The Virginia men's lacrosse teams enters its last regular season game of the season in a decidedly unfamiliar position - playing for its shot at a postseason.
Coming off back-to-back losses to Duke, the Cavaliers (8-5) will host Penn (8-4) this weekend with a chance to prove they deserve to be playing in May. During the past five games, the Cavaliers have gone 1-4, dropping in the national rankings from No. 2 to No. 11 in a matter of weeks. Virginia's slump may be the result of missing many of its key starters, including senior goalie Adam Ghitelman, senior midfiedlers Rhamel Bratton and Shamel Bratton to suspension, as well as redshirt junior defender Matt Lovejoy and junior attackman Steele Stanwick to injury.
Despite spraining his foot and bruising his calf, Stanwick has been a bright spot during the Cavaliers' season, and won the ACC Player of the Year award last week. While Stanwick did play in last week's 19-10 shellacking against Duke, he had limited effect, with no goals or assists. He will look to rebound this week against a No. 13 Penn team that has beaten the likes of Princeton, Yale and a team well-known to Virginia - Duke.
Junior attacker Chris Bocklet also will aim to dismantle the Quakers. He brings a 31-game scoring streak to Saturday's game, the longest such streak in the country. The Cavaliers will look for him to extend the mark Saturday, as they try to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
Faceoff is slated for 3 p.m. at Kl
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