Bertrand, Moore hit career milestones in Virginia Lacrosse win over Utah

The No. 4 Virginia Men’s Lacrosse team rebounded from a heartbreaking loss to Duke on Thursday night with a decisive, 18-11 win over Utah on Saturday afternoon. Connor Shellenberger and Peter Garno led the Hoos with three goals apiece, but both Matt Moore and Charlie Bertrand reached scoring milestones in the win.

Bertrand, a transfer from DII-turned-DI Merrimack College, hit career point No. 300 with his lone goal on Saturday afternoon. He has 20 goals and six assists as a Cavalier over 13 games played. With Merrimack, Bertrand led the Warriors to back-to-back DII NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019 and amassed 210 goals and 64 assists.

Moore became the fifth Cavalier to hit 100 goals and 100 assists in his career, finishing with two goals and two assists on Saturday afternoon. In 2019, Moore scored 46 goals and dished 43 assists, making him the first player in UVA history with a 40/40 season and breaking Doug Knight’s single scoring mark of 86 points. Moore has continued to be one of the best players in the country as he’s already hit 50 points this season (24 goals, 26 assists).

Against Utah, the Hoos opened up a 2-0 lead right out of the gate before some careless turnovers and mistakes let the Utes rattle off a four-goal run over 5:45 of game time. Virginia rallied with two goals of their own to tie things to end the first quarter. Payton Cormier had both of his scores in that first 15 minutes, helping the Hoos even things.

Utah retook the lead at 6-5 on a Ryan Rogers score, but it would be the last time the visitors would be ahead in the game. Virginia rattled off six goals to take an 11-6 lead into the halftime break, then scored the first two after halftime to turn a one-goal deficit into a 13-6 lead. Seven different Cavaliers scored in that span, with only Ian Laviano having multiple goals in the run.

Virginia would build a 17-8 lead before Lars Tiffany got some run for the bench in the fourth quarter. Alex Rode finished with 13 saves and a 62% save percentage, and Petey LaSalla was once again fantastic at the face-off X. LaSalla won 20-of-26 (77%) against Utah and won 20 face-offs for the fourth time this season. He also passed 500 career face-off wins, putting him in third place in the Virginia record books.

Check out the full highlights:

Former Virginia goalie Adam Ghitelman returned to Charlottesville for the game as an assistant coach for Utah. With Ghitelman, Virginia assistant Kip Turner, and current Cavalier goalie Alex Rode in attendance, there were three former Virginia national champion keepers at Klöckner. Turner led the Hoos to an undefeated title in 2007, Ghitelman led the underdog 2011 Virginia squad, and Rode was the Most Outstanding Player in Virginia’s 2019 championship. The trio paused for a picture after the game:

Next up, Virginia closes the regular season at home with a big ACC game against Syracuse. The rematch of an early-season game against the Orange (which Cuse won, 20-10), will take place at noon and will be broadcast on ESPNU.