CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The University of Delaware registered one of the biggest wins in school history in any sport Sunday afternoon as the Blue Hens dominated the second half and stunned defending national champion University of Virginia 14-8 in an NCAA men's lacrosse first round game before 2,328 sun-drenched fans at Klockner Stadium.

No. 15 ranked Delaware (12-5), which won its sixth straight game overall and fifth straight on the road, broke a 7-7 tie early in the second half by scoring seven straight goals, including two each by Jordan Hall and Curtis Dickson (at right), and cruised to the win.

The win advances the Blue Hens to the NCAA quarterfinals where they will play UMBC Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis,MD. UMBC (11-5) No. 7 seed Maryland 13-9 Sunday evening in College Park, MD.

No. 3 ranked and second-seeded Virginia (12-4), which captured the NCAA Division I title last season with a perfect 17-0 record, had an eight-game home-winning streak snapped. The Cavs' top two leading scorers, Ben Rubeor (46 goals) and Garrett Billings (21 goals, 22 assists) were both held without a goal as the Hens came up with yet another stellar defensive effort.

The Blue Hens, playing in the NCAA Tournament for just the fourth time, posted their first tournament win since downing UMBC in the 1999 first round and snapped a streak of 20 straight losses to Top 10 opponents since that victory over UMBC. Virginia is the highest ranked opponent the Blue Hens have ever defeated as Delaware's only other top five win was a 9-5 victory over No. 5 Maryland in 1985.

“I am so impressed and proud of this team,” said Delaware 29th year head coach Bob Shillinglaw, who also led UD teams to the NCAA Tournament in 1984, 1999, and 2005. “This is such a great group and the best part is that we get at least one more chance to play. They played their hearts out today but even more importantly, they executed well. We played aggressive defense and created a transition game and out offense took if from there. This win is right up there with any of them we’ve had here and that means a lot. I think today’s win says a lot about the growth of not only our program but about the growth of the game.”

Dickson, a freshman, led the Blue Hens with four goals and an assist while Vincent Giordano added two goals and an assist, team leading scorer Adam Zuder-Havens contributed a goal and two assists, and Brett Manney dished out two assists. Junior goalkeeper Tommy Scherr came up big all afternoon in the nets, posting a season-high 18 saves and consistently turning back an offense that entered the game ranked No. 4 in the nation in scoring with 11.6 per game.

Delaware’s two-time All-American faceoff specialist Alex Smith, the 2007 CAA Player of the Year, was outstanding once again. The NCAA leader in faceoff winning pct. each of the last three seasons, won 18 of 26 faceoffs and scooped up 10 groundballs and continued his assault on the NCAA and Delaware record book.

He won the first faceoff of the game to set an NCAA record for wins in a season at 275 and during the game he became the first player in NCAA history to surpass 1,000 career victories. His 10 groundballs gave him 543 for his career, breaking the NCAA and Delaware mark of 541 by Steve Shaw in 1983-86 and upped his season total to 160 to break the UD single season record of 152 by Rich Fitch in 1980.

Virginia got a career-high four goals and one assist from Danny Glading and three goals from Drew Thompson. Goalkeeper Kip Turner posted 10 saves as Delaware outshot the Cavaliers 44-40.

“We talked all week about coming in here and not being shellshocked because of the big crowd and Virginia’s national ranking,” said Scherr, who has recorded 35 saves in the last two games, including 17 in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game win over Towson last Saturday. “But when you get here and see it, I think maybe we were at first. But after we made our first stop, we kept building on it and we came out and made the plays. The defense did a great job of making Virginia’s shots manageable for me. That’s all I can ask for and that made my job a lot easier today.”

Virginia jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first two minutes as Thompson scored just one minute in and Glading scored his first goal just 64 seconds later. But the Hens settled down and took the lead as they scored three straight goals, one each by defender Brian Calabrese (the first of his career), Giordano, and Zuder-Havens.

Virginia’s Glading and Delaware’s Kevin Kaminski traded goals to knot the score at 4-4 after one period and Dickson scored the first two goals of the second quarter to give the Hens a 6-4 lead. The Cavaliers came right back on two Glading goals to tie the game for the fourth time at 6-6, but the Hens went into intermission with a 7-6 lead when defender Rob Smith scored his fifth goal of the season with just 2:24 left in the stanza.

The Cavaliers earned their final share of the lead just 16 seconds into the third quarter when Thompson scored to knot the contest at 7-7. It was all Delaware after that as the Blue Hens reeled off seven straight goals before Virginia finally ended a scoreless streak of over 28 minutes late in the game.

Hall, who extended his point-scoring streak to 29 straight games, and Dickson each scored twice during the pivotal 7-0 run.

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