For those of you too “weak” to attend the U.Va. – “Clempson” game today — it marked an end of an era. This was the last game that our good friends (and supporters of the University) Dan and Betsy will have a parking spot at the games (for complaints — write your favorite athletic director  — a.k.a. Craig Littlepage, remover of the “pass out” and general destroyer of those things that we think of as “U.Va.”, not excluding the doubling of the prices to hold the parking spot this year).

The game turned out as we might expect in these times — a despicable display of offense, and the other team (those bastards from SC) ended up with enough offense to win.

I am saddened by this passing — as we have had many, many years of enjoyment in the parking lot at home football games. The fun started when Dan’s mom,  Doris K., began her support of VSAF in 1982 (our first year of school). In those years  drinking was legal for all of us, even encouraged by the University (remember E-school happy hour?) and Ms. K. had a very nice space under the trees east of the stadium. And we got to come out at halftime and imbibe. The “pass-out.”

Many of us did not necessarily come out at half time, though, because the Pep Band gave us such a good show (much better than the football team in those days — or even these days). It was worth staying in the stadium to see the fun!

My, how times have changed. From the post – 9/11 “we cannot allow pass-outs due to security issues” to the “give us a ton more money to keep your parking spot” to “ the Pep Band is dead and we want a band just like Virginia Tech! (or any other high school)” — we have weathered these abominations.

But no longer. The era ended today. And I am sad to see it go — but I support its demise. The school has lost its way — and our continued support will not help to redirect it.

I implore you all to stop your support of VSAF. And encourage everyone you know to do the same. Litttlepage must be replaced. Groh must go. Our school has been diminished by this foray into football “greatness.” Do what it takes to return the University to its former greatness and purge this place of its mistaken belief in the “top ten football god.”

I am personally ashamed of the University at this point. It has lost its way.

Michael LaPrade
SEAS 1986

The Faculty Senate met yesterday to discuss an agenda heavily influenced by concerns pertaining to the global economy and the implications it could hold for current University operations. University administrators tried to assuage those fears by emphasizing the University’s still-strong financial situation.

“Having a few minutes to reflect on the impact that the economy has had on the University of Virginia is worthwhile,” said Leonard Sandridge, University chief operating officer and executive vice president, at the beginning of his presentation. He noted that the recent financial crisis has had a significant impact on businesses and institutions of higher education around the world but said the University is faring relatively well so far.

Despite the 15-percent reduction in the commonwealth’s budget and the continued instability of the international market, there are no certain, negative implications for the University and its future, Sandridge said. The best way to understand the University’s overall finances is to look at how the University handles liquidity and bills, deals with debt, manages funds from the commonwealth and maintains its endowment, he explained.

Reports on the University’s endowments, along with those of other large leading higher education institutions such as Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University and Duke University have become increasingly popular in the general media during the past few months, Sandridge noted. Although the University’s endowment is down by about 20 percent, he reported, this should not be cause for immediate alarm. Economic troubles have hit some schools harder than others, he noted; some schools have had to freeze their construction programs and financial campaign development programs to compensate for lost funds, while the University has not had to resort to any of these measures.

Overall, the University receives revenue from a number of sources ranging from tuition to private donations, and fortunately, “our donors have been generous in good times and bad times,” Sandridge said, adding that “it’s too early to assess what the long-term effects will be.”

With no clear end to the financial crisis in sight, the University administration’s main objectives are to keep the University operating as usual and to protect its long-term interests, including future investments.

“We still need to protect the opportunity to make investments in areas where we need to be making investments,” Sandridge said.

Budget cuts also do not necessarily mean decreased funding for departments, University President John T. Casteen, III noted in his opening remarks. Casteen also discussed a financial award offered through the Higher Education for Development and the United States Agency for International Development to encourage collaboration between American and African universities focused on the topics of agriculture, science and technology, health and medicine, engineering, teaching, business management and economics. The goal of developing any new program is to “make bold steps, despite what might be happening with the economy,” Casteen said.

In an open discussion at the end of the meeting, faculty members also voiced their concerns about decisions made by higher levels of administration that affected their departments but did not allow faculty members to have enough input in the decision-making process. Faculty also discussed the selection process for the Jefferson Scholars Graduate Fellowship program, with some voicing their fears that if the interview process is not improved, the program may end up losing some of its best candidates.

Additionally, the Faculty Senate discussed the creation of two new awards that, if created, would emphasize lifelong service to the University and teaching achievements, Casteen said.

A lifelong teacher and school librarian decided before her death in 2006 to make a final commitment to the world of education, including to the University’s Education School. The estate of University alumna Jane Iris Crutchfield has executed Crutchfield’s wish to donate more than $1 million to both the University’s Education School and the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Crutchfield left these donations in the name of her mother, Janie Gammon Crutchfield, a driving force behind her pursuit of her education, Curry Foundation Executive Director Deb Donnelly said.

Architecture School alumna Mary Kay Lanzillotta, one of Crutchfield’s co-trustees, described her longtime neighbor — known to Lanzillotta and others in their community as “Miss Iris” — as a warm and friendly individual who was “very interested in education and giving back” to the communities of which she was a part.

Crutchfield, a 1952 Education School alumna, taught at Virginia public schools for 19 years before earning a degree in library science from UNC at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, Lanzillotta said. Crutchfield then served as a librarian in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area until her retirement, Lanzillotta said.

“It’s a remarkable gift, given that Ms. Jane Iris was a school teacher and librarian her whole life,” Donnelly said, noting that education professionals are not often able to make such sizable donations.

The majority of the gift to the University of Virginia will go toward financing part of the construction of Bavaro Hall, a building that Donnelly described as the future “face of the Curry School of Education.”

Education School Outreach Coordinator Lynn Bell noted that about $500,000 of the roughly $1.1 million Crutchfield gave to the University will specifically fund the creation of the Janie Gammon Crutchfield faculty suite in the building, pending approval from the Board of Visitors, while the rest of the gift will go toward the general construction of the building. She said the $37.4 million building being constructed next to Ruffner Hall will house faculty while providing common spaces for activities such as student and faculty research. These provisions are expected to provide a greater opportunity for collaboration among faculty and students, Bell said.

José-Marie Griffiths, UNC at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science dean, noted that her institution’s share of the gift is being allocated to the Susan Grey Akers Scholarship Fund. The funds, which have been received by the school during the past year, have accrued enough interest to aid students in the upcoming academic year, Griffiths said, noting that this allocation of additional funds to the scholarship will be particularly helpful, considering the current state of the economy.

Crutchfield’s altruism in the name of her mother raised concerns that Crutchfield might not be remembered in the future, Griffiths said. With this in mind, Griffiths said, the Susan Grey Akers Scholarship will include an homage to one of Crutchfield’s traditions: annual tea parties that will mirror Crutchfield’s own practice of offering the drink to community members as they discussed their lives and educational experiences.

In an effort to create a dialogue about the single sanction, students and Honor Committee members discussed some of the pros and cons of the policy during an open forum hosted by the Single Sanction Ad-hoc Committee last night.

Sam Leven, member of the ad-hoc committee and president of Hoos Against Single Sanction, said the single sanction creates a black-and-white distinction between right and wrong. Students may be expelled when they have simply committed an honest academic mistake, he said.

“It pretends there are no shades of gray when there are,” Leven said.

Some students also noted that the single sanction does not decrease cheating at the University. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, said students used their iPhones to cheat during a final exam last semester, and no one reported them.

“I don’t think it decreases the amount of cheating here at the University in any way,” she said. “Because there’s no middle ground, people don’t turn people in.”

Josh Hess, former vice chair for community relations, said, however, that he believes the University has a lower rate of cheating because of the single sanction compared to other large public universities. He added that the single sanction has an educational value that a multisanction system could not have.

“It helps communicate a message of high expectations,” Hess said. “It makes people take seriously the honor code who might well have otherwise not done so.”

Hess acknowledged that the honor system is not perfect but said he believes there is no other system that has the same level of benefits as the single sanction while creating fewer problems.

“There are some schools where the honor system is not punitive but rehabilitative; instead of getting sanctioned, you take some academic integrity class,” Hess said. “I’m skeptical in a large public university people would take an honor system like that seriously.”

Within the University’s setting, some students raised concerns about the difficulty of transferring to another school after being expelled. Committee members, however, said University faculty members work with expelled students to help them enroll in other colleges and universities. Ad-hoc Committee member Will Derry, who is also a Medical representative, said some students who are expelled are offered admission into universities just as good as or better than the University.

Leven added that the issue of transferring is not a reason to call the single sanction into question.

“Even speaking as an opponent of the single sanction, fear of your ability to transfer is not a reason to oppose the single sanction,” he said.

Honor Advisor Nadia Islam also said she doubts that a student would be willing to return to the University after a one- or two-year suspension under a multisanction system.

“I’ve heard of instances where people really do strongly believe that the system works fairly and thoroughly and they do learn from their mistakes having been dismissed from the University,” Islam also noted.

About eight Committee members and 10 to 12 other students attended last night’s discussion. The forum was supposed to last from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. but ended early because the Chemistry Building auditorium was apparently double-booked, Committee Chair Adam Trusner said. Leven originally had planned to present a detailed proposal as an alternative to the single sanction system but was unable to do so because of the time constraint.

Trusner said he was satisfied with the discussion the forum generated, despite having to end the meeting earlier than expected.

President John T. Casteen, III was the third highest-paid public University president in the country last year, according to a recent report by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Despite the struggling economy, Casteen’s almost $800,000 salary will be the same next year, University spokesperson Carol Wood said, explaining that despite decreases in commonwealth funding imposed by Gov. Tim Kaine, no faculty salaries have been cut at the University.

Casteen earned $797,048 for the 2007-08 academic year, an almost $45,000 increase from his salary the year before. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger ranks close behind Casteen, with a salary of $719,892.

The three highest-paid Virginia public university presidents — Casteen, Steger, and Virginia Commonwealth University President Eugene P. Trani — each receive $176,113 of their respective salaries from public funds. Private funding, costs of housing, deferred compensation, retirement pay and bonuses round out the executives’ salaries.

Casteen’s total compensation includes $310,887 from private sources, $15,000 from private sources for his car, a house provided by the commonwealth and a $23,400 performance bonus.

The more than $300,000 in private funding comes from an established chair endowment provided by a donor and a designated endowment by the Board of Visitors to fund faculty salaries, Wood said.

The Board of Visitors sets President Casteen’s salary in the fall, when all other faculty salaries are set, Wood said. The Board also conducts “rigorous” annual performance reviews of the University’s president, through which it determines whether to grant Casteen a raise, according to an e-mail from Wood.

University presidents have come under fire from some groups for enjoying high salaries during difficult economic times, as some students struggle to finance their tuition and some institutions are forced to implement hiring freezes. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a ranking Senate finance committee member, released a statement last Friday urging institutions to clarify why executives are paid the amounts they are.

“The Chronicle’s study shows that the executive suite seems insulated from budget crunches,” Grassley, a representative for whom was unavailable as of press time, said, according to the release. “While endowment values and pay-outs for financial aid may be decreasing, there’s still money for the president’s salary increase.”

In the release, Grassley said it was “surprising” that many public universities raised presidents’ salaries last year and asked those universities to make the reasons for the increases more transparent.

“In these hard economic times, apparently belt-tightening is for families and students, not university presidents,” Grassley said, according to the release. “Maybe the salary increases can be justified, but students, parents, and university boards should have full information so they can decide for themselves.”

Wood, however, said Casteen’s salary is justified.

“First of all, let me just say President Casteen earns every penny he makes,” Wood said, noting Casteen’s 19-year tenure as president of the University and many responsibilities. “I think sometimes people don’t understand what the job of a university president is today.”

Wood said that many factors should come into play when assessing a college president’s salary and that attention should be paid to the different operations under a given university’s umbrella.

“We are a new model of public education because we are increasingly reliant on private giving,” Wood said. “Not only is [Casteen] running an academic institution but a hospital and a city. Do all these other [schools] have hospitals as part of their universities? If you look at Virginia Tech, they don’t have a hospital. The [Chronicle Report] doesn’t mention that.”

Bill Shiebler, national field director of the United States Student Association, said salaries of public university presidents should be treated differently than those of private university presidents.

“I think top-level administrators need to be held to a higher standard at public universities because it’s public funds, which are taxpayer dollars which are going towards those salaries,” he said.

Shiebler emphasized, though, that lowering university presidents’ salaries does nothing to help students finance their educations.

“I don’t think students or the public should be confused for one second that lowering the salary for a president or chancellor at a university is going to make it more affordable for students to go to college,” Shiebler said. “No matter what a top administrator is paid, the bottom line is that students won’t be able to go to college … until the state government finds ways … to make it more affordable.”

W. Heywood Fralin, rector of the University’s Board of Visitors, said “good” college presidents might be underpaid.

“This is particularly true when one looks at their earning potential in the private corporate world,” Fralin noted in a statement provided by Wood. “In John Casteen’s specific case he successfully led the largest capital campaign in U.Va.’s history several years ago and is now leading a campaign which at the time of its announcement was the largest ever undertaken by any university in the country.”

Fralin stated that Casteen has created strong academic and operation teams in addition to leading the Capital Campaign, all of which helps the University achieve high national rankings.

“When viewed from all perspectives, his salary appears to be quite justified,” Fralin said.

The Office of Emergency Preparedness tested the University’s emergency notifications systems yesterday afternoon from 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Though most of the notifications functioned properly during that time, e-mail alerts were delayed during the test.

Director of Emergency Preparedness Marge Sidebottom explained that the problem was addressed by re-sending the e-mail and added that her office is now working with the Information Technology & Communication office to ascertain the source of the problem. The first e-mail notifying students of the test was not sent until 3:06 p.m. and the second e-mail, notifying students that the test was complete, was not sent until 3:31 p.m. Sidebottom noted that the course of action her office followed was consistent with its plan for a similar problem during a real emergency.

Despite the problem encountered with the emergency alert e-mail, Sidebottom described the test as a success because it confirmed that all “the systems work.” She noted that U.Va. Alerts text messages were successfully sent and were received within two minutes of the time they were sent.

Yesterday’s test marked the first time the University has tested all of its alert systems “inclusively,” with the exception of LCD screens, said Terry Tigner, administrative assistant to the director of the University’s Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Sidebottom explained that on-Grounds LCD screens were not included in the test because they require a “different initiation process” at a separate location, whereas the systems that were tested yesterday could be “dispatched from a central location.” Tigner added that LCD screens are considered an “internal process of notification,” but the focus of the test yesterday was to determine the effectiveness of “mass notification systems.”

The main difference between yesterday’s test and previous ones was that an international system was used yesterday to signal an “all clear,” which involved three blasts that sounded like air horns, Tigner said. He added that this siren used a different tone from the one tested in September, a tone which his office hopes will “carry better” over other noises, such as those from construction or rescue vehicles. Another reason for the tone change was a desire to have a “distinct sound that people would recognize,” he said.

Sidebottom added that although the Office of Emergency Preparedness knew all the systems functioned prior to beginning yesterday’s test, the occasion presented “an opportunity to integrate the new siren system.”

Sidebottom emphasized that the purpose of this test, as with any test, was to “find any weakness that can be improved upon.”

First-year College student Leila Lam expressed concern about the e-mail alert malfunction.

“In the event of a real emergency, we probably wouldn’t be able to address the problem as effectively as we should if the e-mails aren’t working properly,” Lam said.

First-year College student Shelby Adams said, though, that concerns about possible technical difficulties were not significant.

“If there was an emergency, I probably wouldn’t check my e-mail anyway,” Adams said. “I’d probably rely on the text messages and sirens.”

The information provided in the alerts itself was sufficient, second-year Engineering student Jamie Wright said. She noted that she received two e-mails and two text messages and emphasized her satisfaction with the system, saying the alert system was “very thorough.” The University, Wright said, “is doing a good job of getting in contact with people.”

There are currently 17,666 people signed up for UVa Alerts, and about 60,000 people are on the emergency e-mail alert list, Sidebottom said.

The University’s Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities recently teamed with Google Earth to bring the institute’s three-dimensional recreation of ancient Rome to the masses in a more innovative and involved way.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno hosted an event Nov. 12 at which the initiative was announced. To celebrate the collaboration, Google Chief Technology Advocate Michael T. Jones and Italian dignitaries were in attendance, a University press release stated. According to the press release, the Google project is an expansion of an earlier project called Rome Reborn, based out of the IATH and the University of California at Los Angeles, that aspired to create a 3D model of ancient Rome during its peak in A.D. 320.

Rome Reborn Project Director Bernard Frischer, who is also the director of IATH, was the inspiration behind the original project. Frischer first arrived in Rome as the Rome Prize Fellow in Classical Studies at the American Academy in 1974 and was introduced soon thereafter to the Plastico di Roma Antica, “an enormous physical model of Rome in the year A.D. 320,” Frischer stated in an e-mail. A.D. 320, Frischer added, was the “peak” of Ancient Rome’s development in terms of population and the city’s physical condition.

“I thought that there ought to be some technology that could make the model [of the plastico] more available to students, scholars and the general public. That’s what started me on my way,” Frischer stated about Rome Reborn.

Frischer and his team then collected the information necessary to create their 3D model by studying well-preserved ancient Roman buildings and monuments, 3D data from the Plastico di Roma Antica and ancient literary sources, Frischer explained. The team then used tools such as laser scanners and virtual reality software “to create a model that was very detailed and as accurately reconstructed,” he stated.

The entire process took 34 years from the time Frischer first saw the Plastico di Roma Antica in Rome and included both a Rome Reborn 1.0 as well as a more highly developed Rome Reborn 2.0.

“I guess this proves, yet again, Winston Churchill’s advice ‘never, ever to give up!’” Frischer added.

The day after Rome Reborn 1.0 was presented to the public at a press conference in Rome in June 2007, Frischer said, he received a call from a Google executive. He then visited Google headquarters in August 2007. Bruce Polderman, Google Earth 3D Product Manager, said the Web site was a great start, but transferring it to Google Earth would allow users to actually “experience” the city.

“It took a lot of hard work and ingenuity on the part of the Google Earth team to make such a big model work efficiently for potentially millions of users logged into the model at the same time and all exploring it with complete freedom of movement,” Frischer stated.

Polderman said he and his team just fine-tuned the work Fischer and his colleagues did.

Google Earth’s Ancient Rome in 3D will allow users to explore more than 6,700 historic sites and learn about ancient Rome through more than 250 “info bubbles,” a Google press release stated. These info bubbles, which were added by IATH, “open up as the user explores the Google model and [give] you quick, basic information about what you’re seeing,” Frischer stated.

The entire project is not yet complete, “and since it’s a digital product, it probably never will be,” Frischer noted, adding that “its strength is that it’s a work in progress.”

Frischer stated that he hopes this 3D model will help educated students understand significant and complex places like Rome. To help promote the project, the Google press release stated that the company is holding a contest encouraging teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade to create innovative lesson plans using the 3D model.

Making models available in Google Earth is “another step in the creation of a virtual time machine which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome and many other great cities around the world,” Frischer stated. With the positive response toward Google’s Ancient Rome in 3D seen thus far, Frischer added, “it’s logical to expect that Google will want to build on this success by adding more historical layers to Google Earth.”

The night before the final home football game of the season marks an emotional time for the Virginia football team. Gathered at a hotel for a last supper to commemorate the senior class, the Cavaliers will forget about tomorrow’s on-the-field test for just a moment as, one by one, each senior addresses his fellow teammates.

“They get up there,” senior tight end John Phillips said, “and you see what’s on their heart and what’s on their mind. It’s real passionate; it’s real inspirational.”

As if Virginia (5-5, 3-3 ACC) needed anything else riding on Saturday’s home finale against Clemson (5-5, 3-4 ACC), winning one last game at home for the seniors will certainly be on the players’ minds.

“I’d love nothing more than to send those guys out on a win,” sophomore quarterback Marc Verica said. “They’ve had great careers here, and they really put everything they had into it. I’m really proud of their accomplishments and I couldn’t be happier to have played with them.”

While Verica and the rest of the team would like to send the seniors out in style in their last hurrah at Scott Stadium, they are also looking to put an end to their recent two-game skid, and heading into their final two games of the season, the squad is just one win away from being bowl-eligible for the second straight year. With their last test of the season against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg next weekend, however, the Cavaliers cannot afford to bide their time if they want to avoid being plagued by what senior linebacker Clint Sintim described as a brutally long offseason.

“There’s nothing like [the] college atmosphere,” Sintim said. “There’s nothing like college competition. To be fortunate enough to play a bowl game with your teammates and have fun with them is something that you’ll cherish forever.”

Virginia will not be the only team on the field Saturday in need of a win to ensure postseason life. After a whirlwind of a season, which included the firing of 10-year coach Tommy Bowden following a disappointing 3-3 start to the season, the Tigers are trying to find their paws under interim coach Dabo Swinney. Although Clemson currently sits at a lowly second-to-last in the ACC Atlantic Division, the Cavaliers are far from discounting their opponent.

“I’m not sure what all’s going down with their program,” Phillips said, “but they were ranked No. 9 in the country [preseason] for a reason. It’s a dangerous game when sometimes they play up to their potential and sometimes they don’t, so you never really know what team you’re going to get.”

In addition to the talent and firepower that the rivals from the south possess, Groh said, the Tigers will be an especially tricky opponent for another reason. Since the expansion of the ACC, teams face each other less often, and only five current Virginia players were on the Cavaliers’ roster when Virginia last faced Clemson in 2004. None of those five saw action in that game.

The Cavaliers have had extra time to prepare for this weekend’s game, coming off a bye week after their loss at Wake Forest two weeks ago. The breather has not only provided the squad with time to analyze game film but has also afforded the athletes some much needed rest from a physical standpoint.

“It really gave us an opportunity to kind of get our body back, our legs recuperated a little bit, and just recap on the season [and] what we’ve done well and what we haven’t done well,” Sintim said.

With fresh legs, the Cavaliers hope to make a statement early in the game against the Tigers, something the squad has failed to do so far this season. In four of the last five games, Virginia’s opponents have drawn first blood, and while the Cavaliers were able to come away with three victories in that span, their early game flat-footedness proved costly in the loss to the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest scored all of its 28 points in the first half, and although the Cavaliers put up 14 in the last quarter, they still fell 28-17.

The Cavaliers can only hope that the senior day atmosphere will provide them with enough momentum out of the blocks to put an end to their early-game struggles.

“It’s a long time coming,” Sintim said. “I’ve been around for a while, and you’ve heard a lot of seniors talk about their last game and how special it is and how you’ll miss it, and you kind of sit back, listening and thinking, ‘Well, I have so-and-so many years to think about that,’ but really, the clock’s just winding down. It’s going to be a special day.”

He’s played just two regular-season games, but freshman guard Sylven Landesberg — “Learning Center,” as some have dubbed him — is already way ahead of the curve.

As Virginia prepares to take on Radford tonight at John Paul Jones Arena, it has a common denominator in each of its close wins to open the season: Landesberg was the leading Virginia scorer. The freshman put up 28 points to open the season in a 107-97 win against VMI and 21 points Wednesday in a 77-75 victory against South Florida.

There has been plenty of hype for the freshman from New York City since the preseason, but even Virginia coach Dave Leitao did not expect Landesberg to perform so well this soon.

“Obviously, to be able to deliver in the first two games is a bit surprising,” Leitao said. “Hopefully it’s establishing himself as a good player on this team.”

His teammates, however, seemed to think Landesberg’s production was more predictable.

“We saw him in high school, and just in pickup games you could see that he can bring a lot to the table,” junior forward Jamil Tucker said. “We’re not surprised at all — we’re happy that he’s bringing it in the game.”

Perhaps most impressively, Landesberg’s points have not come easily. He has knocked down the open three and has used his strength to get cheap baskets, for sure, but it is his uncanny ability to get to the hole in traffic that separates him from most freshmen in their first games.

“I just attack the rim,” Landesberg said. “Good things always happen from that.”

Landesberg also credits his ability to get to the basket and finish with contact to pickup games in the parks of New York City. The Big Apple is clearly not lacking in tough-minded players, and Landesberg appears to be of that mold.

“He’s got a very good mind for the game and a very good competitive spirit,” Leitao said. “Most good players that grow up in New York City have that by reputation, and his reputation happens to be true.”

It also helps that while Landesberg is not outwardly cocky, he does not doubt himself.

“I’m a confident person; I always have confidence in myself,” Landesberg said. “There were some pregame jitters, but that came out after the Shepherd game — the exhibition — and after that they were all gone.”

It appears that if Landesberg kept playing this well, he would get the chance to enter the everyday starting lineup; whether that will happen tonight against Radford, however, is still a question. Landesberg started against VMI only because of the small lineup that the Keydets offered; with a more standard lineup against South Florida Wednesday, however, Landesberg came off the bench.

Landesberg still was second on the team in minutes against South Florida with 31, and that’s all that matters to him.

“As long as I’m on the court, I’m happy,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m coming off the bench or I’m starting as long as I’m getting playing time.”

Regardless of Landesberg’s spot in the rotation, he will have another chance to shine tonight against yet another mid-major that could give Virginia a run for its money, similar to what VMI did Sunday. Though the Highlanders are coming off a 2007-08 season in which they went 10-20 (5-9 Big South) — including 2-15 on the road — Radford was picked to finish second in the Big South in the preseason, five spots ahead of fellow Big South team VMI that gave Virginia all it could handle. The Highlanders — coached by Brad Greenberg, brother of Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg — feature a 6-foot-8 stat sheet stuffer in preseason All-Big South pick junior forward Joey Lynch-Flohr and have a high-scoring, experienced group of guards in senior Kenny Thomas, senior Martell McDuffy and junior Amir Johnson, who return as the three leading scorers from last season.

With one of the biggest road trips of the season looming Thanksgiving weekend to Syracuse Nov. 28 followed by the Cavaliers’ longest trek of the year to visit coach Tubby Smith and Minnesota, Virginia cannot afford to lose at home to mid-majors like Radford.

“We wanted to get off to a fast start, and we’re 2-0,” Leitao said. “We’ve got some very difficult games ahead that we’ve got to be ready for, so you don’t want to give away home games at this point in the season.”

In other words, Virginia is undefeated, but it has a long season ahead.

The same goes for the stunningly rapid development thus far of Landesberg.

“I’m not that successful, it’s only my second game,” Landesberg said. “Ask me that a little later on in the season.”

“It’s our last game at Klöckner — maybe.”

These were the ominous words of Virginia senior defender Nikki Kryzsik as she contemplated Virginia’s weekend matchup against Duke.
Tomorrow evening the Cavaliers (15-4-3, 6-3-1 ACC) continue their NCAA Tournament run in the third round at home at 7 p.m. As a No. 2 seed, the Cavaliers have received home field advantage for their first two matchups against lower-seeded Army and West Virginia. If the Cavaliers defeat the No. 3-seeded Blue Devils (14-5-3, 4-3-3 ACC), they will face either UCLA and USC next weekend. Depending on who wins, the Cavaliers could relinquish home field advantage for the rest of the tournament.

“After the big game [against Duke] last time, after the two overtimes, we were kind of like ‘Oh, I wish we had five more minutes,’” senior goalkeeper Celeste Miles said. “Luckily we do get 90 more minutes to play them and see what we can do with that.”

During the regular season, Virginia’s face-off against Duke came down to a 0-0 tie even after a double overtime. Throughout the regular season, games that remain level after two overtime periods are recorded as ties. In the playoffs, however, while even scores after double overtime are still recorded as ties, a shoot-out is held to determine which team advances.

In the scoreless regular-season game, the Cavaliers outshot the Blue Devils 22 to 6, but neither team was able to finish any chances.
“I think Saturday is going to come down to whoever focuses more in both 18s,” Kryzsik said.

Just like before its first-round game, with seven days off, Virginia once again has had a considerable amount of time to prepare before facing Duke.

“It’s important that you keep your routine and that you work on things that are in your control,” coach Steve Swanson said. “I think the focus has been there and the sessions have been really good.”

Just like Virginia, Duke faced a bit of a slide before coming into the NCAA Tournament. After going 0-1-1 in their last two regular-season games, the Blue Devils lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament and were eliminated. Just like Virginia, however, they have recently been caught up in the one-and-done atmosphere of the NCAA Tournament and have thrived under the pressure. The stakes will be high against the Blue Devils; Duke first defeated Radford 5-1 and then defeated William & Mary 1-0 during the first two rounds of the tournament.

“Everything is much more exaggerated in terms of importance [during this part of the season],” Miles said.

Up to this point, the Cavaliers are 9-2-1 on the season at home, while the Blue Devils are 4-4-2 on the road. For the seniors on the Virginia women’s soccer team, this could mean their last game at home or even their last game ever as a collegiate athlete.

“We’ve played four years on this field in front of these fans and these coaches,” Miles said. “But I think the biggest thing is how close we are with our team. Klöckner is important, but I think continuing the season with our team is the most important thing. We don’t want that to end even if we aren’t able to play [at] Klöckner anymore. We just want to continue the chance to be together, to play together and to keep the season going.”