It is the evening of Feb. 3, 2008, and the New England Patriots just closed out a season of what could have been the most impressive season performance in NFL history with a loss in the most important game of that season, thus finishing 18-1, just one game shy of perfection. This past NFL season, The Patriots and Tom Brady were spared the pressure of trying to go 19-0 and winning the Super Bowl — the only way to make good on the previous season, in which they were almost good enough — by the season-ending injury Brady suffered during his very first game back in action.
For the Virginia men’s lacrosse team, however, this kind of pressure is real — and it does not yet have any injuries to blame. The dramatic end to its impressive 2007-2008 season came in the form of a sudden-death double overtime loss to perennial powerhouse Syracuse.
“We were actually a very young team last year,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “I think among the four teams [in the final four] we were the youngest of those four teams. We only had a couple seniors who were playing an important role ... I was proud of what we were able to accomplish. I felt we played our best lacrosse at the very end, and that came against Syracuse in the semi-finals.”
After trailing the majority of the game, Syracuse was able to level the score, eventually defeating the Cavaliers and ruining Virginia’s chance at a national title. Virginia, though, will get no respite from the pressure to find the championship it lost last year. Already ranked No. 1 before the season has even started, according to the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll, the only place Virginia can go is down — or all the way to the winner’s circle.
“I think everybody understands — certainly everybody in this program understands — that everyone wants to be No. 1 in May,” Starsia said. “You don’t want to necessarily be No. 1 in February. But at the same time we are proud of the designation.”
The same young team from last year, using only a handful of seniors in the key places, is now a year older and more experienced. This year, the Cavaliers possess a roster packed with 22 upperclassmen. Though last year’s leading goal-scorer Ben Rubeor graduated, the team retains many of the tools that made it a national contender in 2008.
“If we are playing our best lacrosse we potentially should be winning the national championship,” sophomore midfielder Shamel Bratton said. “Hopefully, it will work out every Saturday.”
The Cavaliers look forward to the country’s 22nd hardest schedule, one which encompasses games against the other three teams in the ACC — each of which holds a top-10 preseason ranking. Before Virginia even makes it to the conference schedule portion of its season, however, the Cavaliers will also have to make it through No. 4 Johns Hopkins, No. 6 Cornell and Drexel Saturday, who defeated Virginia at home just two years ago. All of these potential hurdles come before postseason play and Virginia’s possible chance at a national title.
“I think that I’d be upset with anything less than a championship,” senior attackman Danny Glading said. “But a more realistic goal is to come to practice every day and work hard. I think that if you take care of that, then the bigger goals that are out there — the ones you have to reach a little further for — they take care of themselves.”
All in all, then, it seems many of the Cavaliers share the media’s sentiments that they will be the only team whose season does not end with a loss. The Cavaliers will have to put in the effort and commit themselves to building off of last season’s triumphs and pitfalls, though, to avoid the curse of being “almost good enough.”
“We are a team and a program that needs to learn to play from the front anyway,” Starsia said. “I don’t think we shy away from it ... It’s the beginning of the long journey. We haven’t accomplished anything yet. At the same time, I don’t fret the fact that we have to be No. 1 in most of the preseason polls. I think we fully understand that this is decided on the field, and that’s about to begin this weekend.”
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