CHARLOTTESVILLE -- On the sideline last night, University of Virginia men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia couldn't help stealing looks at the clock and wondering why it was moving so slowly.

On the field, U.Va. defenseman Ken Clausen was doing the same thing.

"The time was taking forever to tick off the clock," Clausen said. "I didn't take a sigh of relief till the clock was at zero."

When that moment finally arrived at Klockner Stadium, the scoreboard showed the home team ahead 10-9. And that means the second-seeded Cavaliers will play at least once more in this NCAA tournament.

A first-round game that started 38 minutes late because of bad weather ended with Maryland-Baltimore County furiously trying to pull even. The Retrievers (12-4) failed to do so -- in part because U.Va. goalie Bud Petit stopped a shot with his face mask with 38 seconds left -- and so saw their 11-game winning streak end. UMBC took three shots in the final 47 seconds but connected on none of them.

"I knew our team would keep fighting," said Petit, a Collegiate School graduate. "That's why we have another game [to play]."

Virginia (13-3) moves on to face No. 7 seed Maryland (10-5) in a quarterfinal Saturday at Annapolis, Md., in what will be ACC rivals' third meeting of the season. The Terps whipped the Cavaliers 13-7 in the regular season. U.Va. avenged that loss with an 11-8 win over Maryland in the ACC tournament semifinals at Klockner.

U.Va. defensemen Clausen, Matt Kelly and Ryan Nizolek and long-stick midfielder Mike Timms helped harass UMBC into 22 turnovers, and Petit made eight saves. The story at the other end was the play of Virginia's highly regarded attack.

Injuries have hampered senior Ben Rubeor (knee) and juniors Garrett Billings (back) and Danny Glading (hamstring) most of this season, but U.Va.'s two-week break for final exams aided them immensely.

Against UMBC, they combined for nine goals and four assists. Glading led the Wahoos with four goals, the most he's had since Feb. 23. With 6:50 left, Billings scored the game-winner, taking a pass from Rubeor in a extra-man situation and breaking a 9-9 tie.

"Our big boys made some plays," Starsia said. "People ask why Danny, Garrett and Ben seemed to step up, well, that's who they are and that's what we expect of them: to step up. I think it's going to be hard to hold them down for 60 minutes."

Close games are nothing new for this U.Va. team. During the regular season, Virginia won three one-goal games -- all in overtime -- and twice by two goals.

UMBC ------------------------- 2 3 2 2 -- 9
Virginia ------------------------- 2 2 5 1 -- 10

Goals -- UMBC: Latham 3, Hopmann 2, Kimer 2, Davis 2. Virginia: Glading 4, Billings 3, Rubeor 2, S. Bratton.

Assists -- UMBC: Kimener 2, Davis, Hopmann, Wimer. Virginia: Billings 2, Lamade 2, Glading, Rubeor.

Goalies -- UMBC: Blevins, 12 saves. Virginia: Petit, 8 saves.