CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 SPORTS) -- In the basement of the Shellenberger family home is a collection of lacrosse mementos dating back more than decade telling the story of Charlottesville native Connor Shellenberger's career.

"We painted half the room blue for him and he's never wanted to change it, still has his Hopkins scroll up," Scott Shellenberger said.

At one time Shellenberger was committed to play lacrosse for Virginia's rival Johns Hopkins, but the draw of home was too great.

"I told him not to change it because Hopkins, that was part of our journey," Stephanie Shellenberger said.

The small office is filled from corner to corner with memories, including backpacks who have seen better days.

"He has a hard time letting stuff go," Stephanie jokes.

But amongst all the belongings is a deep appreciation for the journey Connor has taken on the path to becoming one of the greatest player in UVA men's lacrosse history as just a redshirt junior.

"It's a little bit the only child in me is having all that stuff hung up," Connor Shellenberger said of the room, "My friends always rip on me for having it hung up."

Pictures, a whole lot of helmets, notebooks scribbled with different tips and goals, the two family dogs Ping and Bella and room for more.

"So another space available for one more, so let's go make it to Monday," Stephanie said looking at a ring case with two out of three spots filled, one a championship from Connor's season at the Bullis School and the other from Virginia's 2021 NCAA Championship.

Shellenberger and the Cavaliers will have a chance to fill the missing spot at Championship Weekend in Philadelphia, but will matchup with Notre Dame first in the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday, May 27 at 2:30 p.m.

"It's hard to have reflection now because you're still a part of it," Connor said, "You see the empty space on the wall rather than all the accolades and you want to keep adding to it."

Shellenberger first picked up a lacrosse stick nearly 20 years ago at his uncle's game at Randolph-Macon, his parents and certainly his dad had no clue what awaited them.

"Nothing, no knowledge whatsoever," Scott said, "I moved here and obviously her brother was big in lacrosse, I went to a ton of lacrosse games with her family, but yeah I knew nothing."

By elementary school Connor's parents were driving two and a half hours to Washington D.C. four times a week for practices and games with Madlax.

"He went for a tryout and I remember the director of Madlax goes 'are you crazy, are you going to do this? You live in Charlottesville, are you going to come up?" Stephanie said, "And we're like hey if Connor makes it and he loves it then we'll do it and we'll support him."

"We don't drink coffee, a lot of candy bars and fruit punch back then," Scott chimed in.

The trip involved leaving around 2 p.m. in the afternoon, Connor doing homework on the way up and the way back.

"Wouldn't be home till 11 or 12 and she's going to work the next day and same thing with my dad," Shellenberger said, "Just looking back on it, it's pretty incredible the sacrifices they made for me to chase my dreams."

Those dreams took Shellenberger from St. Anne's-Belfield across Ivy Road to Virginia and the crowds of Klöckner Stadium.

"The cliche answer is it's a dream come true, but it truly has been," Shellenberger said, "This year looking around before the Maryland game it kind of hit me how cool it was and how far we had come to think ten years ago that I was just the little kid on the fence watching the games."

A white board hung on the wall in Connor's room has become a map with Shellenberger writing out his goals for the season, offseason, career and life. At the bottom of the board are four words "Desire-Dedication-Determination-Discipline", the way Connor lives his life.

"He sets a lot of goals for himself and he's always been a goal-setter and he would have a board in his room and setting those goals," Stephanie said, "It's pretty awesome because a lot of those papers that we've that he would draw up his goals to see that he's accomplished them."

The short drive has been a blessing at time for Shellenberger, whether it is bringing teammates to the house, his parents bringing the dogs to Kohr Brothers or his other passion, golf.

"I call it golf crazy, he just went golf crazy, he was like me when I was 13," Scott laughed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shellenberger would play golf nearly seven days a week and the sports has become a release from the stress of school or lacrosse.

"Whenever I'm struggling or losing games that's an easy outlet to go out there and just get away," Connor said, "That's one of the reasons I started playing golf was I needed something other than lacrosse to just take my mind away from it."

After struggling with a lower-body injury this season that at times Shellenberger would tell his dad he could not even walk with, the Tewaaraton finalist is fully healthy and showing it with almost as much fire as a Sunday afternoon watching his favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"If you could sit here and watch a Steelers game, just the pure passion and excitement," Scott said, "I mean they'll score a touchdown and he's ripping off his shirt, his pants, he's running around the house with his underwear."

Stephanie could not help but shed a few tears watching Connor terrorize the Georgetown defense in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Albany, tying UVA program records for goals (6) and points (10) in a single NCAA Tournament game.

"He wants to win, he wants to win the national championship for those fifth-year guys to get three," Scott said, "It was awesome to see him come out with the energy and go be him, play like he knows how to play."

No one has more goals in the month of May than Mr. May, whether scored, with 26 goals and 22 assists in eight career postseason games, or written out with celebrating on Memorial Day Monday always at the top.

"It's a big fire, I think selfishly you always want to chase that next class and our class obviously wants that second title," Shellenberger said.