University records show that Virginia fielded lacrosse teams from 1904 to 1907, although no further information from that period is available. After a hiatus, lacrosse returned to Charlottesville in 1925 though the team struggled in the ensuing years. Through 1932, the Cavaliers won only one game, while they lost 30 and tied four. The team was disbanded after the 1932 season and would play sporadically until lacrosse returned for good in 1947. Two years later, Virginia won more games than it lost for the first time in school history when it posted a 7–4 record. The Cavaliers then posted an 8–3 mark in 1950 and 7–2 in 1951. The following season, they recorded an identical tally and the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association named Virginia the 1952 co-national champions. In 1970, Virginia finished the season with an 8–2 record and the USILA again awarded them the national championship. The following season, the NCAA instituted a single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship, and the Cavaliers made an appearance but were eliminated by Navy in the first round. In 1972, Virginia again secured a tournament berth, and beat in succession Army, Cortland State, and Johns Hopkins for their first NCAA national championship. In 1978, former Army coach Jim "Ace" Adams took over as head coach, and from that season onward, Virginia has been a regular participant in the NCAA tournament. Since then, the Cavaliers have never failed to qualify in two consecutive seasons. Virginia advanced to the championship game in 1980, 1986, 1994, and 1996, each time falling to the eventual champion by one goal. In 1993, Dom Starsia became head coach, leading the Cavaliers to national titles in 1999, 2003, 2006, and 2011. Since the establishment of an ACC tournament in 1989, Virginia has won the regular-season championship ten times, more than any of the other three teams in the league. Virginia's 2006 season was remarkable as the Cavaliers became the first team in NCAA history to finish the season with a 17–0 record en route to the program's third national championship in eight years. The team won its games by an average of more than eight goals per game and drew comparisons to some of the best lacrosse teams of all time. The Virginia offense led the nation in scoring, while the defense ranked 10th, allowing fewer than eight goals per game. Eight Cavaliers were named All-Americans, the most in program history, and senior attackman Matt Ward received the Tewaaraton Trophy as the best player in the nation. In 2011, the Cavaliers posted a 9–5 regular-season record before entering the NCAA tournament, where they defeated Bucknell, Cornell, Denver, and finally Maryland 9–7 to win their fifth NCAA championship. During the tournament, head coach Dom Starsia became the all-time wins leader in Division I men's lacrosse history, breaking Jack Emmer's previous mark of 326 wins. Five Cavaliers were named USILA All-Americans. Following the tournament, third-year attackman Steele Stanwick won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation's top player. Starsia left the program at the conclusion of the 2016 season after a poor run of four seasons that included two losing records – only the program's third and fourth since the NCAA championship era began in 1971 – and a 1–15 mark in ACC play. At the time, media outlets reported Starsia had been fired. In a 2018 interview with The Daily Progress, Starsia recounted that then-athletic director Craig Littlepage indeed told him the day after the 2016 season concluded that the university was not extending his contract, which expired at the end of the calendar year, and gave him an opportunity to resign. Starsia countered that he retained the confidence of players and alumni and asked for a five-month extension to coach the 2017 season, after which he would resign if Littlepage remained unsatisfied with the team's results. According to Starsia, Littlepage agreed to this weeks later after heavy pressure from alumni and boosters, at which point Starsia declined it and resigned due to the perceived lack of respect. Brown head coach Lars Tiffany, who had played for Starsia at the college, was named as his replacement on June 21, 2016. In his third season, Tiffany led the Cavaliers to an 11–3 regular season record, an ACC championship, and finally back to the 2019 national championship game where they defeated Yale 13–9 to claim their sixth title.
Season Results
The following is a list of Virginia's results by season as a NCAA Division I program:
