For weeks, I had heard that the trail gets easier in Virginia. Leaving Damascus, I was more than ready to experience that easier trail. Truth be told, the ascents and technical trail sections continue well into southern Virginia. The trail doesn’t get that much easier; you simply become a smarter and stronger hiker. That process for me has been the most significant challenge of the trail.

Even after taking a zero in Damascus, I was nearing my mental limits as I approached Marion. My zero in Marion was a milestone. First, Marion is a class act and a town that I want to revisit. Marion Outdoors; the Merry Inn Hiker Hostel; Downtown Pioneer; and the many shuttle drivers all deserve a shout out. I heard nothing but positive comments from my fellow hikers who visited other businesses as well.

Leaving Marion, I bumped back to my departure point, Fox Creek, and made my way north. After spending the night at the Hurricane Mountain and Partnership shelters, I started my southern Virginia hostel tour. I had nothing but great experiences at the Long Necck Lair Alpaca Farm, Burke’s Garden Hostel, Weary Feet Hostel, and Wood Hole Hostel. The on-trail experiences are always notable. But, it is the off-trail experiences with other hikers at the hostels that I’ll remember for years to come. I have met some incredible people.

I stepped off the trail in Pearisburg for a trip home. I needed to see my family. I’ll be back get back to the trail on May 13. This time, I’ll be SOBO out of Harrisburg.

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Fresh off of landing their first transfer commitment of the offseason, Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers are looking to keep the momentum going as they host another transfer portal target on Grounds. San Diego State transfer forward Elijah Saunders arrived at Virginia on Sunday for an official visit.

Saunders visited Washington on Friday and Saturday and is scheduled to take a visit to Clemson on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A 6’8″, 225-pound forward from Phoenix, Arizona, Saunders was a late entrant into the transfer portal last week. He played in 53 games over the last two seasons at San Diego State, including 21 starts. This season, Saunders started 21 of 37 games and averaged 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in a little over 20 minutes per contest. He shot 32.2% from beyond the arc on 3.3 three-point attempts per game. His best game came in a win over Washington as he tallied 16 points and went 3/3 from beyond the arc. He also had eight points and a couple of threes in San Diego State’s win over Yale in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

With the addition of Florida State transfer guard Jalen Warley, who announced his commitment to Virginia on Saturday, the Cavaliers added depth and experience to their backcourt and gave themselves another ball-handler and playmaker on offense and a versatile defender who can guard multiple positions. Now, UVA looks to find its replacement for Ryan Dunn at power forward and is making that case to Elijah Saunders to fill that role over the next two days.

Saunders is in the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining. Virginia currently has three scholarship spots remaining for the 2024-2025 season.

More Virginia Men’s Basketball News and Content

Virginia Basketball Transfer Portal Contact Live Tracker
Former Virginia Wing Leon Bond III Transfers to Northern Iowa

Virginia Basketball Lands First Transfer Commitment From FSU Guard Jalen Warley
Still Empty-Handed, Where Does Virginia Go Next in the Transfer Portal?
Virginia’s Updated Scholarship Picture With Dante Harris Transferring Out
Virginia to Host Four-Star Point Guard Trent Perry for Official Visit

From the first whistle, Notre Dame jumped all over the Virginia Cavaliers. The Irish skyrocketed to a 4-0 lead by the 9:44 mark and won the first five face-offs and outshot the ‘Hoos 10-1 before Payton Cormier scored UVA’s first goal of the game. Virginia was never able to recover from the slow start as the Irish crushed the ‘Hoos 18-9. This marked Virginia’s first time losing four consecutive games since 2013.

“This is not what Virginia lacrosse is all about,” head coach Lars Tiffany said. “I feel like I need to apologize to the faithful of Virginia ‘cause they’ve put so much heart and emotion [into] following us and believing in us. This type of effort today is unacceptable.”

Within the first two minutes and 28 seconds, FOGO Anthony Ghobriel recorded two penalties, and the ‘Hoos finished the game with five penalties against Notre Dame’s No. 1 man-up offense (71%), as the Irish went 4-5 in their EMO.

Last week, in Virginia’s 11-9 loss to Notre Dame, the ‘Hoos were outgained in the ground ball battle 50-26, 14 ground balls lower than their average. In Friday’s loss, the ‘Hoos managed to thin the margin to 30-25, but Virginia struggled to register any quality possession time.

“Last game we got dominated on ground balls, and we failed a bunch of clears,” graduate midfielder Chase Yager said. “This game we failed one clear when we were way closer on ground balls. So, I think we recognize that there were a lot of things that don’t show up on the score sheet that we did a lot better.”

Junior goalie Matt Nunes failed to make a save in the second quarter as the Irish more than doubled UVA’s shots by halftime en route to a 10-3 lead. Nunes was later benched for sophomore Kyle Morris with 2:33 left in the third quarter and finished the game with a 32% save percentage. Tiffany said that he and his staff “talked about” benching him at halftime but ultimately decided to stick with Nunes until late in the quarter.

“Matt did not have a great day and we needed Matt to play bigger,” Tiffany said. “Unfortunately he had a mundane day and it gets exaggerated when the goalie in the far end is just remarkable. It was startling how well [Liam] Entenmann played.”

The midseason 2nd team All-American goalie finished the game with 18 saves, his highest save percentage (75) since he stopped 80% against Cleveland State in their season opener. Freshman defender Shawn Lyght, who Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan called the “most underrated defenseman in the league” also limited Connor Shellenberger to zero goals and kept him pointless until there was 8:24 left in the game.

“I don’t want to stand here and act like we solved the riddle to Virginia’s offense, but today was a good day for our defense and a great day for Liam,” Corrigan said.

Graduate attackman Payton Cormier led the ‘Hoos with three goals, his fourth consecutive hat trick, and is now the ACC’s all-time leading goal scorer with 214 career goals. Graduate midfielder Devon McLane led the game with four goals while freshman midfielder Jacob Faison, graduate attackman Pat Kavanaugh and sophomore attackman Chris Kavanaugh had three assists each.

Virginia now awaits to hear its name called at the NCAA tournament selection show, which will be at 9 p.m. on Sunday.

“I absolutely think we deserve to keep playing and I think given an opportunity I fully believe we will win this tournament,” Yager said. “And I don’t think there’s any doubt about that on our team and among our guys.”