Conrad’s value shows up beyond the scoring column, where he had produced four goals and three assists in five games. Last year, no non-defensive player or specialist grabbed more ground balls in Division I than Conrad, a third-team USILA All-American and an excellent on-ball defender and faceoff wing man.
Virginia, which has missed three NCAA tournaments in the past five seasons and has not advanced to the quarterfinals since 2012, has another high-powered offense with attackman Michael Kraus (18g, 16a) setting the tone. But the Cavs need to close out opponents better, as they illustrated during an unusual two-game swing in New York City.
On March 7, after a bus ride of nearly 10 hours brought them to the Bronx less than an hour before game time, the Cavs survived against an inspired Manhattan team 8-5. New York then got slammed by a severe Nor’easter that kept the Cavs from practicing before Saturday’s trip to Long Island against Stony Brook.
The inclement weather interfered with Virginia’s practice time before its March 10 game on Long Island at Stony Brook. The Cavs impressively took a 15-8 lead against the Seawolves early in the fourth quarter. But after Tiffany started clearing his bench, the lead nearly evaporated. UVA held on for a 15-14 victory.
One unpleasant byproduct of the New York games was the ejection of junior starting close defenseman Zach Ambrosino at Stony Brook. An NCAA-imposed suspension of Ambrosino, who missed the Manhattan game after he got tossed in the Syracuse loss, could take effect this weekend.
“We’ve got to keep our composure better. We’re making mental mistakes at the end of games that we have to clean up,” Tiffany said. “This season is a race to improve.”
A previous version of this article misreported that Virginia defenseman Zach Ambrosino was ejected from games against Manhattan and Stony Brook. US Lacrosse Magazine regrets the error.