CHARLOTTESVILLE — Moments after losing his first ACC match as Virginia’s lacrosse coach in 2017, sitting with then-freshmen Michael Kraus and Dox Aitken, coach Lars Tiffany realized he had something special in that duo.
The Cavaliers had squandered a five-goal lead, then gave up the game-winner with 15 seconds to play against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
“Their comments to the press, I felt like I was sitting next to a 10-year NFL veteran,” Tiffany said. “The maturity that Dox and Michael have shown, right from the get-go, has been startling. They have helped define who the program is going to be moving forward.”
Monday, three seasons into Tiffany’s rapid reboot of UVA lacrosse, the program will face Yale in the national final in Philadelphia.
Saturday, Kraus scored a goal and had four assists and Aitken added three goals and an assist as Virginia rallied past Duke in double overtime, snapping an 11-game losing streak to the Blue Devils and improving to 7-1 in one-goal games and 5-0 in overtime.
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“I think we’re a pretty good one-two punch,” Kraus said. “It’s nice to be able to play with someone you’ve played for three years now and just get comfortable with who you’re playing with.”
Now, the two juniors have helped lead the third-seeded Cavaliers (16-3) to the brink of their first NCAA title in eight years.
That 2011 crown was the fourth in 23 years under former coach Dom Starsia, who led UVA to 12 Final Fours. Starsia recruited Aitken and Kraus, getting commitments from the duo in their sophomore years of high school, Aitken at the Haverford School in Pennsylvania and Kraus at New Canaan High in Connecticut.
When Starsia was let go by Virginia following the 2016 season, the school tapped Tiffany — who had played for Starsia at Brown — as the new coach. Aitken and Kraus didn’t waver in their commitment to become Cavaliers.
“We tried not to get too rattled by it and just continue on the path we were on,” Kraus said. “I knew as soon as I started [my recruitment] that UVA was one of the best places in the country. And it turned out to be just that.”
Aitken and Kraus highlighted what became Tiffany’s first recruiting class.
“We were all first years together,” Tiffany said.
And the first impression the new coaching staff made? Well, it was memorable. Filled with enthusiasm and eager to set the tone for his new team, Tiffany and his assistants pushed the players through a grueling workout in humid, 90-degree heat.
But he hadn’t taken into account the difference in the weather from Brown, where he had coached the previous 10 years, and Charlottesville. In Rhode Island in September, temperatures rarely broke into the 80s.
“I look back on it and we overdid it,” Tiffany said.
Last week, as his team prepared for the Final Four, the veterans recalled the first few practices under the new staff.
“There were a couple guys saying, ‘How do I feign injury and never come back?’ ” Tiffany heard them say at a team dinner. “‘What am I going to tell my mother. I know I told her it’s a three-day tryout, but I’m going to tell her I got cut after the first day.’ ”
Instead, players such as Aitken and Kraus stuck it out. UVA went 8-7 in 2017, Tiffany’s first season, and 0-4 in ACC matches, a record that included that road loss at Syracuse. The Cavaliers jumped to 12-6 the next year, ended their 18-match ACC losing streak, but lost in the first round of the NCAAs.
This year, Virginia broke through, winning the ACC championship and reaching Memorial Day Monday for the first time since 2011.
“You come to Virginia expecting to be on this stage and this year, we’ve earned it,” Kraus said. “We’ve come a long way from my first year.”
This summer, Aitken and Kraus will live together in New York City as they get real-world experience working on Wall Street, Aitken as a risk analyst for Guy Carpenter and Kraus working in private equity for the Fortress Investment Firm. They’ll share an apartment in Greenwich Village and, Tiffany said, they’ll receive plenty of reminders to workout and stay in shape from their coach.
“I’ve never really spent more than a couple days in New York,” Aitken said. “I don’t know if the big city lifestyle is for me, but I’m definitely going to find out this summer. It’ll be nice having a close friend nearby at all times.”
That’s certainly worked out on the lacrosse field and, Saturday, at least the big city of Philadelphia treated the pair just fine.
