The Virginia men’s lacrosse team found retribution for its 2006 season-opening upset with a 13-7 home victory Saturday against Drexel.
After junior midfielder Brian Carroll snuck a shot past Drexel goalie Mark Manos two minutes into the game off an assist from freshman attack Steele Stanwick, the Cavaliers seemed unstoppable for the remainder of the first half, as they reeled off six more consecutive goals.
The Dragons, meanwhile, failed to find the back of the Cavalier net until just less than four minutes to play in the opening half. Virginia entered the locker room with a commanding 7-1 lead at the break.
As the second half of action got underway, however, Drexel made it clear that it was not ready to give up.
“I thought our discipline broke down a little bit,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “I thought we took some fouls we didn’t need to. At the end of the day, we might have rushed a couple of shots ... We got in the penalty box and gave them a couple of those and we didn’t need that ... I assumed they were going to claw back into the game a little bit.”
The five-and-a-half minutes of penalties Virginia served likely catalyzed the Drexel offense. The Dragons managed to capitalize on three of five man-advantage opportunities, including their lone goal in the first half.
“I think we wished we had done a little better [on man-down],” junior defender Ken Clausen said. “I think they ran a couple wrinkles that we hadn’t seen before. Also a couple times we were two men down, and the goalie was screened ... Bottom line [is that] we can’t be man down as much as we [were]. That’s something we have to improve on. If they are getting goals on man-up, then we have to stop getting penalties.”
Virginia, on the other hand, failed to score on any of the extra-man opportunities the Dragons presented to them, failing to capitalize on the 3:30 Drexel was man-down.
“I don’t think our extra-man was particularly sharp today,” Starsia said. “We have an [experienced] group there. I expect that we’ll be better.”
The rest of the two teams’ statistics appeared fairly even. The clearing percentages were nearly identical, and Virginia only managed to edge Drexel in ground balls 43-37, while winning just two more face-offs than the Dragons.
One area that Virginia did dominate, however, was shooting, as the Cavaliers took 59 shots to the Dragons’ 23. Although Virginia only managed a scoring percentage of 22 compared to Drexel’s 30, Virginia took enough shots that the difference did not matter.
“It’s just taking what we get,” said senior attackman Garrett Billings, who led the Cavaliers’ charge with five goals and two assists. “If the transition opportunities are there, we take them — that’s the most exciting way to play — but we can score the [settled goals], too.”
Virginia must now hunker down and play its second game in two days, hosting Bryant this afternoon at Klöckner Stadium. It will be the first ever Division I game for the Bulldogs.
“We don’t know anything about them, really,” Starsia said. “We at least will get ourselves mentally prepared and get ready to play on Monday.”
Even though the opponents may be different and more challenging come playoff time, the quick turnaround presents an opportunity to prepare for the rapid succession of games seen during the ACC and NCAA tournaments — both of which Virginia hopes to be a part of.
“Its nice to go through the routine of playing two games in 48 hours because hopefully in the ACC tournament or the NCAA tournament, we’ll have to do that,” Starsia said. “Whatever the level of competition, the physical requirements are basically the same, so we need to be able to turn around and play again.”
After their first challenge of the season and with their second game today, the Cavaliers already know they must work on staying out of the penalty box and taking better shots. The one thing that cannot be practiced or coached, though, is already there.
“I like the hustle that everyone is bringing,” Clausen said. “Everyone is flying around for ground balls. We’ll see if that’s going to lead to more penalties, but the bottom line is we have to play smarter.”
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