Connor Shellenberger had just finished getting past Maryland defensemen Nick Grill, jolting around x and whipping a quick shot to the top left corner of the net past goalie Logan McNaney to give Virginia a 15-11 lead in the fourth quarter, when the Twitter went ablaze.
The heat off of Shellenberger’s stick was matched by the chatter on social media.
“Connor Shellenberger is @PremierLacrosse ready as a freshman…” tweeted Archers LC star Grant Ament.
“Seems like they’re cheating,” tweeted Barstool Big Cat when asked to analyze Shellenberger’s game.
“Connor Shellenberger is gonna be a superstar at UVA,” wrote Matt Hagy.
Shellenberger’s fourth goal ignited the Virginia sideline on the north side of Rentschler Field, and the fans that lined the stands with orange behind him. It gave the Cavaliers their first four-goal lead of the game, and many believed was the breathing room they needed to cruise to a second straight national title.
Maryland made its comeback and almost forced overtime in the final seconds — in one of the most frantic finishes in the history of the national championship game — but when the confetti settled on the field and stands, the attention shifted back to Shellenberger, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Children lined the stands near the Virginia bench and by the Cavaliers’ tunnel, shouting the names of star players for the back-to-back champions.
“Connor! Connor!” could be heard throughout the celebration.
Shellenberger dropped four goals and two assists in Virginia’s national championship victory — the Cavaliers’ second in a row, but his first, as a redshirt freshman. He finishes his run in the NCAA tournament with 24 points on 14 goals and 10 assists — by far his best four-game span of the 2021 season.
Virginia’s leading scorer isn’t the next superstar at Charlottesville. He already is a superstar, and he delivered the best game of his young career when his team needed it.
"He's emerged,” said coach Lars Tiffany. “He was a really good player down in Charlottesville, Virginia, and now the rest of the world is being able to see here in the month of May. He's one of the best in the game, period.”
Against a vaunted Maryland defense, Shellenberger found shooting lanes and made the Terps pay.
“We kind of have this stereotype as an offense that we play hero ball, but we really do whatever the defense dictates us to do,” he said. “We took it as a challenge and we don't want to back down from Maryland's defense, we wanted to go right at them, so that was kind of our mindset going into today.”
His fourth goal may not have even been his most impressive. Shellenberger took a pass from Matt Moore and blasted a stepdown shot to the top left corner to tie the gamer at 4-4 at the end of the first quarter.