May 20, 2006 Washington, D.C. - The fifth-ranked Georgetown University men's lacrosse team faces top-ranked Virginia on Sunday at Johnny United Stadium on the campus of Towson University. Face-off for the game is slated for 3 p.m. and it can be seen live on ESPNU, with Dave Ryan and Quint Kessenich calling the action. The game can also be heard on the Georgetown website - www.guhoyas.com - with Chuck Timanus calling the action. The winner of Sunday's game between the Hoyas and the Cavaliers advances to the NCAA Final Four next weekend at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The winner will play either Syracuse or Johns Hopkins on Saturday, May 27 at 11:30 a.m. in a game that will air on ESPN2. This is Georgetown's fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Quarterfinals, and the eighth in the last nine years. The Hoyas have advanced to the Final Four once, in 1999, when they played a first round game at Towson (beating Notre Dame, 14-10). Sunday's appearance at Towson will be the fourth time the Georgetown men's lacrosse team has played in an NCAA Tournament at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Prior to this appearance, the Hoyas played in the NCAAs at Towson in 1997, 1999 and 2003. In 2003, the team faced eventual national champion Virginia for the first time, falling 12-7 in the Quarterfinals. About the Hoyas: Georgetown has been led by a defensive unit that has held opponents to less than 10 goals in 11 games this season and ranks among the top-15 nationally ... Five times this season, the Hoyas have limited opponents to only five goals .... Since Dave Urick took over as head coach in 1991, this is the third year (1995, 2003) that the Hoyas have held opponents to five goals or less at least five times ... This season, the Hoyas have held opponents to one goal or less in a quarter 21 times, including shutting out Penn State in a crucial fourth quarter last week .... The loss to Loyola on April 15 was the only game this season the Hoyas had not held an opponent to one goal or less in at least one quarter ... The defensive unit ranks 10th nationally in scoring defense, giving up only 7.54 goals per game ... The Hoyas also rank 20th in the country in face-off percentage, winning 146-of-272 (53.7 percent) ... In addition, Georgetown is No. 18 nationally in scoring offense (9.77 goals per game) and 11th in the country in scoring margin, beating opponents by 2.23 goals per game ... The Hoya offense has been led by sophomore Brendan Cannon , who is 19th in the country in scoring ... He has a team-high 44 points off of 14 goals and 30 assists and is averaging 3.38 per game ... Cannon is also fifth in the country in assists, averaging 2.37 per game ... Cannon's 30 assists are the third-most in a single season in Georgetown history ... He needs three more to pass Andy Flick (2000) for second all-time ... Graduate student Dave Paolisso and junior Trevor Casey are second and third on the team in scoring, respectively ... Paolisso has a team-high 20 goals and four assists for 24 points, while Casey is third on the team with 18 goals and has added five assists for 23 points... Senior Pete Cannon has 20 points (12 goals, eight assists) and is fourth on the team in scoring, while sophomore Andrew Baird is fifth on the team with 15 goals and four assists for 19 points ... Junior face-off specialist Christiaan Trunz has helped the Hoyas rank among the top-20 nationally in face-offs ... Trunz, who stepped into the spot filled by All-American Andy Corno, has won 56.8 percent of his face-offs (67-of-118) in the last six games ... He has won 130-of-239 this season (54.4 percent) and ranks 22nd nationally ... Sophomore goalie Miles Kass , who missed six games due to an injury, played the last quarter against Penn State and picked up the win and was in the cage for the Navy win, stopping six shots... He is 7-2 overall this season with a 7.86 goals-against average and has recorded 73 saves (54.1%) ... Graduate student Rich D'Andrea has started five of the last six games in goal, making 43 saves and leading the Hoyas to four wins ... D'Andrea is 4-0 with a 7.16 goals-against average ... Eight different Georgetown players have reached double figures in scoring and 20 have scored at least one point ... In the last five games, 15 different players have scored goals for the Hoyas. About the Cavaliers: Virginia enters today's game with a 14-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in both national polls ... The Cavaliers, the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, have been at the top of the polls for the last eight weeks ... They advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last week with a 14-10 win over Notre Dame ... Virginia has beaten opponents by an average of 8.07 points per game ... The Cavaliers have played two of Georgetown's opponents this season, beating Maryland twice (15-5 and 11-5) and posting a 20-15 win over Syracuse ... Virginia tops the country in scoring offense, tallying 15.5 goals per game ... They are eighth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 7.43 goals per game ... The team also ranks eighth nationally in face-off percentage (58.6) and third nationally in man-up offense (50.9%) ... Senior attack Matt Ward, one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, leads the team in scoring with 30 goals and 20 assists for 50 points ... He is 13th in the country in points per game (3.57), 17th in goals per game (2.14) and 20th in assists per game (1.43) ... Sophomore attack Ben Rubeor is second on the team with 26 goals and 18 assists for 44 points ... Rubeor, who has started 12 times, is 11th nationally in points per game (3.67) ... Seven players have scored at least 15 goals for Virginia ... Matt Poskay is tied for the team lead with 30, Garrett Billings has scored 25 times, Danny Glading has 22, Kyle Dixon has 16 and Drew Thompson has added 15 ... Glading is tied for second on the team with 18 assists and is third in points with 40 ... Junior goalie Kip Turner has a 6.70 goals-against average, 101 saves and a 58.7 save percentage.
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