Last night, Ryan Curtis, Vermont head coach and Virginia men's lacrosse alumnus, squared off against his mentor, Virginia coach Dom Starsia. As the No. 3 Cavaliers squashed the Catamounts' hopes for an upset, the 15-4 win improved Starsia's career record against his former players to 6-1.
In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, every Virginia player who dressed made an appearance on the field. Ten Cavaliers scored while eight tallied assists.
Although Virginia (3-0) got out to an early 3-0 lead, the Catamounts (0-2) came within 1 by the close of the first period. Vermont failed to even the score; however, and after a stalemate start to the second quarter, Cavalier sophomore midfielder Brian Carroll scored his second of the day to make it 4-2 Virginia.
"I felt like we were so quiet in the locker room before the game that we needed to play with more enthusiasm and energy," Starsia said. "Early on we weren't as sharp as we needed to be offensively -- we were a little careless at that end of the field at the beginning."
The momentum began to shift in favor of the Cavaliers from that point, and before heading into the locker room at the half, junior midfielder Steve Giannone and freshman midfielder Rhamel Bratton had extended the Cavalier lead against Vermont to 4 as both players put in a goal. Bratton's goal was the first of his Virginia career.
Coming out in the second half with new energy, the Cavaliers pelted Vermont goalkeeper Justin Lubas in the third, finding the back of the net six more times before the period ended. Up 12-3 heading into the fourth quarter, Virginia maintained its intensity and brought the final goal total to 15.
"So far I think we have tended to be better in the second half in general," Starsia said.
In contrast to the game against Stony Brook Saturday, the Cavaliers looked solid defensively from start to finish. Although the Catamounts got 13 shots off in the first half and 6 in the second, a combination of good defensive maneuvering and excellent goalkeeping by both Adam Ghitelman and Bud Petit limited Vermont to just two goals per half.
"After last Saturday's game we knew that we needed to step up," sophomore defenseman Ken Clausen said. "In that game we suffered from a lack of communication, so today we made an effort to get everyone talking and to communicate well from the beginning
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