the No. 8 Virginia men’s lacrosse team cruised to a 20-4 win over Air Force. Charlie Bertrand led the Hoos with four goals and one assist as the home team dominated every aspect of the game.
Goalkeeper Alex Rode finished with nine saves and an 82% save percentage while face off man Petey LaSalla won 12-of-16 face offs he took. Eleven different Cavaliers scored for Virginia, led by Bertrand’s four and Peter Garno’s three. With his first goal, Bertrand extended his goal/point-scoring streak to 64 straight games. Both are nation-leading.
The Cavaliers sprinted out to a 4-0 lead over the first 9:42 of the game as attackman Ian Laviano and midfielders Garno (x2) and Griffin Harris found the back of the net. Air Force got on the board with a goal with 5:11 left in the half, but LaSalla responded with one of his own off of the ensuing face off.
The Falcons would only score that one goal in the first quarter as Virginia rattled off five straight goals to take a 9-1 lead into the second quarter. Garno earned the first quarter hat trick with his third goal of the period coming with just over a minute remaining.
Virginia didn’t slow down in the second quarter, scoring the first three goals as they built a 12-1 lead. Bertrand joined the hat trick club, scoring his third of the game off of a broken clear with a phenomenal finish:
Virginia's ride strikes again with a caused turnover on the clear leading to a Charlie Bertrand goal!
— Virginia Men's Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 6, 2021
12-1 Wahoos#GoHoos
Watch the game LIVE on ACCNX: https://t.co/djqNapO12x pic.twitter.com/C5G5ABs8YY
Air Force broke the eight goal run with its second of the day, but Virginia finished the second quarter with one more goal from Bertrand — this one behind the back — to take the 13-2 lead into the break.
Virginia led in just about every category as the Hoos held an advantage in shots (26-14), face off wins (13-5), saves (6-3), and ground balls (27-18). Bertrand’s four goals led all scorers, and Garno added three.
The second half was more of the same as Virginia outscored Air Force 7-2 as Lars Tiffany was able to go deep into the bench.
Next up, Virginia has a huge home game against North Carolina on Thursday, March 11. The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.