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Virginia depleted by loss of experienced defenders

Sophomore goalkeeper Chantel Jones will return this season as Virginia's prodigal goalie after representing the United States at the U-20 World Cup - good news for a team that missed her presence between the posts. This year, however, the task of defending the Cavaliers' net will come with an additional challenge.\nIn her first season as the Virginia keeper, Jones posted 71 saves, averaging an impressive 0.41 goals allowed per game. As she takes up her mantel this year, though, Jones will need to step up to an even greater level because she will be without the veteran backline she had in 2007.\nAll four starters that comprised the Cavalier defense used up their last years of eligibility in 2008, leaving Jones to captain a defensive squad that is mostly untested.\n"Our backline was one of the best backlines in the conference," sophomore defender Katie Carr said. "Losing them is a new change. It's hard getting used to playing with a whole new line."\nNikki Krzysik, Alli Fries, Sarah Senty and Alex Singer made up the starting defense for a Virginia squad that held opponents to a stifling 5.1 shots per game - less than one-third of the total shots Virginia averaged last season. Of the four defenders that played almost every minute of every game in 2008, three are now playing professionally.\n"They are all very quality players," Jones said. "Having them play together for four years just made them that much better,"\nLast season, leadership of the defense fell primarily on the shoulders of Krzysik. The two-time All-American started all but four games in her four years on the team. Jones now needs to pilot the Virginia backline using her experience working with Virginia coach Steve Swanson.\n"I've been working really hard over the summer and in the past with [Swanson] about leadership roles and how to approach people and how to be a better leader," Jones said. "So I guess I'm taking on the load that [Krzysik and the other seniors] left. But it's no problem for me - I'm happy to do it."\nLosing four starters could make forming a formidable backline more difficult. Without a single returning starter, the defense will see many different looks as Swanson shuffles his players around. In addition to mixing and matching different groups of defenders, Swanson plans to capitalize on the versatility of certain midfielders and forwards as well, giving them a chance to play on the backline.\n"It's a long process; it started last spring," Carr said. "We had a whole new backline in the spring and now we have some incoming first years that are helping us out too. It's just all about adjustments."\nThere is, however, a solution to the backline's weakness: time.\n"If you look at the way our defense has been run the past four years

Depleted team leans on young starters for help

Every season, collegiate athletic programs across the country cope with losing talent and experience to graduation.\n"It's one of the challenges we face as coaches because just when you feel like they are coming together after four years they have to leave," women's soccer coach Steve Swanson said.\nHow much a team is affected from losing experienced players may vary from season to season, but inevitably, there is no such thing as a "contract extension" in Division I.\nThe women's soccer team said goodbye to seven seniors last year - most notably senior defender and two-time first team All-American Nikki Krzyik. But, while Virginia graduated many important athletes, this year the program will return a familiar face to its lineup that was missing last season.\nSophomore goalkeeper Chantel Jones returns to No. 11 Virginia to once again take up her mantel between the posts after going on hiatus last year to play for the United States Under-20 National Team at the World Cup.\n"It was unreal," Jones said. "Playing for your country - there's no feeling like it in the world."\nJones' return should help bolster a backline weakened by the departure of four seniors from last year.\n"I improved throughout each session," Jones said. "I learned different things from a different coach from a new perspective and new tricks to use. I would say I've improved since then."\nAfter spending a year adding to her already considerable talent set, Jones will be challenged to make up for the lack of game experience.\n"I think the whole experience at the World Cup benefitted her," Swanson said. "But she didn't play a lot of games last year, so I think that's probably been her biggest challenge."\nAs Jones and Swanson cope with an untested backline to start the season, one staple of the Virginia squad expected to persist is the team's scoring depth. Last season, 15 different Cavaliers found the back of the net - nine of whom had at least three goals.\nThis year "I think there is going to be more spread out scoring," junior forward Meghan Lenczyk said. "We have so much depth up top - we have a ton of forwards and then people coming out of the midfield. Hopefully with the changes and with some of the new players it will be more spread out."\nWhereas Virginia will be forced to break in its new backline, the Cavaliers can count on a proven attack. Lenczyk returns to the lineup after leading the team in scoring last year with 11 goals. The second leading scorer with six goals and leading assister with 14 assists, sophomore Lauren Alwine, also will return.\n"I think that is one of the traits of our teams over the past few years," Swanson said. "If you look at the score sheet you aren't going to see one or two players getting the bulk of the scoring ... It's much harder to defend and prepare for when you have the majority of your players ... especially the midfielders and forwards getting in the attack."\nOne such midfielder that is expected to be a scoring threat will be junior midfielder Sinead Farrelly. With five goals and three assists last season, Farrelly already has been named to the preseason Hermann Trophy Watch List.\n"It kind of gives me more motivation to play," Farrelly said. "But I'm not one, personally, to be like 'I have to be the best.' I think I'm more focused on our team being a new team and that's the aspect I need to get across. If our team plays good it makes me better."\nFarrelly had to step up to fill a bigger role last year in the midline as several key midfielders dealt with injuries. Now in position to take on a leadership role from the beginning, Farrelly appreciates not only the big picture of winning, but the small steps required to achieve the program's lofty goals.\n"Clearly we set goals every year to try and win an ACC championship, NCAA final," Farrelly said. "We were happy with the wins we had [last year] but kind of unhappy at the end because we lost a game we knew we should have won. I think that's the major overall goal - if we know we can win a game, not to make dumb mistakes and lose it."\nVirginia has already faced Notre Dame and Georgetown in exhibition, and took on No. 6 Penn State last night in its first regular season matchup, losing 1-0. The Cavaliers home-opener takes place next Friday against Liberty.

Faceoffs play key role in team success

Football has the coin flip. Basketball has the jump ball. Men’s lacrosse, however, has the faceoff to initiate the start of the game and decide who first holds possession. Unlike other sports, however, a lacrosse faceoff does not simply begin the game; it is used at the start of the second half, as well as after a score.One key difference between lacrosse and other sports is that at no point will possessions decided by faceoffs necessarily balance out. For example, in football, if a team does not win the coin toss, it still receives the ball in either in the first or second half. Faceoffs “are really important,” senior long-stick midfielder Mike Timms said. “It’s one of the few sports where after you score you have a chance of getting the ball back. It can really make a difference in terms of going on runs.”In a game, a team can gain control of the ball by winning one faceoff after the other, which proves important in a sport like lacrosse in which possessions are long and the scoring is relatively low. In Virginia’s game against Dartmouth, for example, Dartmouth won nine of 10 faceoffs in the first half and led the Cavaliers 5-3 at halftime. Virginia ended up winning the game with an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter, winning eight of 10 faceoffs during the unanswered scoring streak.The faceoff occurs at the center of field between three players from each team. Two line up at each wing along the midfield line with the third lining up at the “X,” which is located in between the two wings. Two players from each team face each other in a crouch position and line their sticks up parallel to the midfield line along the ground. The ball is placed between the two and the referee’s whistle starts the play.“Every time you take one, it’s the opportunity to create a turnover and take possession,” senior faceoff man Chad Gaudet said. “It’s kind of like a game of rock-paper-scissors in that there are three basic moves that everyone goes with.”Because faceoffs can make or break a lacrosse game, knowing how to handle a faceoff takes skill. At the collegiate level, teams often possess one or two players whose sole role on the team is to win faceoffs. For the Cavaliers, Gaudet plays the unique role. He chooses between three different moves each time he is part of a faceoff.“First there is the clamp, that’s the most common,” he said. “Second is the rake ... and the third move is the jam. The jam beats the clamp, and the rake beats the jam.”The clamp works exactly the way it sounds: the player tries to clamp his stick onto the ball as quickly as possible after play starts. The rake involves using the stick to bring the ball out into the open before an opponent can get control of it. A jam is a counter-move in which a player tries to hold an opponent back by bringing his hands and stick over the ball and tangling up the opponent’s tries at gaining possession. One unique aspect of Gaudet’s faceoff strategy is that he uses a long stick — one a close defender would use — as opposed to the more common short stick.“I’m not that great on the actual draw,” Gaudet said. “But as long as I can get the guy to put the ball in certain place, I can have a pretty good chance to get there or knock it out of his stick. Then you have Mike Timms coming from the other side.”The draw is the portion of the faceoff that occurs immediately after the official’s whistle and is comprised primarily of play between the two faceoff men as they struggle to gain an edge. After the whistle is blown, however, the wing men — usually Timms in Virginia’s case — are allowed to leave their respective ends of the field to join the fight for the ball.“The most important part is your actual faceoff guy and how well he can control where the ball is going and where the draw is going,” Timms said. “We do different things on the wings depending on what the other guy facing off is doing. We try to match out strategies best to stop that. You always want to be kind of in control of the guy on the wing next to you.”Once either team gains possession of the ball — even if it is for a split second — the rest of the players on the field are “released” and allowed to join the fray.Considering the number of goals scored in the average lacrosse game, the ability to win faceoffs contributes significantly to a match’s outcome. In a close game, an edge in the faceoff department means more possessions more scoring opportunities.

Seniors shine, Cavs tally comeback win

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team used a fourth quarter comprised of eight unanswered points to vault itself to a 13-6 victory against Dartmouth Saturday.“We haven’t played offense well for a month,” senior attackman Garret Billings said, “even in [this] whole game, except for the fourth quarter.”It was senior day at Klöckner Stadium, and the Cavaliers (13-1, 2-1 ACC) found themselves in a 5-5 tie at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Lackluster play had the Cavaliers down 5-3 at halftime. Even after a slightly more inspiring third quarter, Virginia only managed to pull even with the Big Green (4-9) heading into the final period.“We weren’t playing smart in the first half,” senior attackman Danny Glading said. “We told ourselves at halftime that we got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. I think we were sulking the past couple of weeks instead of doing.”With 13 minutes remaining in regulation and with their team down by one goal, Billings and Glading ignited an offensive explosion. The two connected first when Glading got the ball to Billings, who was undefended eight yards from the cage. Billings put a shot in the back of the net that tied the score at six apiece. The senior duo was not done, though. Just more than a minute later, after a quick restart behind the cage, Glading found Billings again. This time, Billings was just in front of the right pipe with a defender on his hip. As his momentum from the cut carried him behind the cage, the only shot the Canadian native could manage was a behind-the-back shot that Dartmouth goalie freshman Fergus Campbell could not stop.“That might be one of my favorite goals that Danny and I have hooked up for,” Billings said.The two scores initiated by the pair of Terwaarton Trophy nominees were just the start of Virginia’s 8-0 run in the final period.Another senior who excelled in the fourth quarter was midfielder Chad Gaudet. During the first half, faceoffs were a clear problem for the Cavaliers.“The single answer to the first half was that we didn’t win a faceoff,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “They would have long possessions on offense and the hardest thing to do in college lacrosse is to come down on offense after you haven’t had it for a long time and work to get a good shot. I thought we were sloppy and impatient in the first half.”The Cavaliers only managed to win one of the 10 faceoffs during the first two quarters of the game. Gaudet, who attended undergraduate school at Dartmouth, drastically upped his performance level in the fourth quarter, winning six of the first seven faceoffs. Overall, Virginia had an 80 percent faceoff percentage in the last quarter.When all was said and done, Virginia finished its regular season with a win and a 13-1 record. A trio of hat tricks from Billings, junior midfielder Brian Carroll and senior midfielder Steve Giannone led to a win that seemed to honor the commitment and accomplishments of the Cavaliers’ nine seniors.“It couldn’t have been a better senior day,” senior defenseman Matt Kelly said.With its regular season complete, Virginia is now set for a rematch against Duke this weekend in the first round of the ACC tournament.

Same Difference

It is always a challenge for high school graduates to come to college and adjust to a completely new environment with a completely new set of people. Although the University attempts to aid students with this transition, the process is significantly more difficult when those students come from outside of the United States.That is where the Mentoring and International eXchange mentorship program comes in.MIX is a program run by the University’s International Center that aims to acclimate the more than 150 international undergraduate students who arrive at the University each fall. Once students have attended the University for a semester, they may become mentors themselves.“This is for all the international students,” MIX coordinator Freyan Soonawalla said. “We’ve recruited mentors from different nationalities ... [And] these mentors get assigned to mentees who have applied for the program.”Soonawalla, who came to the University as an exchange student herself, said she benefited greatly from the program.“Throughout their first year, with whatever questions they may have, the mentors are there for them,” she said.The program’s participants also include native students seeking to develop relationships with international students. A second goal of MIX is to create “opportunities for international and American students at U.Va. to interact on a personal level and develop greater global and cultural awareness,” according to the University International Center’s Web site.“A lot of the American students want to study abroad,” Soonawalla said. “So they join just to get that perspective and learn about the culture” before they travel to universities in other countries, many of which have programs that are similar to MIX.One such program is Compañero PUCP at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru. Like MIX, Compañero PUCP works with exchange students who visit the school from other countries. “Compañero PUCP is sponsored by the Area of International Relations of Universidad Católica so Peruvian students can guide and offer advice to the international ones,” said Javier Bendezú, an active member of the program.Bendezú, a full-time journalism student at Católica, served as a mentor for the program for several years.“I have the chance to show U.Va. students how the life on campus is,” Bendezú said. “For example, how to choose classes and professors in the same way that I explain how the library system works. Also, I mention how the cafeteria system is and the procedure to be involved in some extracurricular activities.”Bendezú also looks to makes friend with students from the University, taking his duty one step further than some.“I have the role of an advisor but mostly I consider myself as a friend that the students can trust,” Bendezú said. “I do some things with U.Va. students during the time that they are not only studying in Catolica but also when they are living in Peru. I not only guide the U.Va. students in their life inside the campus but I also guide them outside it by solving doubts about how they have to manage themselves in this huge city [of Lima].”Fourth-year College student Jess Batterton, who studied at Católica during her second year, said Bendezú “was the one who did make [the] effort.” Batterton, who spent spring 2007 in Peru, said she had a lot to get used to when she arrived in Lima.“The actual feel of the campus is different [from the University] because it’s all enclosed,” Batteron said. “To get in you have to show a student ID. They don’t just let random people walk through the campus.”Another difference between the Peruvian school and Grounds is that Católica’s campus contains architectural ruins and more small cafes as gathering places, compared to the University’s Lawn.Like Batterton, fourth-year College student Leigh Rayfield experienced a culture shock. She said Católica was very different than the University. Rayfield spent six weeks in South America last summer and encountered Bendezú during her time in Lima.“When I first met him, I was pretty surprised just because he knew so much our country,” Rayfield said. “He knew so much about our pop culture. I just didn’t expect someone to be so immersed in the American culture.”For Bendezú, programs like Compañero PUCP involve reciprocal learning between mentor and mentee. The mentee learns about Peru and its culture, while he learns about the United States and the University, he said.“I learned a lot of things about U.Va., thanks to [the students I worked with],” Bendezú said. “I had the chance to learn how life in Charlottesville is, how they live, what do people at U.Va. do during their free time and the main places all over campus.”

Struggles against Blue Devils continue in first blemish of season for Virginia

Durham, N.C. — The Virginia men’s lacrosse came across a road block in its undefeated season in Durham, as Duke defeated the Cavaliers 15-10 Saturday. The Blue Devils have won their last six meetings against the Cavaliers.Duke is “a good lacrosse team. They have been very good the last few years; they are very good again this year,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “We’ve lost some close games to them; we’ve lost some games that haven’t been so close.”The key of the game, senior defenseman Matt Kelly said, came down to speed and hustle.“To be honest, they out-hustled us to the ball — the loose balls,” Kelly said. “We got mixed up on a couple things defensively.”Though the Cavaliers (11-1, 2-1 ACC) recovered 35 ground balls to 31 by the Blue Devils (9-3, 2-1 ACC), Starsia said he felt it was a level of effort and toughness that his team lacked that cost them the game.“The only piece I’m really disappointed in is that Duke made most of the tough plays,” Starsia said.The game stayed within Virginia’s reach for the first half of the game, as the Cavaliers faced only a 6-3 deficit at halftime. As the third quarter started, though, Duke began to pile on.“We came out in the second half on the back of our heels,” Kelly said.The Blue Devils won three face-offs to start the second half and converted the possessions to three straight goals, bringing the score to 9-3.Virginia got its first possession of the game with 10 minutes left in the third quarter and managed to make it interesting. The Cavaliers scored three consecutive times, two from senior attackman Danny Glading.“I thought we had some chances to get back into it,” Starsia said. “I thought we showed some glimmers. But we just weren’t tough enough [Saturday] to sustain that for 60 minutes — too many mistakes.”Though Glading notched four goals, it was not enough to dig the Cavaliers out of the hole they fell into during the third quarter. After Virginia’s three-goal run, Duke once again usurped control of the game, scoring five times in a row.“You have to be tough the whole game; you have to be willing to take that extra step,” Glading said. “I think we continue to rush things the way we have been rushing things the past couple weeks.”One of the indications of this rushed play came in the form of poor shots from Virginia compared to efficient shot selection by Duke. The Cavaliers outshot the Blue Devils 43-28 but still found themselves behind the Blue Devils by five when the final whistle blew.“I give credit first and foremost to Duke,” Starsia said. “I thought they were flying around really on top of the game.”Duke will face Army on senior night Saturday. Virginia will get another chance to face Duke, however; with the loss, the Cavaliers are now the three-seed in the ACC Tournament and will play the two-seed Blue Devils in the first round.“I have to look at this one again to kind of pull this one apart, to see if there are things we want to fix and see whether or not there are things in terms determining the pace of play we want to adjust a little bit,” Starsia said. “I would just say in general, though, that we can play better.”

Road to perfection makes Saturday stop in Durham

Both teams in the Virginia-Duke men’s lacrosse game may be willing to make the argument that its team is the underdog. Duke (8-3, 1-1 ACC), ranked at the bottom of the ACC at the beginning of the year, will face the only undefeated No. 1 team in the country Saturday. Despite the No. 1 ranking, however, Virginia (12-0, 2-0 ACC) will face tough competition tomorrow. No. 8 Duke has exceeded expectations, posting a solid 8-3 record with one win and one loss coming in ACC play. Although the Blue Devils have lost two games against ranked opponents, they have defeated a slurry of other ranked teams: then-No. 20 Bucknell, then-No. 15 Colgate, then-No. 14 Loyola and then-No. 19 Georgetown. Duke’s best win this season came four weeks ago when the Blue Devils beat then-No. 8 North Carolina with a four-goal margin. Virginia, on the other hand, only squeaked by North Carolina 11-10.Duke is a “really tough team — really talented offensively,” Junior midfielder Max Pomper said. “They have historically had a lot of success against us.”Pomper noted that Virginia is 0-5 against Duke in the past five meetings between the two conference foes. No Cavalier currently on the team has defeated a Blue Devil. Pomper, himself a four-year Virginia veteran, has lost to Duke four times in his stead at the University.“In the past couple years, we’ve played some up-and-down games with Duke,” senior defenseman Matt Kelly said. “We played seven to six in an overtime game two years ago. We had a shootout once. [But] last year they beat us by eight.”The one-sided nature of the recent Virginia-Duke series may seem unusual given the quality of recent Virginia teams, but it is not without some explanation.“Duke’s a team that, over the past few years, has been maybe more athletic than us,” Kelly said. “We haven’t really had a matchup like this so far this year. This might be our toughest game.”This year’s Duke squad is a different team, though, than previous Duke squads. The Blue Devils lost many of their key seniors this past offseason, including midfielder Zack Greer and attackman Matt Danowski.“They look a lot different this year, obviously losing all those guys,” senior attackman Garrett Billings said. “You lose Matt Danowski — there is no way it can’t hurt your team.”Pomper, however, said though Duke may have a new face, it is still the same powerhouse it has always been.“They lost a bunch of fifth-year guys that were really talented,” Pomper said. “But they are Duke. They still have great players — they are a great program. So they have guys who come off the bench who haven’t played a bunch in their career that are still real talented. So we aren’t overlooking them by any means. They are without Matt Danowski but they are still really talented.”Having already defeated North Carolina and Maryland, the Cavaliers will play this weekend for both a regular season conference title and the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament. Virginia’s seniors also will be hoping to get a win against Duke before they graduate, and the team as a whole will look to continue its quest for perfection. Either way in Durham, one streak — the Cavaliers’ undefeated run, or the Blue Devils’ recent success against Virginia — will come to an end.

Stanwick fills shoes of graduated Rubeor

Virginia freshman attackman Steele Stanwick joined the starting lineup of the Virginia men’s lacrosse team this year with big shoes to fill — those of former attackman Ben Rubeor.Rubeor, a 2008 Virginia graduate, accrued 136 goals and 76 assists during his four-year collegiate career. As a senior, Rubeor was the go-to player on offense. In critical moments, Virginia coach Dom Starsia wanted Rubeor to be the man with the ball and to dictate how the game would proceed.When Rubeor left the team last season, seniors Danny Glading and Garrett Billings remained as starting attackmen and Stanwick joined the three-man squad from Rubeor’s own high school, Loyola.“I kind of looked up to Ben coming from Loyola,” Stanwick said. “He was always talked about [at our high school].”Though they never played for Loyola at the same time, the two athletes were familiar with each other through reputation. Each gave accolades to the other’s lacrosse accomplishments before college, disputing who had a more successful high school career. “More points — the kid was definitely better than I was,” Rubeor said.“No,” Stanwick tried to correct. “I didn’t get the Kelly Award; he got the Kelly Award, which is the best high school player in the country.”“That was out of mercy,” Rubeor said. “I hurt my arm senior year so they were like, ‘Oh wow, comeback kid — let’s give him an award.’”The comparison between the two continued to the collegiate level, when Stanwick replaced Rubeor as the third wheel on attack and also inherited Rubeor’s No. 6 jersey.“The number thing was kind of a coincidence,” Stanwick said. “I was actually 28 my freshman year at Loyola and then 6 was the only single left.”Though Stanwick is surrounded by two of the best attackmen in the game right now, as a freshman he already has surpassed the 18 goals Rubeor scored his freshman year, notching 25 scores this season.“When you have guys like Danny and Garrett on attack, teams are going to key to them more, so my hands are more open to shoot and feed,” Stanwick said.Rubeor showed Stanwick around the University during his unofficial visit Stanwick’s junior year of high school, Stanwick said. Still today, Rubeor is able to offer advice to the younger athlete when he attends the games of his alma mater.“He grabs me — tells me little things here and there that he sees,” Stanwick said.As an attack unit, Billings, Glading and Stanwick have seemingly meshed together this season, with the three combining for 71 goals total.“There are certain kids that when they come here they have an uncommon poise,” Starsia said. “From the first day that they are here they have a presence about them that tells you they are not going to be intimidated — they are going to be a little bit unflappable. Steele certainly has those qualities.”As Stanwick comes into his own next to Billings and Glading, though, he will need to prepare for their departure next year where he will be the only returning starter on attack.“It’s definitely going to be a reality shock losing those guys,” Stanwick said. “It’s going to be a different game without those two.”Starsia, however, has confidence in Stanwick’s prospects.“With Danny and Garrett getting ready to graduate this spring, it gives you some comfort as a coach to know that we’ll be able to turn things over to someone like Steele Stanwick,” Starsia said. “You can certainly see him in that mold of a U.Va attackman as a sort of quarterback of the offense.”As a freshman, Stanwick benefits from being surrounded by Glading and Billings, Starsia said. But being surrounded by more experienced players gives Stanwick time enough to learn from miscues.“Now he’s still a freshman, he still makes freshman mistakes,” Starsia said. “For him, a lot of these things are happening for the first time ... So this is a time of a lot of growth for him.”One thing that Stanwick has yet to experience is a team loss, as Virginia is still undefeated this season. As the Cavaliers draw nearer to the playoffs and Stanwick toward his first NCAA Tournament, it might be that Stanwick is benefitting the team in more ways than just his scoring prowess; in the last three National Championships Starsia has won at Virginia, he had a freshman starter at attack.“Maybe it’s a good luck charm,” Starsia said.Although Rubeor may not share Starsia’s outlook about the role of chance or good luck in the tournament, he looks forward to Virginia’s chances.“He’s as superstitious as they come,” Rubeor said about Starsia. “We’ll see if that one works out.”

Almost perfect

The good news is that I made it out of Giants Stadium alive and still wearing my Redskins sweatshirt. The bad news is that the Redskins are still ... bad.Some other good news is that Virginia maintained its undefeated record after facing North Carolina during the weekend at Giants Stadium in the inaugural Big City Classic. I have to say it was a fun trip — I even got to play “teams-the-Virginia-men’s-lacrosse-team-has-beaten” bingo while driving through Maryland. My fellow reporter won that bit with three points: Maryland, Hopkins and Towson, most likely because I was sleeping at the time. Who wants to see Maryland anyway?Now North Carolina can be added to that ever-growing list after the 11-10 result. The Virginia men’s lacrosse team is good — very good. The Cavaliers have held the undisputed No. 1 ranking for five weeks. And they deserve it. Virginia has taken down Syracuse, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Maryland and now North Carolina — not to mention a rag-tag salmagundi of other opponents — all of which were ranked in the top 10 at the time of the match-ups.As a fan and a sportswriter, I have little to complain about. Virginia’s so-far undefeated season has been fun just because the Cavs have yet to add a tally to the loss column — undefeated seasons are always thrilling — and because it has been filled with heavy doses of both drama and excitement. Drama — like Virginia holding off an explosive then-No. 1 Syracuse comeback in the fourth quarter to defeat the Orange by one goal in the Carrier Dome. Excitement — like the last two frenetic minutes against Hopkins at Homewood Field when Virginia held onto a one-goal lead. And, of course, there was that seven-overtime, one-goal Virginia victory at Klöckner against Maryland — that was pretty exciting, too.When a team sets its goal as high as winning a national championship, though, as Virginia has, it needs to constantly improve and fine-tune its game going into the postseason. That being said, I’ve noticed a few ways Virginia could improve. I don’t want to seem like a stereotypically jaded and pessimistic sportswriter, but as Virginia carves a path through its tough season leaving destruction in its wake, I can’t help but be reminded of the 2007-08 Patriots. Both the Pats and Cavs, in the midst of potentially historic seasons and possibly on their way to be one of the best teams to ever play the game, seemed immune to criticism. The Cavaliers will now look to do what the Patriots couldn’t and finish the historic season with a bang. If the Cavaliers make these tweaks, they might avoid the curse of being almost perfect.In my humble opinion, here is what the team has to do:1. Step up the defense.This is an absurdly general suggestion to make, I know. It’s something every team should strive to do. But in Virginia’s case, there is really no excuse why its defense has broken down like it has pretty regularly in important games throughout the season. Several Cavalier defenders, close defense and midfielders alike, are regarded individually as some of the most athletic and talented players in the country. They have shined in many one-on-one situations.As a unit, however, the Cavs have shown a tendency to be caught sleeping on the crease or sliding late in help defense situations.Though lacrosse is a sport in which quick offensive bursts are common, the Cavalier defense needs to be able to slow down such runs by their opponents. If they find themselves up five on Syracuse with five minutes left, the defense needs to be able to lock down on the Orange. As high-powered as the ‘Cuse offense is, a championship defense should be able to hold a team off well enough that it isn’t even a close game.If Virginia builds a 12-6 lead against Hopkins, that lead shouldn’t dissolve in just longer than a quarter.The cliché is that defense wins championships, and so defense is the first thing the Cavaliers need to strengthen heading into the postseason.2. Reduce penalties.Credit the Virginia man-down defense for its ability to limit opponents’ extra-man offenses in several penalty situations. Banking on that, however, is not a viable option for trying to win close games.In games this season that have finished with scoring margins of four or less, Virginia has out-penalized its opponents 18-9. Although the Cavalier man-down defense has held opponents’ extra-man offenses to only five scores, that’s still a large number compared to the two goals Virginia has scored on penalties. This discrepancy could be fixed if the Cavaliers can find a way to limit their penalties. In a close game, it could mean the difference.3. Play smart offense for an entire 60 minutes.Virginia has shown an extremely effective ability to milk long possessions and finish them with a high percentage of successful shots. Possessions like those allow Virginia to score in a controlled and methodical manner, which works a much higher percentage of the time than a rushed offense can. Additionally, it is a defensive strategy because it limits the number of possessions opponents have.This trait of the Virginia offense, however, has been a bit inconsistent. Virginia would have more quality wins and fewer squeakers if quality possessions were emphasized throughout the game.Against North Carolina during the weekend, for example, the Cavaliers dug themselves into a 7-3 hole caused for the most part by rushed possessions. Only when Virginia started to take its time did it quickly climb back into the game.“I thought offensively ... from about five minutes into the game until we started to get going I just thought we were either just rushing offensive opportunities or settling for shots,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. Sophomore midfielder Shamel Bratton “has an uncanny ability to get to the front of the cage. And the quality of the shots he was scoring on [was impressive].”4. Shamel Bratton needs a right hand.Let me preface anything I say about Bratton’s game by saying he is an incredible lacrosse player. Right now he is only a sophomore and is already well on his way to being an All-American. It is my contention that by the time he is a senior, he will be the best lacrosse player in the NCAA — no pressure if you are reading this, Shamel. Currently, he is tied for third on the team in goals even though he missed a game. He draws the defensive, long stick midfielder every time he is on offense, and he still manages to completely dominate for stretches of games.As unguardable as he currently is, however, he still strongly favors his left hand and therefore gives defenders the slight edge of knowing what side he’ll shoot from. Because he is as fast and athletic as he is, he can still find space for a lefty shot, but it’s not always there if a defender is playing Bratton smartly. With the ability to go righty or lefty, Shamel would be nigh unstoppable. Something like this can also be relatively easily improved. Developing a weak hand doesn’t require natural-born strength or athleticism, but instead develops from practice and repetition. Bratton just needs to get a bucket of balls and take 500 shots a day, and it will come.Again, I’d like to emphasize that I still think Virginia is the best team in the country right now. But lacrosse playoffs are unforgiving. In the one-and-done setup of the postseason, it only takes one off day for a team — however great — to lose its chance at winning a title. As many close games as the Cavaliers have had, they are no doubt staring over the edge of the cliff as playoff time approaches. Improving these aspects of their game could go a long way to ensuring complete dominance. To win a national championship, Virginia can’t just be the best overall team of the year — it has to be the best team every minute of every game. When the confetti dropped on the championship-winning Giants at the end of Super Bowl XLII, the Patriots’ perfect regular-season record was just a small consolation prize.

Cavaliers face Tar Heels in Big City Classic match

Less than a week ago, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team emerged victorious in the longest Division I game in NCAA history. Now facing a high-profile matchup against conference rival North Carolina, the team is looking to maintain its focus, coach Dom Starsia said.“We just have to take care of our own business,” Starsia said. “You worry about the variables you can control.”Starsia is quick, however, to recognize the uniqueness of the Virginia-North Carolina matchup, which will take place at the Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, home to the NFL team.“To be the first lacrosse game in the Meadowlands in the New York metropolitan area, to have the quality of teams they have in this one,” he said, “this is a big moment for the sport and a special moment for the program.”The contest between the two ACC teams will be the first game of The Big City Classic triple-header. Following the game between Virginia and North Carolina, Syracuse and Princeton will face off. The night will then be capped off with a game between Hofstra and Delaware.The stadium will be unfamiliar turf for all teams involved in the Classic, but for one player, it will be a sort of homecoming.“I’m very excited,” said junior defensemen Ryan Nizolek, a native of the area. “Growing up and going to watch the Giants or the Jets ... and then finally playing and walking the same halls that they walk through before the game.”As Virginia (11-0, 1-0 ACC) looks to continue its undefeated season, the Tar Heels look for their first conference win since 2004.“They have nothing to lose,” sophomore midfielder Shamel Bratton said. “Everyone is saying that they haven’t won an ACC game so we kind of have to beat them because you don’t want to be the one that they finally get the win over.”Bratton, another area native, said the game will have “a little bit of added pressure” but it will still be “just another day at work.”Virginia has entered a stretch of its season during which the number of games has decreased. After last weekend’s seven-overtime game, though, even six days of rest might not be enough.“We gave them an extra day off this week,” Starsia said, adding, though, that “this is a team that’s very attentive on the practice field, and so we’ve had a little bounce in our step the last couple days, and so I fully expect us to be ready to play the Heels.”Although the Tar Heels have had a rough time in the ACC recently, they boast an 8-3 record and a No. 10 ranking. Fresh off their own overtime win against Johns Hopkins last weekend, North Carolina hopes to spring an upset against top-ranked Virginia. With three players on its team with more than 20 goals each, North Carolina’s offense threatens to end Virginia’s undefeated season.“We’ve been through a lot together so we don’t make any bones about just throwing stuff out on the table and talking about it,” Starsia said. “The world is waiting to see if we are going to let down. So I said to the kids: Let’s just not let it happen.”

Virginia wins seven-overtime classic against Terps to remain undefeated

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team made history at Klöckner Stadium during a 10-9 victory Saturday against Maryland. After clawing their way back from a three point deficit and leveling the score at 9-9 with 4:39 left to play in regulation, it took an NCAA record seven sudden-death overtimes for the Cavaliers to edge the Terrapins.“It was definitely a moment I’m always going to remember — we came together, we played really hard at the end,” senior attackman Danny Glading said. “It’s good to come away with a win here. It’s too bad there has to be a loser. I’m happy — very happy — that it wasn’t us.”Sophomore goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman, who racked up 22 saves on the day, six of which were in the extra periods, was especially impressive as the game continued.“There are six guys out there on defense and we knew we weren’t going to lose this game,” Ghitelman said. “It was just a matter of time until the offense scored.”One of the more dramatic saves of the game, though, came from junior goalkeeper Mark Wade. Wade got a chance between the pipes for Virginia when Ghitelman had to serve a one-minute penalty at the beginning of the second overtime after committing a goal-saving illegal body check. After warming up during the two minutes between the first and second overtime period, Wade had to anchor his short-manned defense for 60 seconds until Ghitelman could return to the game. After working the ball around for a good fraction of the penalty, Wade stopped a bounce shot heading toward the lower-right corner of the cage. Wade got net on the ball and had to dive to try to keep it in his stick.“He is an unbelievable goalie,” Ghitelman said. “He could start for any team in the country. Every time he seems to go out there he’s playing man down. He’s got some experience for that I guess and he just made the big play.”After Wade came up with the save, Virginia managed a clear to its offensive zone and ran off the penalty. Ghitelman returned to the game and Wade left with his job accomplished and the game saved.“You get in a situation like that and your teammates are playing as hard as they can and you just want to help them,” Wade said. “You just want to do your best when you get the chance to.”Even as Ghitelman made save after save to keep the Cavaliers’ hopes of victory alive, though, Virginia’s offense struggled to find its rhythm.Hampered by the muddy and rainy conditions, both teams slowly began to show signs of fatigue as unforced offensive turnovers kept the game level at 9-9.“If we had lost this game today,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said, “I would have been telling you that our effort in the first half was not what w\e would have wanted.”The normally high powered Virginia offense found itself in a stalemate after the first half. The 3-2 halftime score favored the Cavaliers only after freshman attackman Steele Stanwick’s shot beat the clock by two seconds going into the break.A workman-like offensive effort from the Cavaliers continued for the next 24 and a half minutes, as Virginia found itself down 9-6 with only 5:41 left to play in the game.“I thought that there was enough game left and they didn’t pull far enough away from us,” Starsia said.As the game wound down and the Cavaliers found themselves in a crunch, Stanwick ignited a comeback that consisted of three goals in less than two minutes. Glading contributed a goal as well, and the game-tying score came from junior midfielder Brian Carroll.The offensive burst Virginia took advantage of in the waning minutes of regulation, though, fizzled during the six tense and sloppy overtime periods that followed. Finally, after more than an hour of overtime play, Carroll ended the epic contest one minute into the seventh extra period.“I’ve had a few left handed goals this year — all of them on the run,” Carroll said. “The alley was open and they had a guy standing there who didn’t end up sliding so I decided to take a shot.”With a left-handed shot on the run from about 15 yards, Carroll fired the ball past the Maryland goalie for the third game-winning goal of his career, a new Virginia record.“I heard them say this was the longest game ever,” Carroll said. “We would have kept going, however long it took.”

Quietly into the night

I’ve always felt it’s the seventh overtime that separates the men from the boys. And if that’s the case, then the members of the Virginia men’s lacrosse team are men. If you watched the Big East basketball tournament, you know any scrub can go six. It’s really in that seventh OT where heroes dwell, especially when the overtimes are sudden death. One hero from Saturday’s game is sophomore goalie Adam Ghitelman. He’s a man. He stood between the pipes with the knowledge that any mistake by him would mean the end of the game. In addition to the 16 saves he made during regulation, he snatched six more in extra periods — each time effectively saving the game, each save equivalent to a game-winning goal. These weren’t chump shots, either: I’m talking about rips from 15 yards or closer. He definitely didn’t have any gimmies.You know who else is a man? Junior midfielder Brian Carroll. It’s not just that he scored the game-winning goal, but it’s the way he did it. This rocket was a shot and a half. It was a lefty shot — from a natural righty, mind you — on the run, moving away from the goal, 15 yards away and at a very narrow angle. That’s pretty much as tough as a shot gets, and I still don’t blame the Maryland goalie for not stopping it — this thing had a motor. Oh, and yeah, he also had the game-tying goal that sent the game to overtime. If you’ve followed Carroll’s career, you’ll know why his new nickname is “Mr. Overtime.” Saturday was the third game-winning goal of his career — a Virginia record.Another person who is a man, though a lesser-known man, is junior goalie Mark Wade. He doesn’t get as much playing time as Ghitelman does, but certainly made the most of his limited time Saturday. When Ghitelman was penalized at the end of the first overtime and had to serve a minute in the penalty box, Virginia called on Wade to take Ghitelman’s spot. Wade had been on the sideline for two hours just standing there. It was sudden-death overtime, and Virginia was a man-down on defense. The ground was miserably wet, which plays havoc with a goalie’s ability to judge bouncing shots. And the game was put on the shoulders of Wade. As Maryland worked the ball around the goal, I thought to myself that if the Terps had a chance to score, this was it, and after the Maryland offense ripped a shot at the goal, I was sure they would. Clearly Wade had another idea. His idea — which he perfectly executed — was to make the save of the game. After stopping it, he then had to dive to keep the momentum of the ball in his basket and come up with possession that allowed Virginia to then run out the rest of the penalty on offense. Wade made his way off the field to be replaced by Ghitelman after playing for just 60 seconds, but he managed to squeeze an entire game’s worth of awesomeness into that one minute.Suffice to say, if you came to the game Saturday, you got to see it all. The first half started out as slow as a soccer match in the offensive department. I had been spoiled with high-scoring games from the Cavaliers up to this point, so I was a bit nonplussed by the 3-2 score going into halftime — even if it did favor Virginia.The game really started to heat up after the break, though. The Terrapins slowly began to pull away from Virginia as the fourth quarter began, stubbornly clinging to a three goal lead.I kept asking myself when Virginia was going to turn it on and win the game. Up until this point in the game, the Cavaliers didn’t deserve to win. They came out lazy and lackadaisical. Though some mistakes were simply because of the poor field conditions, Virginia’s passing and catching was inexcusably abysmal.At around the six-minute mark, the tides began to turn. Freshman attack Steele Stanwick scored a goal that launched a comeback that erased Maryland’s three-goal lead in just 62 seconds. Apparently, Virginia was not content to go quietly into the night. Minutes later, with the score still tied, Virginia found itself with a two-man advantage, and I was sure between that and the momentum, Virginia had it. Maryland, however, also was not going to lay down and die.Even as the teams prepared for overtime, though, I was sure the Cavaliers had the game in the bag. Virginia was the better team, so more time just meant more of a chance for the Cavaliers to prove this.When the Terps won the faceoff that kicked off overtime and charged toward the Cavalier cage with the rest of Virginia’s midfield trailing behind, I was quickly proven wrong — more so when Maryland whipped a shot by Ghitelman into the back of the goal to apparently win the game. As I packed up my belongings to leave the press box, I wondered if I had just witnessed the shortest overtime in history — just nine seconds. In hindsight, this thought would turn out to be very ironic.Controversy ensued. Did Maryland call a timeout before the shot? That doesn’t make sense — they had a fast break going, a perfect scoring opportunity. Why would they call timeout?I’m not going to call it luck on Virginia’s part, but ... yeah, ‘luck’ is exactly what I’m going to call it. It seemed Virginia had just been defeated, plain and simple. But it turned out the Maryland coach had asked the officials to call his team’s timeout if the Terps won the faceoff and immediately advanced the ball into an offensive play. As a Wahoo, of course I want to think Virginia beat Maryland with pure skill. But, in actuality, Virginia lucked out because of a goofy Maryland mistake. And so, what at first appeared to be the shortest overtime in history, slowly — very slowly — became the longest.It’s usually by the fourth overtime of a drawn-out classic like this that everyone realizes that they are watching something special. In fact, if you go beyond three or four overtimes, the names for the extended periods start to sound silly. It’s called quintuple overtime, right? And after that, I have no idea. Is the sixth called hextuple or sextuple? Then septuple overtime?Games with seven overtimes aren’t supposed to happen in this sport. Lacrosse is an offensive game. It’s designed for scoring. A good defense doesn’t stop scoring — it limits it. The 3-2 first half was weird enough, but 25 scoreless minutes? That’s borderline absurd. While all this was happening, we in the press box were scurrying around, trying to figure out what length records the game was breaking, minute by minute. We were sure that by the third overtime it was the longest game in Maryland’s history. By the fifth it was the longest in either school’s history. As we entered the seventh (which we looked up the name for: septuple overtime), we confirmed that this was the longest game ever in NCAA lacrosse.Meanwhile, some of the best and worst lacrosse I have ever seen was being played on the field. While each team had its own share of boneheaded turnovers, each team was also making viewers of ESPN2, which covered the game, salivate because of all the astounding defense on display. With more games reaching national broadcast demonstrating the drama of pitting elite lacrosse teams against each other, maybe lacrosse won’t lose out national coverage to far less interesting fare such as women’s NIT basketball and third-time reruns of the World Series of Poker.This astonishing game — 85 minutes of stalwart defense punctuated by spurts of explosive offense — saw Virginia studs Ghitelman, Wade and Carroll, along with the entire line of Virginia defenders, stave off disaster after disaster, including three Terrapin extra-man advantages from penalties. Virginia overcame its poor play during regulation with a little help from a phantom timeout call at the start of OT to walk away with a hard-fought win, even though Maryland contained some of the best, fastest and most athletic players in the country for most of the game.We all know, though, that all good things must come to an end. In collegiate lacrosse, there are winners and losers — there are no ties. Mr. Overtime delivered, and another page in what is shaping up to be one of the greatest seasons in Virginia lacrosse history was written. As the Wahoo cheers erupted and the Virginia squad piled on Ghitelman and Carroll, Terrapins were strewn in agony across the pitch.The evening wore on, longer than any had ever expected, but after all was said and done, and after Virginia came the closest yet to tarnishing its immaculate record, the Cavaliers again refused to go quietly into the night.

Cavs topple Blue Jays at Johns Hopkins

With the clock winding down Saturday in the Virginia men’s lacrosse team’s game against Johns Hopkins at Homewood, the Blue Jays scrambled to find the goalposts just one more time.Hopkins had been down by one goal for eight minutes but when the last two minutes started to tick away, play became even more frenzied and erratic. Despite the frenetic play, Virginia stood firm, holding on to its one-point margin to claim victory, 16-15.“Very nerve-wracking,” was how freshman attackman Steele Stanwick described the final minutes of the game. “I had no idea what was going to happen. It could have gone either way — we got lucky.”Stanwick added three goals to the team’s final tally, helping the Cavaliers to their second one-point victory of the season. Virginia went into the fourth quarter one goal behind but ultimately found a way to win.“When it’s a team who likes to hold the ball a lot, you just have to deal with [that sense of urgency] and just wait until you get the ball back,” senior attackman Garret Billings said. “What we try to do is not rush the first possession when we get the ball back. We try to run a really good one and get a good shot.”Adding to this sense of urgency was the Blue Jays’ methodical and often tedious play. Drawing numerous stalling calls throughout the game, Hopkins limited the number of Virginia’s possessions in the third quarter and mounted a 7-2 scoring burst to recover from a 12-8 halftime deficit. The Blue Jays even dropped into a zone defense to slow down the Cavalier offense and force low percentage shots.“When we went ahead by four or five goals there in the second quarter and they went into a zone,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said, “they didn’t come out and play us, so we were just sort of making a point more than anything else ... We never made a conscious effort to slow the pace of the play down. That play in the second quarter where they went into a zone and we had a four- or five-goal lead was just us saying, ‘You can’t play a zone — we’ve got the lead.’ And we eventually made them come out of it.”Virginia, though, had its own troubles on the defensive end of the field. As the game wore on, the Cavaliers found themselves unable to adapt to the Blue Jays’ different offensive strategies.“I felt like we were kind of a step slow and a dollar short,” Starsia said. “Just little things Hopkins was able to take advantage of ... It was a struggle for us the entire evening defensively.”Virginia left the Blue Jays open on the crease numerous times, and the Cavaliers also seemed unable to deal with the invert that Hopkins ran. A lacrosse offense usually operates with attackmen working close to the goal or behind it and midfielders attacking the cage from farther up the field. Hopkins inverted the shape of its offense so the midfielders worked from the side or back of the goal, while the attackmen took it from up top. This had the intended effect of confusing the Cavaliers enough for Hopkins to find scoring opportunities.The Cavaliers’ defense finally stood its ground in the fourth quarter and shut out the Blue Jays, allowing the offense’s two goals to secure the win.“As a lacrosse coach, you might not script it just quite this way in terms of your first wish for a lacrosse game,” Starsia said. “But even I can appreciate that this was a great game.”Note: This article originally ran with the headline “Cavs topple Blue Jays at Klöckner.” In actuality, the game was held at Johns Hopkins. The Cavalier Daily regrets the error.

Ebb and flow

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team has done more than play a good season. In the games I’ve watched, the team has also managed to be entertaining, something entirely different. Granted, from the team’s perspective, I’m sure the players would rather crush all their opponents in an easy fashion with a huge scoring margin than be entertaining. But as a fan, I’ve loved watching the down-to-the-wire victories the Cavaliers have had against Syracuse, and now Hopkins, whom they beat 16-15 Saturday in Baltimore. The win came in possibly a more dramatic fashion than when the team edged out Syracuse by one point during Spring Break in a clash of lacrosse powers that seemed almost impossible to top.Battling another collegiate lacrosse titan, Virginia again built a lead during the game that was later threatened as the Blue Jays mounted a comeback.When Virginia went up 12-6 late in the first half, it seemed like if the game continued in this fashion, the Cavs would coast to a win. I was wary, though. The Jays were losing 12-8 as the first half ended, but they had only taken 14 shots. The Virginia defense still had to prove itself if Hopkins got more opportunities at goal. I remembered Virginia coach Dom Starsia’s warning that “there’s a lot of ebb and flow in the game.”If Hopkins ebbed in the second quarter, they certainly flowed in the third: The Jays got those chances they didn’t in the first half and managed to bury seven of them. Almost as impressively, they held the Virginia offense, which up until then seemed unstoppable, to just two goals during the period.As the final period of the game began, it was hard to believe that the six-goal lead Virginia once possessed was now a one-goal deficit. What was harder to believe was how high-scoring the game already was. Going into the match, my expectation was that the Blue Jays would slow the game down to try to neutralize the run and gun offense of the Cavaliers, and going into the match, it still seemed like Hopkins was attempting to do this, in spite of the big score. Both teams had already incurred numerous stalling calls — violations received for holding the ball on offense to run time off the clock — and Hopkins even settled into a passive zone defense that put no pressure on the Cavalier possession and allowed them to take their time. The bizarre imbalance between passive play and high scoring finally ended in the fourth quarter, in which only two total goals were scored.The Cavs managed to regain the lead from Hopkins and fight off the Jays’ desperate attempts to tie the game, as the last two minutes of play degenerated into frenetic transitional possessions with no scoring. The buzzer sounded and Virginia finally emerged on top by one goal.So now that it’s all done, and Virginia continues to excel and entertain in the face of a difficult schedule, I have a chance to reflect and to ask myself: What now? Virginia has defeated Syracuse, Cornell and Johns Hopkins — all top-10 teams. These three teams have combined for 22 national championships. What’s more, Hopkins and Syrause were defeated in their home stadiums. You can’t deny how impressive the Cavs’ achievements seem. But exactly how important are these midseason games? Starsia provides some unusual insight.“Whether or not we win this weekend ... we just have to keep the bigger picture in mind,” Starsia said Saturday.At first this might read as a cliché, but considering it more closely and in context, it seems like the opposite. Almost any coach you talk to will tell his team not to look at the “big picture” and only to focus on its next game. Starsia certainly shares some of this sentiment but he seems to take emphasis off the short-term record and instead have his team be cognizant of the long-term goal — winning the national championship. NCAA Lacrosse, Starsia explains, is a sport in which people really only care about how you perform in the May playoff games. Virginia will definitely make it to the NCAA tournament. So will Syracuse. And unless they fall apart down the stretch, expect to see Cornell and Hopkins there, too. If Virginia faces off against one of these teams again, no one will care who won during the regular season — especially considering the insignificant margins of victory. A regular season win doesn’t automatically translate to a postseason victory. Just last season, the Cavs defeated Syracuse during the regular season, but it’s the Orange wearing the 2008 championship rings.What Virginia can get from its regular season games, other than just another notch or two in the win column, is experience, confidence and momentum. The Cavaliers had an opportunity to play against a tricky team with an experienced coach and experienced players. The Cavalier defense proved quite easy to beat Saturday — something to find out sooner rather than later. Young players like Steele Stanwick and Adam Ghitelman got a chance to test themselves against the cream of the crop and season their games before their first NCAA tournament.So, in actuality, there is a lot the Cavaliers can take from Saturday’s nail-biter. They found a way to come back in the fourth quarter and win yet another close game — skills that could prove useful down the stretch. But far more important than just celebrating their victory will be to put what they have learned toward their ultimate goal of winning it all.To put together a truly historic season — maybe even an undefeated season — the team must experience a great deal of success before May. But you definitely can’t win a national championship in March.

Carroll, Ghitelman catapult Cavaliers past Catamounts

“Tonight wasn’t a magical effort, but it was workman-like performance.”Virginia coach Dom Starsia is always quick to find areas in need of improvement after any victory. Last night was no different, as the Cavaliers easily overwhelmed Vermont 16-4 at Klöckner Stadium.“I don’t think we were particularly sharp around the edges of the game,” Starsia said. “The shooting, the finishing, the opportunities — I thought we gave them opportunities on defense because we were just a half step in anticipation behind.”Nevertheless, Virginia (8-0) was able to build an insurmountable lead against the Catamounts (2-1) going into the fourth quarter, at which point Starsia was able to unload his bench, allowing his younger players to gain game experience.“I thought that most of the guys that got a chance to get out there kept the level of play up — that’s what we look for,” Starsia said. “I think it matters that when you work as hard as these guys do to be able to put your uniform and be able to actually get out there on a game day.”Junior midfielder Brian Carroll led the attack for the Cavaliers, with a hat trick of goals and an assist. Freshman attack Steele Stanwick also had four points on two goals and two assists.Right out of the gates, Virginia brought overwhelming offensive pressure with three different Cavaliers finding the back of Vermont’s net to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead. The close defense of the Cavaliers also was noticeable throughout the first half, as the combined efforts of junior defender Ken Clausen and his fellow close defenders forced several Vermont turnovers. The Cavaliers held the Catamounts to four goals through both good defense as well as particularly impressive play from sophomore goalie Adam Ghitelman.“I thought Adam played very well,” Starsia said. “He’s continued to step up in almost every one of these games. This is a game where it could have been a lot uglier had he not made a couple saves at critical moments.”As a freshman with Virginia, Ghitelman started the first 10 games of the season but was pulled in favor of then-senior goalie Bud Petit for the remainder of his freshman year.“I got my chance to play to the best of my ability,” Ghitelman said. “I got completely better playing behind him, learning from him in practice, watching him in games, watching him in film.”As the switch was made from a freshman to a senior goalie last year, it became apparent that a lack of confidence — rather than a lack of ability — seemed like Ghitleman’s weakness.“Take this game tonight,” Starsia said. “In the first 10 games last year, I don’t think he had a single game like this. Last year, even though we were winning, it never felt like he was having a lot of fun. His confidence was dragging a little bit.”Now a year older, Ghitleman’s play has seen a sharp turn around. His .589 save percentage is up from .497 last year, and he is now allowing 3.3 fewer goals per game — even after playing two of the country’s best teams, Syracuse and Cornell.“It’s a combination of a lot of things — a little humility — and then hard work over the offseason,” Ghitelman said. “The more games I get under my belt the better.”While Vermont may not have been Virginia’s toughest opponent this season, Ghitelman managed to put up 10 saves — tied for the third most in the games he has played this season — while playing just the first three quarters.“I think we are seeing the benefit of the experience he had and the poise he had with being a second-year player,” Starsia said. “He’s just become a leader back there for us in a group of veterans.”In addition to his play between the pipes, Ghitelman looked comfortable outside the cage, as he took part in Virginia’s solid 23 for 27 clearings. On more than one occasion after a save, Ghitelman was able to quickly rifle clearing passes to outlets — leading to fast breaks and quick conversions. For a team as comfortable in transition as Virginia, this flexibility from a goalie affects both sides of the scoreboard.“His confidence continues to grow you can just see it in him,” Starsia said. “It is going to make all the difference in the world as we start to move into the month of late March and April and May.”

Virginia claims No. 1 ranking with big Spring Break wins

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team had a productive Spring Break: After defeating powerhouse and then-No. 1 Syracuse on the road 13-12 Feb. 27, the Cavaliers claimed the nation’s No. 1 ranking.The Cavaliers (7-0) followed up the upset against the Orange with a 19-3 win four days later against the Virginia Military Institute. In that game, every Virginia player saw time on the field, as the offense opened up an insurmountable lead.Virginia’s first real challenge in defending its new ranking came Sunday as it faced off against No. 4 Cornell (2-1) — the first time the two teams have met in 38 years. The two undefeated squads met in Klöckner Stadium in front of a crowd of more than 4,500 attendees. Although the Big Red managed to keep the game close well into the second half, the Cavaliers found their rhythm during an 8-1 run in the second period to win 14-10.“I’d like to see us play well for 60 minutes,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said, “but it was especially satisfying for us to step up in the second half and get this win today.”The Cavaliers’ shaky defensive play during the first half — especially during the second quarter — allowed Cornell to secure a 7-6 lead heading into the break.“I thought the defense struggled early in the game,” Starsia said. “Cornell moves without the ball better than any team we’ve seen this year. They just got some cutting goals in the first half. We just didn’t have any urgency in front of the cage.”Virginia also was hampered because several key players did not play at full strength. Senior defender Matt Kelly was coming off a groin injury that kept him out of practices leading up to the game, and sophomore midfielder Rhamel Bratton was unable to dress for Sunday’s game.Shamel Bratton, however, made significant contributions to the victory. After scoring four goals against Syracuse, the midfielder managed another hat trick against the Big Red.After the defense buckled down in the second half, Virginia held Cornell to just three more goals. Just like against Syracuse, the Cavaliers were up five goals with about five minutes left to play.“I never really felt comfortable until I looked up at the clock at one point and there were about five minutes to play and we had a four or five goal lead,” Starsia said. “We were making every effort to just hold onto the ball there at the end and get the win here.”Senior long-stick midfielder Mike Timms, who guarded Cornell’s star senior midfielder Max Seibald, helped out on the defensive end.“Mike Timms has frankly been our MVP since the beginning of the year,” Starsia said. “He’s just playing his best lacrosse since he’s been here. We take our cue from him. He’s our hardest worker, he’s a nice kid, he just does everything right.”The Cavaliers must now prepare for their next game, Tuesday against Vermont.“We are getting into the meat of our schedule,” junior midfielder Brian Carroll said. “We’ve been playing a little more games that normal recently, but I think our team likes it. I think to get better, you have to play games, so I think playing a lot of games is a good thing.”The Cavaliers have stepped up their level of play since securing the country’s No. 1 ranking, Starsia said.“I was more impressed with us today than I was on Friday up at the [Carrier] Dome,” Starsia said. “This is a gut-check win for us. This a good team; we had a week to prepare for this. We were a little tired, and I give our kids a lot of credit for working hard and taking control of this game in the second half.”Editor’s Note: To read The Cavalier Daily’s recap of Virginia’s win against Syracuse, visit http://www.cavalierdaily.com/news/sports/mens-lacrosse/.

The time off from classes was no break for the Virginia men’s lacrosse team. From the outset, the Cavaliers were presented with what likely will be their toughest regular season challenge. The team traveled to the Carrier Dome to play then-No. 1 Syracuse. After coming home to a relatively easy next few days — VMI its only opponent — Virginia prepared to face No. 4 Cornell at Klöckner just before the rest of the student body readied to get back into the swing of the spring semester.The Virginia-Syracuse matchup has become a fairly intense and balanced rivalry in recent history, and this particular contest certainly kept up the expected drama.The Orange lacrosse team is like the USC Trojan football team or the Duke Blue Devil basketball team. And playing in the Carrier Dome is like Cameron Indoor. Any win on Syracuse’s home turf is a feat in itself — not to mention when the Orange stand undefeated at No. 1 in the nation. Oh yeah, and they are the defending national champs.These reasons were enough for Virginia to be setting its sights on the game, but even more so, it was personal. Virginia’s run at a national championship ended last year in the NCAA tournament semifinals when it gave up a four-goal fourth-quarter lead, allowing the Orange to force sudden-death overtime and eventually edge the Cavaliers en route to winning it all.Virginia coach Dom Starsia wouldn’t call the game a chance for revenge — and maybe it wasn’t for the coaches and players. But I can tell you as a Wahoo fan, that is certainly how I was seeing it.For me, when it comes to Virginia athletics, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team is it. Sure, I follow most collegiate sports. But after watching our football and basketball teams during the fall and winter, I’m ready for some good old fashioned winning — and who knows, maybe a trophy, or at least a postseason.So when Syracuse took away my team’s chance at a championship last year, in as dramatic a fashion as it did, I was ready to see some payback.This year, two friends and I drove eight hours both ways to spectate the pinnacle match of the stick-carrying Cavalier regular season. It was worth it. We were fortunate to avoid the freezing rain as we got comfortable inside the dome and were treated to what would hopefully be the first of two Virginia upsets, as the then-No. 4 women’s lacrosse team rolled past then-No. 3 Syracuse prior to the men’s matchup.After a back-and-forth first half, Virginia began to build a four-goal lead in the third quarter on the back of sophomore midfielder Shamel Bratton, who was on his way to a four-goal game. Superstitious grumblings washed through the Wahoo section of the crowd. The Cavaliers would have to hold onto that lead for one quarter — exactly the same challenge they faced against the Orange just a year ago. It would seem fate is not without a sense of irony.It continued to get eerier, too. Virginia scored its 13th goal with 7:32 left, taking a five-goal lead and finding the net for the last time that day. Syracuse then launched its counterattack as its fabled fast-pace offense exploded. The Orange scored at will on the Cavaliers and worked away at the lead. Just as I had watched the Virginia lead evaporate against this same team a year ago, it felt like the team I was pulling for was playing from behind, when they actually had a commanding lead.Coach Starsia told me to expect a close game. He told me to expect Syracuse to play hard for 60 minutes and no less. There would be a lot of ebb and flow to the game, he told me. But as I watched, I began to wonder if there was any lead big enough the Orange could not overcome. Was there any period of time too short for Syracuse to mount a comeback?The one hope I had was that coach Starsia and the players expected this type of game, so they had to be ready for it — more ready than I was at least. So, as Syracuse took possession, down one goal with 50 seconds left, I knew Virginia would have to take a stand. The Orange had all the momentum and all the 16,000-plus fans behind them. I knew how the overtime story ended — everyone saw that last year. And this time there would be no Ben Rubeor.Sure it was only the fifth game of the season; the important games don’t really come until May. But I’m still hoping for an undefeated season — knock on wood. All I can say is that as the clock ran out on the Syracuse game, and the mighty defending champs fell to the mat — thank goodness for Virginia the game is 60 minutes, and not 61.

Cavaliers survive late Syracuse surge

“Very few times in my life [have I] just looked forward to coming here and playing in this game,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “Quite honestly, the final result doesn’t matter a great deal — for both of these teams. Their goals probably don’t change a great deal no matter who wins or loses. What it means for the winner is: You’re kind of a playoff team now.”By defeating Syracuse 13-12 Friday night, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team became the first team in history to emerge victorious in three straight appearances at the Carrier Dome.“It’s our home away from home,” Starsia said. “There really is no secret. The statistics for this game are so mind boggling — that’s just another one, I think.”En route to celebrating their impressive victory, the Cavaliers had to survive a scoring onslaught from the defending national champions during the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.After overcoming the Syracuse defense, as well as holding the fast-paced Orange offense at bay for the first three quarters of the game, Virginia found itself in a familiar position. The 2009 Cavaliers would have to hold on to a four-goal lead if they wished to avoid the fate of the 2008 Cavaliers, who fell to the Orange in last year's NCAA semifinals in the same situation.“I thought [Virginia] did a nice job controlling the tempo of the game,” Syracuse coach John Desko said. “Especially in the second and third quarter, it felt like we played a lot of defense ... Offensively it felt like we didn’t take care of the ball like I think we can. The guys once again showed a lot of character, a lot of heart [and] never quit. [They] got the ball back and scored to get us back into the game. We had an opportunity to win at the end."The Cavaliers actually built on the lead they had going into the last period and were up five goals with five minutes left in regulation. But Syracuse came storming back.“It is just remarkable,” Starsia said. “We had started talking about this game a couple days ago, and one of the first things I told the team was that you need to play Syracuse for 60 minutes -- that the game is not over until the final whistle blows.”During the waning minutes of the game, the Orange seemed practically unstoppable as they scored almost at will against the Cavalier defense.“I didn’t think — and I felt this way for the semifinal game a year ago — we were handing them that game out there,” Starsia said. “There were just some remarkable plays being made at the end of the game.”In particular, Syracuse's sophomore goalkeeper, John Galloway, came up with several key saves during the final minutes, as Virginia tried to keep its lead.“This is the most nervous I have been for a game in a while,” Galloway said. “The first quarter, I think really showed it. After that quarter, I realized I needed to step it up or this team was going to run all over us. I felt like I was seeing the ball for the first time against a good team. I let these guys down in a lot of big games last year — it was time for me to finally make some saves.”Galloway's saves in the final quarter were important not only because they kept Virginia from increasing its lead, but also because they allowed Syracuse its own chances to score.“I thought we might have got a little tentative on offense at the end,” Starsia said. “You sort of reach a point on offense in a game like that where you are not sure what your approach should be. In retrospect - when it gets away from you a little bit like that - you are thinking to yourself, ‘We probably should have slowed it down.’”After two straight Syracuse goals in a one minute span by senior midfielder Kenny Nims, redshirt freshman attackman Tim Desko scored on an extra-man possession with 1:18 left to bring the Orange within one goal of the Cavaliers.Syracuse then won the ensuing faceoff, and after calling a timeout with 50 seconds to play, the defending national champions found themselves with one final chance to even the score before time expired.“Its kind of something you go into the game knowing that [a one-goal game is] a very good possibility,” said senior attackman Danny Glading, adding that, “it doesn’t really matter who’s winning [throughout the game, all that matters] is the last minutes of the game. It doesn’t matter what happens in the first game - it always ends up being close. It’s kind of funny how it turned out that way.”The Orange never got a legitimate chance at goal, however, as they turned the ball over and allowed a Virginia clear to the other end of the field. Following a loose ball and a scrum for possession, time expired and the Cavaliers emerged victorious against the country's top-ranked team in front of a Syracuse home crowd of 16,995.“This is the joy of it all right here — playing in that game right there,” Starsia said. “There have been so many great moments like that that. Someday I’ll hang up my whistle, but I’m always going to remember each one of these. Each one of these games has a life of its own.”

Cavs seek to vanquish Orange

“It was a typical Virginia-Syracuse game,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said about the Cavaliers’ sudden-death overtime loss in last season’s NCAA semifinal match. “I don’t think any lead is safe in the game until it ends.”The Cavaliers learned this lesson the hard way last year, as they saw their four-goal lead in the fourth quarter evaporate at the hands of one of the most high-caliber offenses in the history of the game. The Orange also lost a similar lead to Virginia — down five goals in the fourth quarter — in the 1994 NCAA semifinals, but given that Virginia’s loss only was a year ago, last year’s game continues to have more of an impact on the current crop of Cavalier players.“I’ve been thinking about it ever since we lost and walked off the field Memorial Day,” senior midfielder Max Pomoper said, adding that the team has been waiting for tonight’s rematch. “It’s circled on our calendar.”With the storied history between the two programs, little more is needed to make the game an exciting affair. But the outcome of last year’s match, combined with the teams’ No. 1 and No. 2 rankings this season, makes tonight one of the most hyped games of the season.“I think this game is always really meaningful,” Starsia said. “I think both programs are mature enough to know that it’s still only February. But we understand that we didn’t win the last game last year — that we lost to Syracuse — and I think that sticks in our craw a little bit.”Because the teams only have played four games apiece thus far, the No. 1 and No. 2 national rankings are not as meaningful as they could be later in the season. Each team marks the first challenging opponent for the other. Historically speaking, a close game is a very distinct possibility — one for which the Cavaliers are preparing.“Coach Starsia has us do a section in a practice called ‘win the close game,’” Pomper said. “We go over ‘the games tied with a minute left,’ ‘we’re up by one with a minute left’ and all those types of situations. We pride ourselves on winning those close games. Last year was a great example — we won maybe five or six close one-goal games probably because of that.”Against Syracuse, Virginia will have to contend with a very fast-paced offense similar to its own, adding to the challenge. Both teams use transition situations to capitalize on their athletic abilities and good field sense.“Its really hard to slow this game down,” Starsia said. “The first one — if we happen to think about it in terms of playing them twice [because we might] play them later in the year — the first one tends to be more of a players’ game. We don’t know them a great deal yet. We don’t even know our own team yet.”Virginia is coming off a 10-2 win against Mount Saint Mary’s — a solid performance, but one during which Starsia thought his Cavaliers made many small mistakes that the unforgiving Orange could exploit.“[Tonight’s game is] the kind of game where every little thing gets magnified,” Starsia said. “Mistakes we might have made on this field we will get burned for [tonight]. At the same time, there are lots of plays to be made. If you can just keep playing no matter what, if you can be resilient and a little bit adaptable as the game is going on — the team that demonstrates a little greater discipline usually carries the day.”It may only be the beginning of the season, but tonight’s game could preview another late postseason matchup.“These games are 60 minutes long, and especially against Syracuse, there is a lot of ebb and flow in the game,” Starsia said. “Against Syracuse, especially, the game is absolutely 60 minutes long. No matter who’s ahead with five minutes gone in the third quarter, that’s not going to be the determining factor of who’s ahead at the final whistle.”

Virginia manhandles Mountaineers

Virginia again defended its home turf last night with a sound defeat of Mount Saint Mary’s, 10-2.While the score may indicate a one-sided affair, other statistics suggest an even more Cavalier-dominated match-up. Virginia outshot its opponent 60-16 and won more than twice as many faceoffs. The overwhelming number of shots by Virginia (4-0) speaks to its impressive offensive ability. With only 10 goals, though, it also means the Cavaliers struggled to play as efficiently as they could have from the opening whistle.“It’s not acceptable,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “I told Danny [Glading], Garrett [Billings], and Steele [Stanwick] that we were just too casual early in the game. We have always run our offense through our attack. They get the bulk of the credit when things go well and they have to bear the burden when we don’t perform to whatever standard we have for ourselves. We’ve got to hit some [of] our shots ... I just don’t think we played, coming out of the blocks, the way we should be playing.” Solid fundamentals and good decision-making were positives for the Cavaliers last night. While Mount Saint Mary’s (0-1) struggled to establish a possession long enough to find a rhythm, Virginia played on the other end of the spectrum in terms of overall fundamentals. The Cavaliers cleared the ball 21 times on 24 attempts to bring it out of their end of the field, while Mount Saint Mary’s was only 18 for 28. The Cavaliers also enjoyed a 49-32 ground ball advantage over the Mountaineers.“You can move the ball four times and someone could be wide open, and if one person doesn’t move their feet to make a good pass the play is dead,” senior attackman Danny Glading said. “It just takes the whole team to have team chemistry and work on offense to get good shots.”By way of solid throwing and catching, the Cavaliers achieved lengthy possessions that let them keep the ball out of their opponent’s sticks, while simultaneously allowing Virginia to take numerous shots.Unlike other sports where a missed shot often leads to a transfer of possession, lacrosse rewards possession of a missed shot to the team closest to the ball when it leaves play — almost always the offense if the team has smart positioning. Long possessions can therefore be peppered with shot attempts — an aspect of the game Virginia capitalized on during last night’s game. “You don’t get punished in lacrosse for missing the cage,” Starsia said. “As a coach you have to strike a balance between wanting every good shot to go in the goal and understanding that, at this level, good shooters are shooting for the edge of the cage ... You don’t want to discourage guys from shooting. We just have to get it around the cage. So generating a lot of shots is generally a positive statistic for a team.”While the Mountaineers managed several longer possessions as the game progressed, even those lacked any threatening strikes at goal. Many offensive Mount Saint Mary’s possessions were truncated by poor passing and catching — a weakness no doubt exacerbated by aggressive Cavalier defense.“This year we kind of changed our [defensive] philosophy a little bit,” Virginia junior midfielder Max Pomper said. “We feel like we have a lot of good athletes on the edges and we have been trying to go after athletes more than we usually have. We are pretty confident in [sophomore goalie Adam Ghitelman’s] goaltending — he’s backing us up pretty well. We’ve been pushing out a little bit — we enjoy playing that way, we enjoy playing fast.”Virginia held a shutout going into the fourth quarter, and it took a Mountaineer extra-man situation at the beginning of the last period for Mount Saint Mary’s to finally find the back of the net. The Mountaineers scored again on a fast break less than two minutes later for their final goal of the evening.With the win, Virginia continued its unblemished start to its season. The first real challenge of 2009 for the Cavaliers now looms on the horizon, however, as the No. 2 Cavaliers gear up to play No. 1 Syracuse Friday in the Carrier Dome.