The No. 9 Virginia men's lacrosse team hosts No. 5 North Carolina this weekend in an unfamiliar position - as underdogs.
"It's a tribute to the history of the program that we're [typically favored]," junior midfielder Colin Briggs said. "UNC is a really good team; they've had a successful year so far, and we just haven't played our best game yet."
While waiting on that breakout performance, Virginia (7-3, 0-1 ACC) has lost back-to-back regular season games for the first time since 2004.
"It's kind of funny, when you're on Virginia you just expect to be No. 1 and win games, so when you lose a couple, it's like, 'What's going on?'" junior attackman Chris Bocklet said. "But I think we're confident in our team and going to play our best game."
During the team's loss to Maryland last weekend, it suffered without its star senior midfielder, Shamel Bratton. Bratton missed the contest while serving a suspension, but coach Dom Starsia said he has practiced with the team all week and will play against North Carolina (7-3, 1-1 ACC).
"He's a senior and lacrosse is important to him," Starsia said. "He's a college kid, maybe he stubbed his toe, but I think he was glad to rejoin the team and it reflected in the energy he brought to the practice field."
Bratton ranks third on the team with 17 goals and 24 points, so his return well help bolster a stumbling Cavalier offense. Junior attackman Steele Stanwick leads Virginia with 40 points, but has been unable to practice the past few weeks because of a bruised ligament in his foot. Starsia said he expects him to play Saturday, but knows missing practice takes a toll.
"If you said to me you can only have Steele Stanwick for your games, I would take him and be grateful for that," Starsia said. "But at the same time it's hard to prepare when your quarterback can't participate in what you're doing during the rest of the week."
Even with their "quarterback" struggling with injuries, however, the Cavaliers lead the nation in scoring offense. They'll look to use that strong attack to counter North Carolina's 16th-ranked offense.
"People tend to look at us and say, 'Hey we're not playing good enough defense,' but we're very much an offensive-driven program and we need to score goals," Starsia said. "We have to be better overall, and certainly for us, both ends of the field are very much connected."
The Tar Heels' freshman attackman Nicky Galasso boasts a team-high 21 assists and 37 points, while sophomore attackman Marcus Holman has been deadly around the cage and leads the team with 20 goals. To keep the ball away from the Tar Heels' two scoring threats, the Cavaliers will wait longer to score themselves.
"When we spin the ball, we play our best lacrosse," Bocklet said. "We just need to move the ball, get it around the ball a few times, before we even think about going to the cage, because when we play together ... we can play so well."
Virginia is used to playing like the top team in the country but will enter its last home game without that distinction. Starsia, however, is hopeful his team will return to that level soon.
"There have been years where I thought like we weren't playing as well as in [April and May] as we were in February and March," Starsia said. "We clearly don't feel like that now. But I think there's a strong sense that our best lacrosse is still out there"
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