CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA-Brian Carroll scored a career-high five goals and Danny Glading added four to power Virginia past Villanova 18-6 in the first round of the NCAA Championship this afternoon at Klöckner Stadium. With the win, the Cavaliers improve to 14-2 overall this season and will meet Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals next Sunday (May 17) in Annapolis, Md. Villanova, the Colonial Athletic Association champions, was making its first NCAA Championships appearance. The Wildcats end their season with an 11-6 overall record.

Chad Gaudet won 12 of 15 faceoffs in the first half as the Cavaliers dominated possession throughout the first two quarters. For the game Virginia won 17 of 27 faceoffs, including 16 of 21 in the first three quarters. The Virginia defense was outstanding as well and did not give up a goal for more than 51 minutes of play; the Cavaliers scored the first 18 goals of the game.

"(Faceoffs were) the key, said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. "That was pivotal. They've been pretty good facing off and against a team that came in here intending to play at a little bit more deliberate pace if they were going to have their way, it was important that we get the ball early and control the ball and keep the pressure on them. As soon as they fell behind by three, four, five goals, it's so much harder to play slower ... that was paramount."

The Cavaliers started slowly and missed their first three shots of the game before catching fire five minutes into the contest. John Haldy notched his first goal in four games by scoring off a Virginia miss at the 10:39 mark. Haldy's score started the Cavaliers on a scoring spree that saw them score on seven of eight shots over a five and a half minute span.

Glading tallied the next two goals for Virginia and assisted on the next two, as Virginia's lead quickly grew to 5-0 midway through the first quarter. Steele Stanwick benefited from Glading's first assist and Rhamel Bratton the second.

Carroll scored his first of the game from 12 yards out and added his second on an extra-man opportunity late in the quarter. Shamel Bratton sandwiched his only goal of the game between Carroll's two strikes. Haldy ended the first quarter scoring with his second of the period as Virginia held a 9-0 lead after 15 minutes of action.

Carroll tied his career high of three goals early in the second period to push Virginia's lead to double digits at 10-0.

After taking just three shots in the first quarter, the visiting Wildcats didn't have their first sustained offensive possession until after Carroll opened the second quarter scoring. They maintained possession for nearly two minutes before losing the ball on a turnover without attempting a shot. For the game Villanova took 27 shots, including 15 in the final quarter.

Stanwick scored twice and Garrett Billings and Haldy once as Virginia took a 15-0 lead to the locker room at halftime. The Cavaliers needed just 31 shots to score the 15 goals and committed just six turnovers in the half.

Adam Ghitelman started in goal for the Cavaliers and made four saves before being replaced by Mark Wade early in the third quarter; Wade finished with a career-high five saves.

Glading opened the second half scoring by taking a nice feed from Gaudet who won the opening faceoff and finding the back of the next for his first goal since the first quarter. Carroll tallied his fifth just over two minutes later. Glading then ended the quarter with his fourth goal of the game with 7.9 seconds remaining. His goal ended up being Virginia's last as the Cavaliers packed in 18 goals in just over 40 minutes of play.

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2009-05-10