Virginia reached the NCAA men’s lacrosse final after Ian Laviano’s goal in the second overtime handed the Cavaliers a 13-12 victory over ACC rival Duke on Saturday in Philadelphia.
The Cavaliers will play defending champion Yale in Monday’s final. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs beat No. 1 Penn State in Saturday’s other semifinal at Lincoln Financial Field, 21-17.
Virginia, seeded third, snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Blue Devils dating to 2010. It is now one victory away from its first national title since 2011.
Laviano finished with a team-leading four goals, which included the tying score to force overtime with 15 second remaining in regulation. The Cavaliers improved to 5-0 in overtime games this season.
“That was an incredible look by Matt and I just had to do the easy part and put it in the back of the net,” Laviano said of teammate Matt Moore’s assist on the winner. “Matt did a great job of keeping his head up; I saw the shooting space and just took it.”
Yale raced out to a 10-2 lead in the opening quarter and held on for the victory. Eleven players scored for the Bulldogs, with Matt Brandau’s seven goals leading the way.
“I’m really proud of our guys for fighting through this season and putting themselves in a position to go to the final four, and they won a game and now we’re in a position to defend it,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “We’re going to try to attack these guys (Virginia) and do our best on Monday.”
Nittany Lions junior Grant Ament dished out five assists to set both the Big Ten and Penn State career marks with 160. He finished with an NCAA single-season-record 96 assists.
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