Virginia handles #15 Johns Hopkins in yet another blowout win

In an awesome day for Virginia sports, the Virginia Cavaliers beat Johns Hopkins 19-8 with another dominant performance in every phase of the game. After taking care of Syracuse last week, UVA wracked up another big win against one of best programs in the sport.

Connor Shellenberger — per usual — was the highlight of the Virginia offense as he scored three goals and added five assists as he played with the Hopkins defense all day long. The main benefactor of Shellenberger’s play was Payton Cormier who scored six goals of his own. They were two of ten goal scorers for the Wahoos as the offense was firing on all cylinders.

Petey LaSalla seemingly couldn’t lose at the face off X , finishing 9-of-10 before he was pulled for the remainder of the game midway through the second quarter. He also added a tally of his own on a fast break and a feed from Grayson Sallade.

The ‘Hoos started hot with a 4-0 first quarter as Shellenberger opened the scoring at the 11:32 mark. Goals from Xander Dickson and Cormier made it 3-0 before Cole Kastner galloped down the field for his first career score.

It was 6-0 before Johns Hopkins got on the board with 8:12 left in the first half. But that brief moment of hope was quickly extinguished after four consecutive goals — including two from Shellenberger and one more each for Cormier and Dickson — put Virginia up by nine, 10-1 at halftime.

The third quarter was much of the same. Hopkins found a bit more rhythm but even that wasn’t much in comparison to the Wahoo attack. UVA won the third period 7-3 to put the game on ice with the score at 17-4 heading into the fourth.

Lars Tiffany pulled his remaining starters at that point and Virginia cruised to another comfortable top-15 win.

Of note, top defender Cade Saustad hurt his right knee midway through the third quarter and left the game. He was walking around in a limited brace on the sideline afterwards and while he seemed gimpy his status is unknown moving forward.

Virginia heads to Chapel Hill this Thursday for its first mid-week contest against the ninth ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.