The Virginia field hockey team began its 2004 season with just three seniors on its roster. Yet, game after game, this trio of Cavalier elder stateswomen has created an output far greater than expected. With a concentration on the squad’s youth early in the year, it would have been difficult to predict how important these three would be.

Seniors Julianne Bojanic, Logan Carr and Katie Jo Gerfen have held a multitude of influential roles for the Cavaliers this season.

Bojanic has been both a back and midfielder for the Cavaliers this year, thriving in a role of shutdown defender. She currently is tied for the team lead in defensive saves with two and set the pace for Virginia in this category in 2003 with three saves. The Lancaster, Pa., native has not made headlines with game-winning goals because that has never been her function for the Cavaliers. Instead, Bojanic is never far from the ball on defense, gaining possession and sending it up field to set up the offense.

Carr, a goalkeeper, began the season splitting time with sophomore Katherine Blair, but in the last three games has started and played every minute of each contest. Several times during the year, notably in narrow losses the last two weeks against No. 2 North Carolina and No. 1 Wake Forest, Carr has succeeded in keeping Virginia in the game. She notched one shutout this season and a team-high 81 saves to bring her career total to 246.

Gerfen, a back, added a collegiate All-American honor in 2003 to a long list of career accomplishments. In 2004, her final season at Virginia, she has continued standout play on both sides of the field. Gerfen has notched two goals and two assists on the year, frequently leading the Cavalier penalty corner attack and defense. Though her contributions as an on-field leader cannot be generated into a statistic, Gerfen’s six career game-winning goals show who the team looks to as the clock winds down.

Most importantly, however, these three are the role models for a group of 10 freshmen currently on the roster. Through their actions, possibly unknowingly, Bojanic, Carr and Gerfen are shaping the future of Virginia field hockey.

“There are 10 [freshmen],” freshman midfielder Megan Ponessa said. “We have just tried to push the seniors and learn from them, and that has really helped our team.”

Last weekend against Wake Forest, these three seniors played in their final home game for Virginia. In an emotional afternoon, the Cavaliers played tough against the top-ranked team in the country and then congregated to acknowledge Bojanic, Carr and Gerfen for their career accomplishments.

“There is a lot of emotion,” Gerfen said after the game. “We went out with a bang in our last home game of the season, and everybody came together.”

Heading into tomorrow’s contest at No. 3 Duke (14-3, 1-2 ACC), Virginia is still looking for its first 2004 ACC victory. As the regular season expires and the postseason begins, the No. 16 Cavaliers (10-8, 0-3), will once again look to their seniors to lead an underdog team. Whether they are successful or not, the coming years of Virginia field hockey have been set by the example of hard work and dedication from a small but essential trio of seniors.

The Virginia men’s cross country team is running out of chances to make good on its lofty preseason expectations. And tomorrow’s ACC championship meet in College Park, Md., is its last chance before the postseason begins.

The squad has stumbled through the regular season thus far. In the Great American Cross Country meet, they finished eighth, more than 100 points behind regional rivals William & Mary and N.C. State. At the Pre-National meet, no individual finished in the top 60, and the squad placed 22nd in a field of 35 teams.

To some extent, this slow start was expected, even self-imposed, because of what happened last year when the team raced well early in the season only to fade as it entered the latter stretches. Yet, it has been exacerbated by a rash of injuries and unforeseeable events — such as junior transfer Soeren Lindner’s visa being denied, forcing him to leave the country days before a meet.

But now it’s time to race, and after entering the season with hopes of winning the conference championship, coach Jason Dunn has said the goal tomorrow is to finish among the top three.

N.C. State is the perennial conference power, as well as the defending champion. But this year the favorite is Florida State, who “could run away with it,” according to Dunn. FSU’s Andrew Lemoncello, who was the national champion in his native Scotland, and N.C. State’s duo of Bobby Mack and defending conference champion Andy Smith all figure to vie for the individual title.

Virginia’s Will Christian, though, will also be in the hunt. He finished second to Smith in last year’s conference meet and has beaten him once this year.

“There are plenty of good guys,” Dunn said of the men’s race. “I don’t expect [Christian] to win. I expect him to put himself in position where he has a good chance to win. There’s a handful of guys who have a legitimate shot to win, and Will is one of those guys.”

Christian’s race strategy — which he describes as “going out conservative, pushing it in the middle of the race” — should serve him well in a race with only 90 or so runners and many hills and tight turns that figure to slow the race down.

“It should be close, but my chances are pretty good,” he said.

The women’s team, as opposed to the men’s squad that has struggled to find a rhythm, has shown steady, if modest, improvement throughout the year. The women are looking to respond to last year’s disappointing sixth place finish at the ACC championship meet.

Freshman Emily Harrison has been a consistent number one runner for the squad all year, and Dunn said he expects the same kind of performance from her this Saturday, which would put her among the top 15. Likewise, seniors Cheryl Carr and Shannon Hawrylo have been running well in practice and should, according to Dunn, place highly in the meet.

Their work will be cut out for them, however. Four conference teams — Duke (No. 5), North Carolina (No. 7), N.C. State (No. 10) and Wake Forest (No. 16) — are ranked, and another, Florida State, very well could be.

“Those are going to be the first six teams,” Dunn said of the four ranked teams, FSU and his squad. “Our goal is to not be sixth.”

In the early fall of 2000, Virginia fans had their first glimpse of Alecko Eskandarian when he came off the bench.The youngster made an immediate impact, redirecting a pass from Kyle Martino into the net for his first collegiate goal and the first goal for the 2000 Cavaliers. Eskandarian relished this moment.

“I was a nobody my freshmen year,” Eskandarian said. “The first two games I ever played I came off the bench. I was so drawn by the crowd and what a nice field we had. That place was so inspiring to play in, and I’ll always remember playing there.”

Virginia fans got used to three years of Eskandarian’s uncanny scoring ability. After witnessing 50 career goals, three All-ACC selections and the national Player of the Year award in his junior year, they watched as D.C. United selected Eskandarian with the first overall pick in Major League Soccer’s Super Draft.

D.C. United fans expected big things from the Virginia forward. But they were soon disappointed when Eskandarian spent much of his rookie campaign on the bench in an awful year for the United team. Over the offseason, D.C. brought in teenage phenom Freddy Adu, raising questions for some people about Eskandarian’s development and his role on the team.

“Everyone kept telling me it’s a jinx to be a No. 1 pick,” Eskandarian said. “They were pretty much setting me up for failure. It was perfect for those guys to write bad things about me last year. I wasn’t getting the playing time I thought I deserved. I just wanted to prove those guys wrong.”

Despite the naysayers, Eskandarian kept up his confidence, reinforced by a new coach, Peter Nowak. Nowak started Eskandarian immediately.

“It’s a world of difference between last year and this one,” Eskandarian said. “The new coaching staff has instilled a different mentality on the team. Last year, we had some personal goals getting in the way of our team goals. Not much of the personnel is more different — it’s just how we play.”

Eskandarian plays in good company, with international soccer veterans Ernie Stewart and Jaime Moreno. To learn the tricks of the professional trade, Eskandarian says he looks up to them.

“Ernie and Jaime have been through it all,” Eskandarian said. “They’ve played in the top leagues in the world. They’ve been at the highest level, the level I aspire to get to someday. Anytime those guys open their mouth to talk, I listen and try to take in as much as possible. I’m lucky to have them around.”

It seems like in his second season, the former Cavalier has finally turned the corner. He is the first D.C. United player to score 10 goals since 2001, establishing himself as the main scoring threat for the playoff-bound United.

Eskandarian faces off against former Virginia teammate Kenny Arena this weekend in a playoff match between United and the NY/NJ Metrostars.

“If I see him on the field, I’m telling him, ‘No more goals for you,’” Arena said.

Even if Arena is not able to stop his ex-teammate this weekend, the two will remain good friends. Eskandarian keeps in touch with the men’s and women’s soccer teams and is even taking classes at Virginia to finish his degree.

“The amount I’ve matured in the last two years is amazing,” Eskandarian said. “I left Charlottesville when I was still a kid growing up. By living on my own in the real world, I grew up a lot. Through all of that, the friends I had on the U.Va. team I’ll keep with me the rest of my life.”

As seasons come to a close, coaches and players usually talk about wanting to be in control of their postseason positions.

The Virginia volleyball team (16-7, 6-5 ACC) finds itself in just that place as they host in-state rival Virginia Tech (11-11, 5-5) tomorrow. The Cavaliers are currently tied for fourth in the conference with Duke and have three of their final five matches against teams with .500 conference records.

“Our fate is in our own hands as far as breaking out of this group,” Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. “We’re excited about the possibilities our schedule presents. We’re just trying to win one at a time.”

What is all the more impressive is how quickly the Cavaliers have turned around their conference record and taken control of their season. Over the course of five days, Virginia won three matches in a row, brought their conference record over .500 for the first time since they were 1-0 and catapulted from ninth in the conference to fourth. In that time, the Cavaliers also compiled their longest conference win streak since last November, when they won four ACC matches in a row. Virginia players, however, feel as if they still have room to improve.

“As far as what other teams are doing, I think day by day we’re getting better,” freshman outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood said. “I think the back half of our ACC record is going to be much better than our first half. We’re hoping to go 6-2 in the back half. I think we can go 7-1, personally.”

One factor in the coming together of this team is the young Virginia players stepping up. Kirkwood and fellow freshman Melissa Caldwell both rank in the top 20 nationally in their best statistical categories. Kirkwood is 17th in the nation in kills per game with 5.12. Caldwell’s defensive skills have helped her to grab the No. 20 ranking in the nation in digs per game with 5.45. Kirkwood’s older sister Emily is another young Cavalier among the statistical leaders. The sophomore setter’s average of 13.05 assists per game is currently 27th in the nation in that category. Shelton says she is excited about her team as they gain experience.

“We’re a better team now,” she said. “We have three freshmen on the court so it’s us having more experience, more balance. It’s a big difference.”

The Cavaliers have used that newfound experience in their last two matches, which both went the full five games. On Tuesday, Virginia beat Maryland in a comeback win at College Park. That win came on the heels of a five-game home victory against Wake Forest last Saturday. Both matches were indicative of how competitive the ACC is.

“Everyone is beating everybody in the ACC right now, and it’s still up for grabs,” Sarah Kirkwood said. “We have to remember that every single match is really important.”

When the Hokies visit Memorial Gymnasium Saturday, it will be the first time the in-state rivals meet as conference foes. Virginia Tech currently is headed in the opposite direction as the Cavaliers. The Hokies are in the midst of a three-match losing streak with all three losses coming on the road. The Cavaliers lead the all-time series 23-20. The young Cavaliers will look to use the match to continue their streak and maintain their place in the driver’s seat.

“It’s later in the season, and our teams traditionally peak later in the season, in the second half,” Shelton said. “And that’s when you want to be playing your best ball. I think we’re on our way.”

The Orange team won the second game of the Virginia baseball program’s second annual Orange vs. Blue World Series by the score of 5-1. It was the second consecutive win for the Orange team managed by Joe Hastings.

Sophomore southpaw Casey Lambert pitched five innings, allowing one run on two hits. Lambert also struck out two batters on the day.

The Blue team struck in the first inning, when former Virginia quarterback Anthony Martinez hit an RBI single that scored Joe Florio. The Orange team broke a 1-1 tie in the second inning off of an RBI single by Patrick Wingfield. The Orange team broke the game open with two runs in the fourth inning and added the fifth and final run in the sixth inning. Matt Street scored three runs for the Orange team and was 1-3 in his plate appearances.

Blue team pitcher Pat McAnaney pitched five innings and allowed four hits. All four runs scored against him were unearned.

The Virginia men’s basketball team expanded its roster with two new players on Wednesday. The Cavaliers added the services of Mike Forkin and Tryshan Ravenell. Both players are sophomores who made the team after tryouts were held earlier this month.

Forkin, a 6-foot-5 forward, was a two-time letter winner at Westfield High School. In his senior year at Westfield, Forkin was named to the All-District second-team.

Ravenell is a 6-foot point guard from Charlottesville, Va. He earned spots on the first-team All-District and second-team All-Central Virginia squads during his senior year at William Monroe High School. Ravenell was a three-sport athlete at William Monroe, where he also played football and was a member of the track and field team.

The Cavaliers will have two home exhibition games before the home opener against Robert Morris University Nov. 19. The two exhibition games will be against Lehman College and Marymount University.

It is certainly a tale of two programs — one firmly rooted in the cellar, the other almost untouchable in its pursuit of an ACC regular season title. Records, though, will certainly not be all that matters when the No. 7 Cavaliers (14-2, 3-1 ACC) and Virginia Tech (8-8, 1-4) open a new chapter in a long standing rivalry on Saturday when the two meet in Blacksburg.

The Cavaliers, coming off a dominating performance against the Monarchs of Old Dominion, haven’t played the Hokies in the regular season for five years. But the team is motivated for what could be a grueling contest, the first meeting between the two sides in the new-look ACC.

“Any game between U.Va. and Virginia Tech, no matter what sport, it is going to be a big rivalry,” senior defender Matt Oliver said. “It’s going to be as big for us as versus Maryland.”

Rivalry aside, the two programs are at different ends of the ACC spectrum. Virginia Tech has dropped four conference games and is seventh in the eight-team league. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are a game ahead of Wake Forest at the top of the standings and have only lost two games the entire season. Virginia also has fared better against common opponents, scoring a combined total of 14 goals compared to only six by the Hokies — a fact highlighted by Virginia’s decisive 4-1 victory over Old Dominion, a team Virginia Tech lost to 3-2 at home.

If Virginia Tech stands a chance of pulling off an upset, they will need the safe hands of junior goalkeeper Chase Harrison. Harrison was the hero in the Hokies’ surprise win over then-No. 1 Duke, the team’s only ACC win, and has recorded eight shutouts this season. He was named to Soccer America’s team of the week for his performance in that game and headlines a Hokie defense that has been extremely stingy all season. Allowing only 19 goals this season, Virginia Tech’s defense will certainly have to play well against a Cavalier squad that has scored seven goals in the last two games alone and possesses 16 different goal scorers.

Virginia Tech has been unable to use home advantage all season, dropping four of its six games in Blacksburg. Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch, to the contrary, believes the Hokies will hold the upper hand playing on their home field.

“That’s what this game for me is going to be more about than anything — it’s going to be at their place, and it’s an ACC game now, and it never used to be,” Gelnovatch said. “The other thing is that it’s going to be their biggest crowd of the year — whether it’s the band or the cheerleaders or whatever it is, they’re going to have everything out there and throw everything at us that they can.”

Although the Cavaliers have won 10 straight games, Virginia’s players remain aware of how dangerous it is to play away at a team with its back to the wall.

“They’re struggling, and taking a win off of us will help them big time”, defender Hunter Freeman said. “It’s at their place so I’m sure they’ll be juiced up and ready for the game, and we will be too, because if we get a win there, we’re putting ourselves in the driver’s seat to finish up top in the ACC.”

History favors the Cavaliers in tomorrow’s contest. Virginia has compiled a 31-2 record and has won 27 consecutive meetings between the two sides.

Last week was absolutely ridiculous. With four exams in five days, by the end of the week, I was at my wit’s end. I swear I was seeing blood vessels on my wooden cabinets, and I’m pretty sure my neighbor’s dog had the hacking smoker’s cough and barrel chest of a person with end-stage emphysema. I guzzled so much Dr Pepper to stay awakeand grew so dependent on it that I started asking it for medical advice.

While caffeine has helped many students fend off sleep, it is not healthy to deprive oneself of sleep for extended periods of time. Recently, students have turned to the prescription drug Adderall to stay awake and alert for long periods of time. While formal studies of illegal Adderall use are lacking, it is known that many college and graduate students use the drug and are largely unaware of its effects.

Adderall is a useful drug for people to whom it is prescribed, namely people who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or medically verified problems with excessive sleeping (narcolepsy). Otherwise, it can be a dangerous substance of abuse. To elucidate, Adderall is an amphetamine, with effects much like “speed.” It stimulates a division of the central nervous system called the sympathetic system. Simply, this is the part of the central nervous system that acts quickly to prepare the body for action, otherwise known as the “flight or fight” system.

In other words, the sympathetic nervous system is responsible for actions such as increasing a person’s heart rate and causing a person to be more alert. Accordingly, because Adderall stimulates this system, it causes many sympathetic actions on the body.

Several students I spoke with said they believe the drug is “fairly safe” because they have not seen major negative effects with its use. When I proposed that notion to Joel Shenker, a neurologist and professor at the University’s School of Medicine, he shed some light on its use.

“These drugs are only available with a prescription because they are full of unpredictable side effects,” Shenker said. “People may think a drug is fairly safe, but they do not understand its actions. It may just mean there are less obvious side effects, which may make it even harder to manage. Thus, an objective, knowledgeable point of view is necessary to determine its proper use.”

The effects that make the drug appealing to many students include decreased drowsiness and increased attentiveness for hours, but Adderall is a prescription drug for a reason.

According to Micromedex, Adderall causes a wide range of side effects from stomach pain to insomnia to an irregular heart beat, and it can even cause brain damage.

Additionally, a person may not know the full status of his own health. Factors that are important in determining not only whether the drug is safe to take, but how much and how often it should be taken, are not straightforward. These factors require a general understanding of the drug’s actions on the body, the body’s actions on the drugs, what other drugs or foods this drug may interact with and a specific understanding of the health status of the individual. A severe and perhaps fatal allergic reaction that may occur as a result of this drug when not used properly is a realistic concern.

Along with the short-term effects, Adderall is a habit-forming drug that causes physical and psychological dependence. If a person has been taking this drug for several weeks, he should see a physician to discuss a plan to discontinue its use so that withdrawal effects are minimized.

The experience of a physician provides knowledge of drugs and perspective on the use of drugs. As I spoke to Shenker, he addressed the illegal use of Adderall by students.

“If you can’t study without pharmacological manipulation than you may have bigger problems to worry about,” he said.

The problem is, as it always has been, that there are oftentimes too many things to do and not enough time to get them done. While it may seem that there are newer, better ways to increase attentiveness, there are no perfect solutions. School can be strenuous at times, but quick fixes are usually not the best way to deal with the stress. So unless Adderall has been prescribed to a person by his physician, then it would be in his best interest to steer clear of that drug. A person should work hard, but also balance it with time for play and rest.

And since I like to practice what I preach, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight!

Omid Fatemi is a bieweekly columnist.He can be reached at ofatemi@cavalierdaily.comreached at

The Belly Dance Club performs in McLeod Hall last night at a concert benefiting Alternative Spring Break and the United Way.

Polls for the fall student elections closed Wednesday at midnight. Ten percent of the entire student body logged online to select representatives to fill vacant positions and approve a referendum on renewable energy.

“The elections went smoothly this year,” University Board of Elections Chair Steve Yang said.

Voter turnout decreased slightly from that of last fall’s elections. Seventeen percent of undergraduate students cast ballots.

“Voter turnout was on par with past fall elections, though it was not as high as last fall,” Yang said. Last fall there were 14 referenda on the ballot, most relating to the creation of the UBE.

Students casting ballots this year voted overwhelmingly for the one referendum on the ballot, with 2,289 “yes” votes and 347 “no”s. The referendum asked students to indicate whether they would be willing to pay an extra $7 in order for the University to begin using clean, renewable energy and reduce its use of fossil fuels.

A “yes” vote only signals student support, however, and does not translate into a direct policy change. Council next plans to take the student-approved referendum to the administration.

“Groups behind the referendum will be making presentations to the administration,” Yang said.

Yang added that the lack of a direct impact on the administration’s energy policy also could have contributed to lowered voter turnout.

Students also cast ballots for some school-specific representatives to Council and the Honor Committee.

The Council representatives selected will remain in their positions through the upcoming spring and fall.

Thomas Gibson, Dionna Lewis, Ezana Teffera, and John Slosson won the four positions for College representatives on Council.

The newly picked Engineering school representatives are Katherine Gambill, Jennifer Prey, and Pavan Gupta.

Ipek Soylu won an uncontested race for Council Commerce representative.

“I was very excited to win,” said Slosson, who currently serves as Council’s transfer student representative. “My current constituents are transfer students. In the fall, they will be all students in the College.”

Slosson said his duties will largely remain the same with his new position. While his constituency will expand, his duties will continue to be writing resolutions and keeping in touch with the student body.

Officials were still in a meeting last night determining the winner of the Commerce School Honor representative race, after one the three candidates accused another of violating campaign regulations.

Yang said the position for Honor Commerce representative was the most highly contested.

Newly elected representative Dionna Lewis, a first-year College student, said she is excited to engage with a mostly older body of students.

“I have innovative strategies and new ideas to bring to the table,” Lewis said. “I might have a different perspective on things.”