No. 1 Virginia outlasts Harvard in high-scoring, record-breaking men's lacrosse match

Virginia took down Harvard 25-21 in a high-scoring battle that saw no shortage of offense. 

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Virginia — putting up a whopping 20 goals and leading 20-8 after the first half alone, never relinquished the lead. The 12-point Virginia lead at half marked the Cavalier's largest lead of the game before Harvard went on a 13-5 scoring run to propel the scoring into the twenties, with a Harvard comeback attempt that ran out of time.

Not only did the two squads put up a high combined goal total, but the two teams combined for a record 51 faceoffs attempted, the most-ever in an NCAA Division I men's lacrosse game.

.@UVAMensLax & @HarvardMLax break the NCAA men's D1 record for faceoffs attempted in a game with 51 (though with 46 goals, stat correction coming?). No official record for combined goals, but with the previous record being 47 total faceoffs, it's probably that too pic.twitter.com/oQaRmi0ei2

— Patrick McEwen (@LaxFilmRoom) February 18, 2023

The offensive onslaught also featured stellar individual performances with Harvard attacker, Sam King, finding the back of the net seven times — the most of anyone in the game. Five Crimson players collected two or more goals with seven Cavaliers finding the back of the net at least twice. 

Slim reaper!#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/2yH6LsSadc

— Virginia Men's Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) February 18, 2023

No. 1 Virginia stays undefeated at 2-0 while Harvard drops to 0-1. Virginia travels to Naples, Florida, where it will battle Ohio State in a neutral site matchup while Harvard will take on Bucknell.