No. 2 Johns Hopkins lacrosse takes down No. 1 Virginia in OT

“Anybody who says we’re not willing to play fast, they didn’t watch this game,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said.

It marked the first loss for the Cavaliers since last season’s ACC tournament. At the time, Virginia was a team in disarray before rattling off an unexpected national title run.

These Cavaliers look every bit as ready to earn an extended stay in May, with defeats of Cornell and Syracuse already to their credit. And while Virginia will no longer be No. 1, it knows it wasn’t too far from remaining unbeaten.

“We made too many mistakes to beat Johns Hopkins today,” Starsia said. “That was the end game for us.”

On this day, at least. That doesn’t discount the chance of Round Two in May. It seems more than possible. In fact, it might be a little unfair if there wasn’t an encore.

The final moments weren’t clean. The initial offerings from both teams weren’t particularly memorable. But both the Blue Jays and Cavaliers acquitted themselves well, living up to the hype and maybe even offering a tease of what is to come.

For Hopkins and Virginia, that’s one thing far from a first.

“We knew this was the type of game that it ended up being,” said Virginia goalie Rob Fortunato (13 saves). “They just got the better of us. Hopefully, we’ll see them down the road.”

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.