Virginia shoots to keep Colonials at bay tonight
The No. 20 Virginia men's soccer team will host its second non-conference opponent of the season tonight, when it faces Atlantic-10 foe George Washington.
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The No. 20 Virginia men's soccer team will host its second non-conference opponent of the season tonight, when it faces Atlantic-10 foe George Washington.
Like most people, I came out of high school as dumb as a cow. But thanks to the thousands of dollars my parents have spent on my college education, I can now say with some confidence that I am at least twice as smart as the average cow - and probably even smarter than the smartest cow in all of Albemarle County. Indeed, after four semesters of college, I have learned a great deal, including:
Despite outshooting its opponent 18-2 and holding a 10-1 edge on corner kicks, the Virginia men's soccer team defeated Mount St. Mary's only 1-0 in last night's non-conference matchup at Kl
The No. 16 Virginia men's soccer team fell to No. 19 Duke 1-0 in both teams' ACC opener at Kl
The No. 16 Virginia men's soccer team will open ACC play when it squares off against No. 19 Duke Friday at Kl
Winning the Portland Nike Invitational might not be most prestigious of trophies, but for the No. 15 Virginia men's soccer team, it actually meant quite a bit. After struggling through a trying preseason in which they were outscored 6-1 in three exhibitions, the Cavaliers responded with a pair of much-needed victories that has them sitting at 2-0 heading into Friday's ACC home opener against Duke.\nVirginia kicked off the Nike Invitational with a convincing 3-0 win against the tournament hosts, Portland. Sophomore midfielder and Hermann Trophy candidate Tony Tchani netted two goals in the first 15 minutes of play, and freshman forward Will Bates - who entered the game in the second half as a substitute - scored the first goal of his young career in the 48th minute. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Diego Restrepo made one save to preserve the shutout.\nSunday's match against Washington proved to be a tougher test. After trailing 1-0 at the half, the Cavaliers responded with a header goal in the 74th minute by sophomore defender Greg Monaco, who was assisted by senior midfielder Neil Barlow. It was Monaco's first career goal. After several tense minutes of play, the score remained knotted at one apiece at the end of regulation. Barlow drilled a shot from the right wing past Washington goalkeeper Rylan Hawkins and into the back of the net to break the tie in the 99th minute, sealing Virginia's first place finish in the round-robin tournament.\n"It's been a little over a year since I've scored a goal," Barlow said. "So it felt great. I'm glad I could pull it out for my team. We all worked really hard, and anybody on the team could have scored that goal, but luckily it fell to me."\nAfter a preseason filled with missed goal-scoring opportunities, Virginia's victory in Portland allowed Cavalier fans to let out a collective sigh of relief. Fans had questioned whether the Cavaliers could pull through with a win in spite of potential injuries, lineup issues and an apparent lack of goal-scoring ability. Virginia, however, left Portland with a sense of renewed confidence, knowing it is capable of finding the back of the net and meeting this year's high expectations.\n"I think a little of that was the formation change," redshirt sophomore midfielder Jimmy Simpson said. "Also, the hunger that we had to scorea, it hadn't shown in the preseason so I think we got out there and the competitive spirit came out in all of us. We knew we needed to win games and score goals."\nWith the team's challenging ACC schedule just around the corner, the pair of wins could help set the tone for the season.\n"When we went over there as a team we set our goal that we weren't gonna leave unless we were 2-0," Barlow said. "It just had to happen. So the whole game we were just working off that, just trying to get both those wins to start off the season really strong. Two wins away on the west coast is a big deal too, especially in terms of rankings."\nFriday's ACC opener against Duke promises to be a stiff challenge, especially because the No. 29 Blue Devils are riding the momentum of a 3-0 season record. They followed their Sept. 1 2-0 win against James Madison with a 2-1 win against Columbia and a 2-0 victory against Denver this past weekend in the Duke/Nike Classic. Junior midfielder Cole Grossman leads the team with three goals and two assists this season. After a 10-9-2 record last season, Duke was picked to finish seventh out of the nine ACC soccer teams this season.\n"I know that they're a very good team," Simpson said. "Every ACC match is very, very competitive. This week we're gonna do our best and prepare for it and hopefully get that win"
ATTENTION, UNIVERSITY AFFILIATES! In our ongoing effort to perpetually annoy and confuse our faculty, staff and student body, we here at ITC are pleased to announce, right here in this very humor column, the abolition of your current information warehouses, SIS and Collab and the subsequent advent of your brand-spanking new, totally incomprehensible information machine, DIE. All changes will be effective immediately. Any resistance to changes will be punished by e-mail address letter/digit jumblings or beheadings, depending on the severity of resistance.\nPerhaps you are wondering why ITC has decided to complicate things yet again. The first answer is simple - because our organization is based on futility and evil-doings. The second answer lies in the shortcomings of your two favorite Web sites, SIS and Collab. Allow me to explain ...\nBack in the old days, when bands like Matchbox 20 and Smash Mouth were popular, Al Gore's creation - aka "the Internet" - was merely in its primitive stages. Then when University President John T. Casteen, III realized he needed a place to store all of the students' personal information - such as phone numbers and middle initials - he took a giant risk and turned to the Internet for answers. For better or for worse
The Virginia men's soccer team kicks off its regular season Friday at 10 p.m. as it faces the University of Portland in Portland, Ore. The Cavaliers will then square off with the University of Washington at 3 p.m. Saturday in the second leg of the two-game Nike Invitational - a tournament featuring four teams, the other being St. Louis University.\nThe Virginia squad is coming off a dismal preseason that included exhibition losses to George Mason, Old Dominion and West Virginia. The lackluster performances raised doubts about the team from college soccer experts, something reflected in the Cavaliers' recent removal from the NCAA/Adidas Top 25 poll, despite being picked to finish second in the elite ACC standings earlier in the preseason.\nVirginia players and coaches, however, remain confident about the upcoming season and believe the exhibition losses have made them hungrier than ever for a successful year.\n"I think that everybody's on a high alert for there to be a lot of energy and for there to be a lot of focus going into this opening weekend," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said.\nPortland, picked to finish sixth in the seven-team West Coast Conference, enters its 2009 campaign ready to improve on last season's 8-10-2 record. The Pilots are one of four WCC schools to boast two players on the preseason All-Conference team - senior midfielder Collen Warner and junior goalkeeper Austin Guerrero. Warner, the team's leading scorer, racked up five goals and eight assists last season, while Guerrero led the league in saves for the second consecutive season with 91 stops. In spite of its mediocre overall record last season, Portland found some success at home, posting a 6-3-1 mark on its home pitch.\nMeanwhile, Washington finished fourth in the Pac 10 last season with an overall record of 8-8-2. After losing its two best players to injury in the same game, the team ended with an 0-4-1 record in its final five games. For the first time since 2002, the Huskies do not return a First Team All-Conference player this season, and they return just one second teamer, junior defender Taylor Mueller. Their strength lies in a solid, experienced defense, led by senior goalkeeper and co-captain Rylan Hawkins, who helped the Huskies earn a 1-0 win against Seattle Tuesday in their first game of the season.\nFor now, however, Virginia is not overly concerned with the tendencies of its two weekend opponents, instead placing the bulk of its focus on addressing its own problems.\n"At this point, we haven't really gone over what they have to offer," sophomore midfielder Jimmy Simpson said. "In practices, we've been focusing mainly on the things we need to do to win, but I've heard good things about those teams. Obviously, college soccer is high competition so it should be a good test for us."\nThe Cavaliers are looking to do the opposite of what they did last year, when they won their three preseason exhibitions in convincing fashion but proceeded to lose their first two regular season matches. With players like Simpson, sophomore forward Brian Ownby, sophomore midfielder Tony Tchani and possibly sophomore forward Chris Agorsor set to return to the pitch after missing time, Virginia has an excellent chance to start the regular season on the right foot.\n"It was good to get together as a team and come up with ideas about what we need to do to get better," Simpson said. "This weekend will be a good test for us"
For the Virginia men's soccer team, there are plenty of causes for concern: the team finished the preseason without a win, several players are battling nagging injuries, sophomore forward Chris Agorsor is still a question mark and nobody seems able to find the back of the net. Despite being outscored 6-1 in their past three contests, though, the Cavaliers' regular-season record remains unblemished - perhaps the only thing going in the team's favor.\n"We're still undefeated at this point," redshirt sophomore midfielder Jimmy Simpson said. "We're still 0-0 right now."\nWhile some may view the squad's rocky preseason display as a sign of forthcoming losses, Virginia players and coaches insist that their three exhibition losses, while disappointing, translated into a positive learning experience. The team's upsetting play and losses, members said, has provided them with a renewed focus, as well as extra motivation to prepare even harder for the upcoming regular season, which begins Sept. 4 against Portland.\nThe preseason "was definitely positive, no question," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "They've never worked so hard over the summer, they've never been so fit reporting to camp. We tried some guys in new positions with new concepts that we've never worked on ... we didn't get the results ... but I think we learned a lot about ourselves, and those new concepts probably weren't the best thing for our team."\nOn the injury front, the Cavaliers said they are better off than before. Sophomore forward Brian Ownby, who pulled his groin early in the preseason and sat out against West Virginia, is healthy once more and ready to re-enter the starting lineup this weekend. Simpson, who is fighting off a tweaked hamstring and recovering from knee surgery that took place a month ago, said though his knee swelled up after 25 minutes of play against West Virginia, he expects to play in the season opener. Sophomore midfielder Tony Tchani re-injured his knee also against West Virginia but hopes to be ready to play this weekend.\nThe biggest question mark after the West Virginia exhibition seemed to be senior captain Ross LaBauex, who went down after a collision late in the first half writhing in pain and needed assistance coming off the field. What looked like a potential season-ending injury, however, turned out to be only a bruised ankle.\n"I'll be all right," LaBauex said. "I'm just day-to-day, but it feels good, so I think I'll be ready to go by Friday."\nEven Agorsor, the former Gatorade National High School Soccer Player of the Year who tallied four goals last year before a season-ending injury, is poised to make a return to the lineup. After clearing up all his compliance issues with the NCAA, the Virginia coaching staff finally put him back into practice with the team Monday. While the team will work as hard as possible to get him back on the field, Gelnovatch said it could take time because he has missed two weeks of team practice.\nNo matter who is on the field, though, there still remains the issue of finishing scoring opportunities, something that has stood out as the team's Achilles heel in the preseason.\n"Just having guys like Brian and Jimmy back is some of the answer," Gelnovatch said. "And some of the answer is just doing a little bit more finishing [in practice]. It's something we have worked on and that we need to get better at."\nGoals or no goals, the team is ready to put the past behind them and meet the regular season head on.\n"The losses weren't good, but at the same time it really brought the team together," Simpson said. "It gave us a lot of motivation to come back. We've been working very hard in practice now, and taking it to the next level. We've actually changed up our formation a little bit and using the players we have better. It will be a lot better"
The Virginia men's soccer team dropped its third and final preseason exhibition contest Saturday night, losing to West Virginia 2-0 at Kl
The Virginia men's soccer team will wrap up its preseason schedule Saturday night when it takes on West Virginia at 7 p.m. at Kl
When the nine ACC men's soccer head coaches ranked Virginia second in the preseason poll, ahead of the likes of Wake Forest and defending national champion Maryland, they had to be thinking about the return of the Cavaliers' top six goal scorers from a year ago. They also must have realized Virginia only graduated two players and that one of the nation's top midfielders, sophomore Tony Tchani, is fully recovered from his knee injury and poised to back up his ACC Freshman of the Year performance. What they might not have considered when ranking Virginia behind North Carolina in the preseason polls is the Cavaliers' incoming recruiting class, a group capable of making immediate contributions to an already talented team.\nAfter landing one of the country's top recruiting classes last year - one that included Tchani, forwards Chris Agorsor and Brian Ownby, midfielder Jimmy Simpson and defender Hunter Jumper - coach George Gelnovatch once again used his recruiting prowess to bring in the conference's highest rated group of incoming freshmen this year. Will Bates, Ahkeel Rodney, Shane Cooke, Sean Murnane, Marcus Douglas and Will Whorton all appear to possess the outstanding credentials to make them some of the most highly touted soccer players on the East Coast.\nOne of central Virginia's most promising talents, forward Will Bates, was instrumental in leading Thomas Dale High School to two state championship titles. He tallied 47 goals
If there's one thing I didn't like about summer, it was Michael Jackson dying. If there's another thing I didn't like about it, it was my psychotic, over-anxious mother, who couldn't seem to deal with the fact that we were living in the same house. She was literally hovering over me as I typed this, bemoaning my imminent departure for college and unleashing a steady stream of slushy eye discharge onto my favorite shirt.\nBut I told her to go make me a sandwich and suddenly I am alone and free to tackle the daunting struggles of column writing - such as how to spell 'imminent' or whether there is a 't' in sandwich. The struggles may be daunting, and I may be duly daunted by said struggles that are daunting, but I will nevertheless attempt to cease my struggling in the realm of daunt, and carry on in the least struggly and daunty manner possible, even if Lady Stroodel Struggle and Sir Diddly Daunt themselves ...\nWow. Please forgive me. You must understand that procrastination and mild stupidity are natural side effects of three months spent watching ridiculous amounts of mind-numbingly similar baseball highlights on ESPN's SportsCenter and Michael Jackson death coverage on every other channel. Such was the nature of a truly wacky summer, one during which good old-fashioned Americans were compelled to put down their long-cherished hot dogs, hamburgers and semi-automatic weapons so that they could engage in civil fist fights about deeply political issues like health care reform and Michael Vick - that is, unless the president was present at such gatherings, in which case Republicans, in a gesture of bipartisan respect, did bring their weapons. Now let us take a moment to put aside our anxiety about the coming school year and reflect back on the highlights of a crazy Mets/Phillies game - I mean summer.\nJune 18-24: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, weary from months of fishing trips and golf outings, decides to take a well-deserved vacation to South America, a place so far away that he is sure no one will recognize him as he gets his funk on at wild beach parties and has sex with women so out-of-their-mind drunk that they agree to have sex with Mark Sanford. He is perfectly confident that no one back home will worry about their inability to get in touch with him because he wisely told them he'd be hiking the Appalachian Trail, which everyone knows is a total dead zone when you have T-Mobile. After his scheme is somehow foiled, Sanford is forced to face some tough questions about the excursion, one being why he chose to abandon his wife and children on Father's Day. "Which would you rather be doin', you dumb piece of horse manure?" he (may as well have) responded. "A 500-piece puzzle with yer kids or a big-breasted Argentinean girl with no standards?" Sanford's integrity was subsequently questioned.\nJune 25: Michael Jackson, another prominent public figure who has faced criticism for questionable sexual decisions, takes pity on Sanford and decides the best way to help lessen the controversy surrounding the governor is to be the cause of one himself. Millions of men around the world are confused to find that the news media quickly turns a blind eye on the death of Farrah Fawcett, a beautiful, charismatic blonde actress, and instead places the focus on the passing of a strange man with a children's fantasy playground. Several NASA space shuttles are forced to prematurely return home because all of Earth's satellites must cut off communication with spacecraft in favor of taking live aerial photos of Michael Jackson's California estate for every media outlet in existence, even ones in remote countries like Uzbekistan and Canada.\nJuly 16: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a prominent black Harvard professor, is arrested - possibly for being black. A firestorm of controversy erupts after Sergeant James Crowley arrests Gates for disorderly conduct, resulting in accusations of racism against Crowley, as well as insinuations concerning the continual prevalence of racism in the country as a whole. Crowley defends himself by (kind of) saying, "Look, I did what any other white American would have done in my place. I mean, he was yelling in some kind of African tribal speak, which I'm just not used to encountering here in suburban Massachusetts. What was I supposed to do?" All harsh feelings are cast aside, however, when the two men join President Obama in the backyard of the White House and slam back several cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon, proving once again that beer, particularly PBR, is the most cost-effective solution to political problems.\nJuly 28: Brett Favre officially calls it quits when - after months of speculation about whether he would return to the NFL for his 39th season - he tells Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress: "At this point, I don't feel comfortable leaving my children and grandchildren behind. Also, I've lost most of the feeling in my right arm due to old age."\nAug. 13: Much to the chagrin of dogs everywhere, Michael Vick returns to the public limelight by signing a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Vick re-assures skeptical Eagles fans of his true character with (somewhat) stating, "I may have just been released from prison, but I assure you all that I am still a thug at heart."\nAug. something: Town hall meetings across the country, initially intended to be a practical way for Americans to share their views about health care reform, backfire completely when emotions run too high and gun battles break out intermittently, causing multiple injuries and the summoning of emergency health care to the forums. Help typically does not arrive, however, because many town hall participants claim it would cost too much.\nAugust 19: Brett Favre annoys everyone by changing his fickle mind again, this time declaring he is ready to suit up for the Vikings. He is immediately put into practice with the team, which is dismayed to find that the new quarterback no longer possesses the strength to throw a ball further than seven yards. He will start for the team regardless, because he is, after all, Brett Favre.\nYes, it was a truly wild summer. Here's to hoping this first semester here in the Land of Wahoo is no less wacky - and that Brett Favre suffers a career-ending injury.\nNick's column runs biweekly Tuesdays. He can be reached at n.eilerson@cavalierdaily.com.
They are young, experienced and talented. They boast the ACC's top recruiting class. They have the tools to beat anybody and they expect to beat everybody. They are the players of the Virginia men's soccer team, and this season, they are poised for redemption.\nLast year, several key injuries prevented the Cavaliers from continuing to develop and improve their extremely young squad - one that included as many as six freshmen in the starting lineup. Most notable among the injured was rookie sensation Tony Tchani, the team's season scoring leader despite sitting out the final four games. Fellow freshmen stars Brain Ownby and Chris Agorsor also struggled with injuries, preventing last year's freshmen class from scratching the surface of its potential.\nThe team's record reflected its struggles, as the Cavaliers lost three of their last four ACC contests to bring their conference record to a mediocre 4-4. Nonetheless, the resilience of the team shined through in the postseason, as they managed to take down previously unbeaten Wake Forest to advance to the ACC tournament final, where they fell to eventual national champion Maryland.\nWith players restored to full strength and a starting lineup that graduated just two players (midfielder Matt Poole and goalkeeper Michael Giallombardo), Virginia hopes to improve on last season's 11-9-1 record while remaining one of the most revered soccer programs in the country.\n"Hopefully, as we progress through the year, we can reach our goal of winning the ACC Championship and the national championship," senior captain Ross LaBauex said. "We've got a lot of good freshmen, a good core of seniors, so I think we have the recipe to be successful this year."\nThe Cavaliers' unique roster of young and experienced players makes them a threat to the rest of the conference.\n"It's an interesting combination of young and veteran players that I hope comes together and makes us a little bit more experienced," coach George Gelnovatch said.\nWhereas powerhouses Wake Forest and Maryland graduated a high percentage of their best players, Virginia enters the 2009 campaign with all of its top goal scorers from last season. Poole, who tallied three goals last season, is the only scorer who will not return.\nDespite the prospect of starting so many underclassmen, Gelnovatch remains confident that his team possesses the requisite experience to establish itself as a legitimate national title contender.\n"Generally, as a sophomore, you'd still be considered pretty young, but these guys got a lot of minutes under their belt, and I think that's going to go a long way," he said. "My hope is that all those minutes from those first-year guys that played last year, combined with a pretty strong senior class, will help us succeed."\nTchani - last year's ACC Freshman of the Year and one of just three conference players to be named to this year's prestigious Hermann Trophy Watch List - heads the Cavaliers' lethal sophomore class. Fellow sophomores Agorsor, redshirt Jimmy Simpson, Brian Ownby and Hunter Jumper combined with Tchani to score 25 of the team's 39 goals last season. If not for injuries and mistakes stemming from sheer inexperience, the total could have been greater.\n"I definitely want to score more goals than I did last year," said Ownby, who notched five goals last season. "I had a lot of chances last year, but being a rookie I guess I just wasn't used to the pressure. But I played in all the games last year so I know what it's like."\nAlongside this youthful group will be a solid senior class that includes LaBauex, Jonathan Villanueva, Matt Mitchell and Neil Barlow. Diego Restrepo, a junior transfer from the University of South Florida, likely will assume the bulk of the team's goalkeeping responsibilities.\nAdding fuel to the fire is the Cavaliers' stellar incoming freshmen class, which includes forwards Will Bates, Ahkeel Rodney and Shane Cooke, midfielders Marcus Douglas and Sean Murnane, and goalkeeper Will Whorton. The list features three U.S. Youth National Team members and an All-American. Bates, leader of two-time Virginia AAA state champion Thomas Dale High School, racked up 47 goals and 46 assists during his high school career.\nWith fitness training only recently completed and practice just underway, it would be difficult to assess how well this year's squad is gelling to this point. Cavalier players, however, do not hesitate to make their expectations clear.\n"We should be contending for an ACC championship, if not a national championship," Ownby said.\nVirginia played its first preseason game last night against George Mason at Kl
One thing I’ve noticed about the University is the great respect it gives to its mentally deranged student demographic, the one driven by severe sleep deprivation, manic depression and a proclivity for being named John Nelson. Totally kidding on that last one, of course. But not really. I don’t know the guy, but I hear he’s in charge of some self-righteous political organization, thus automatically making him kind of a tool and worthy of some serious, ungrounded heat from the belligerent media.But I’m a nice guy, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’d like to look back on the legacy of the University’s first mentally unstable student, the great Edgar Allan Poe, whose 200th birthday the University library is honoring this year with a special exhibition portraying the author’s enduring influence. To conclude the exhibition’s opening ceremony, one University official eloquently put forth the significance of the bicentennial, noting, “If Poe were alive today, he would be one decrepit-looking old dude.”The University’s perennial respect and appreciation for the famous poet is quite understandable, as Poe spent almost an entire eight months on Grounds building upon his gambling debt, drinking heavily and doing next to nothing productive. Records indicate that besides attending the occasional class, he rarely ever emerged from his room on the West Range, only doing so for the purpose of frightening his colleagues with his distorted facial features. His massive forehead, which had roughly the same surface area as Rosie O’Donnell, led his classmates to affectionately call him “Ed the Forehead.” A few of his teachers caught on to the hilarity of the nickname, calling him “Mr. Forehead” in class. Poe’s response to the humiliation consisted of not only the creation of several disturbing short stories about murder and talking birds, but also the writing of a letter to the University’s founder, Mr. Thomas Jefferson himself. The letter complained that he should not be ridiculed for his “birth defect,” going so far as suggesting the abusive teachers should be punished with “mass executions on the Lawn at the hands of those exceedingly rabid squirrels and perhaps some man-eating crows.” To his dismay, Mr. Jefferson’s reply was addressed “Dear Mr. Forehead, I dare say you need to chill the eff out, you diminutive ogre.” Poe left the University six days later, citing “gambling debts” and “a weak football conference” as his main reasons for leaving.Despite the setback, Poe would go on to do great things, starting with his happy marriage in 1829 to his 13-year-old first cousin, Virginia Clemm. Friends and family members reacted appropriately to the 27-year-old’s questionable decision, saying things like “Really, Ed? Really?” and “Why, Edward, she has scarcely hit puberty!” Resisting his family’s concerns and ignoring his seventh-grade wife’s steadfast penchant for Chuck E. Cheese, Poe valiantly went forth and became the first man to try to earn a living through writing alone, a brave attempt that many years later would delude English majors everywhere into thinking they could come out of college and obtain successful jobs despite not having any useful skills. Needless to say, his sole dependence on writing gave way to a financially troubling life and career, eventually climaxing with his apparent suicide. His path from writing to depression to suicide proved inspirational to many, as countless writers down the road would go on to do the same.Poe is also credited with starting the trend of delayed literary appreciation, in which people don’t give a rip about a person’s writing until many years after they are dead. Like so many writers after him, Poe was way more successful as a dead guy than he ever was a living guy. Largely ignored during his lifetime, Poe was rapidly elevated from creepy, disturbing drunkard to larger-than-life literary sensation some 50 years after his death when some dude read one of his stories and claimed that it was, in fact, pretty good, and that the story’s author should probably be pretty famous. Shortly thereafter, Edgar Allan Poe became a household name, as millions of copies of his works were sold, making Poe one of the wealthiest poverty-stricken dead people of all time. It also made him one of the most pissed off dead guys ever.Such a reflection on this infamous old man makes me wonder how he would have fared as a student at the present-day University. For starters, he would certainly not have the kind of flawless credentials possessed by today’s Lawnies, so he definitely would not even live near the Lawn. Rather, he would undoubtedly live just about as far away as humanly possible from that sublime location, instead residing in a place where all the other crazies of this school spend their days under attack by crazed turkeys — Gooch/Dillard. Maybe one night, he would tire of the building’s war against the turkeys and venture out to a frat party, where he could indulge in his love of booze.I can see it now. A few hours into the party, a frat brother approaches Poe and says, “Yo, wut up, Eddie Money?”“Nevermore, you murderous swine!” Poe stutters.“Say what, brah?”“Do you not hear it, you imbecile?! ‘Tis the beating of his cursed heart! I can take it no more!”Annoyed, the fratstar turns to some of his brothers and says, “Damn it, broskis! What did I say about letting The Forehead near the punch? You just don’t do it!”By his life’s end, the remarkable achievements of Poe were so numerous that many of them continue to go unnoticed to this day. For instance, did you know that he correctly predicted the Baltimore Ravens to win Super Bowl XXXV? Ironically, he was chastised by his friends for the bold prediction, mostly because football had not yet been invented so no one knew what he was talking about. His accomplishments, however, are not just constrained to his living years. Just last year, for example, Poe was ranked No. 3 in Us Weekly’s list of the 50 Biggest Creepers of All Time, ranking behind Carrot Top and John Wilkes Booth.So, Edward, if you can hear me from the grave, I’d just like to say that my classmates and I continue to look upon you with awe — mostly because you married your 13-year-old cousin, to be honest. I mean, come on man, that’s pretty messed up. But besides that, you were an amazing man, and as an English major, I will strive to match your success through writing. At least after I’m dead, that is.Nick’s column normally runs biweekly Mondays. He can be reached at n.eilerson@cavalierdaily.com.
History was made Saturday at Miami’s Cobb Stadium, where the Virginia men’s track and field team won the school’s first-ever ACC Outdoor Championship. The squad shared the title with three-time reigning NCAA champion Florida State, as both teams finished the three-day competition with 141 total points. It marked the first time since 1982 that two ACC teams shared the conference crown.Virginia’s women’s team, meanwhile, also put forth a strong showing, finishing the meet in fourth place with a total of 74 points. Florida State won handily with 160 points, while Virginia Tech finished runner-up with 127 and North Carolina placed third with 123.The men’s breakout showing was anchored by 11 All-ACC performances and two individual ACC titles. Senior All-American Yemi Ayeni won his third consecutive conference title in the discus with a heave of 189 feet, 7 inches, and sophomore Adams Abdulrazaaq earned the school’s first ACC title in the 110-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.16 seconds. Abdulrazaaq’s feat especially is impressive, as he has only been competing in hurdles for two years.“To have the outcome turn out like it did was just really big,” Abdulrazaaq said. “Everyone was excited that it happened. So much team spirit was involved. It took every person that was competing, it took everybody. It was a huge team effort.”The meet began on the right foot for the Cavaliers, as both the men’s and women’s sides led the field after the first day of competition, Thursday. Junior Meghan Briggs kick-started the squad’s productive day, heading a 1-3-5 Cavalier finish in the javelin for her second consecutive ACC title in the event with a throw of 162’0”. The 29 points the ladies collected the first day nearly amounted to their ACC indoor tournament total in February.The men’s team made an equally impressive showing, as sophomore Ryan Collins led a sweep of the second- through fifth-place finishes in the 10K, finishing less than one second behind Florida State’s senior Steeve Gabart to claim the runner-up spot. Sophomore Emil Heineking joined Collins in taking ACC honors in the event, finishing in third place. The race gave Virginia 23 of its 30 total points for the day.Virginia junior Ayla Smith qualified Friday for Saturday’s finals in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles, beating her own school record in the 100-meter hurdles with 13.51 seconds. In the steeplechase, junior Stephanie Garcia, a tableau editor for The Cavalier Daily, ended with a bittersweet fourth-place finish, completing the race in 10:28.38 after recovering from a hard fall while leading the race. The women fell back to fourth place at day’s end, trailing first-place North Carolina by 15 points.The 3,000-meter steeplechase highlighted the second day for the men in a somewhat unusual fashion. Though junior Steve Finley’s 8:59.74 runner-up finish was significant, freshman Andrew Mearns’ 9:09.71 fourth-place performance was perhaps even more noteworthy. Mearns lost his shoe early in the race and was forced to run about 90 percent of the race without it— a difficult feat, considering the steeplechase involves negotiating hurdles and 12-foot jumps over 3-foot deep water. The freshman’s performance seemed to embody the Cavaliers’ hard-nosed team effort during the weekend and this season, as Mearns did not make the cross country or indoor track teams but was given the chance to compete in the steeplechase.“It was a really gutty performance, which was a catalyst on Friday night for the rest of the fellas to look at and say ‘If he can do it, so can I,’” Virginia coach Jason Vigilante said. “I think our team really owes a lot to Andrew Mearns’ performance on Friday night.”The steeplechase gave the men’s side a much-needed 13 points and pushed them to within 14 points of first-place Florida State the final day of competition, Saturday. In addition to Abdulrazaaq’s and Ayeni’s outstanding title performances, the Cavaliers garnered critical points from several athletes. Seniors Andrew Jesien and Kevin Tschirhart picked up 13 points in the 1500-meter run, with Jesien earning a runner-up finish in 3:44.43 and Tschirhart picking up fourth place in 3:45.66. In the shorter 800-meter race, freshman All-American Lance Roller finished runner-up in 1:51.16 and sophomore Andrew Lobb grabbed a close third-place finish in 1:51.31. Sophomore Marcus Robinson finished third in the triple jump with a jump of 50’9.25”, the program’s fifth-best leap.Heading into the final stretch of the meet, the men’s side found itself still squarely in second place and needed a solid performance in the 5,000-meter race before going up against Florida State in the 4-by-400-meter relay, an event in which the Seminoles hold the nation’s first- and second-best times. Collins came through for the Cavaliers with a crucial runner-up finish in the 5,000, pulling Virginia ahead of Florida State on the scoreboard 135-131. The meet was far from finished, however, as Virginia needed a strong showing in the 4-by-400 to hold onto its lead. Freshman Kevin Anding, Abdulrazaaq, Roller and sophomore All-American Meikle Paschal fought hard to make a pass in the final turn, but could not overtake Florida State runners. The Cavalier quartet’s third-place finish was just enough, though, as it knotted up the score at 141 with Florida State, resulting in a shared conference title between the two schools.“What became exciting for us was focusing on the positives and focusing on the things that we had control over,” Vigilante said. “Regardless of the circumstance, we had to finish in the top three and we were able to."The women’s side also put together a string of solid finishes the final day. In the discus, senior All-American Billie-Jo Grant finished runner-up with a toss of 166’4”, enabling her to claim her fourth All-ACC honor in the event. Senior Caitlin Kelly finished close behind, earning third place and her first All-ACC honor with a throw of 165’2”. In the 1,500-meter run, freshman Morgane Gay came in third place with a time of 4:22.11, the seventh-fastest time in program history.“The women were outstanding,” Vigilante said. “I’m so proud of our ladies, the way they’ve gotten their act together in terms of becoming a cohesive team and worked on focusing on what the goals would be for the outdoor season. We scored over 100 percent more points than we did at the indoor championships, so we really did a phenomenal job on the women’s side.”Up next for the Cavaliers are the coveted Penn Relays, a special event that draws huge crowds to watch elite athletes compete in non-timed events. Even famed Olympic medalist and world-record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica will be on hand. The meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia.Vigilante, who is coaching his first outdoor season with Virginia since his arrival from Texas last summer, credits not only the athletes and assistant coaches for the teams’ incredible performances to this point in the season, but also a simple, consistent mindset.“If you focus on the things that matter ... things like integrity, character, sacrifice, good things are the byproduct — it’s inevitable,” Vigilante said. “And all throughout this year, we’ve been able to do that. That’s how we got to this point, not necessarily focusing on one thing or another. We were able to focus on who we are as individuals and then what we contribute as individuals to the group.”
In any sport, the ability to respond positively to failure often serves as the litmus test for determining a team or individual’s level of success in crucial moments. Attitude is of the utmost importance, as one can either throw in the towel after suffering a frustrating setback or turn the disappointment into fuel that will spawn improvement. Right now, for the Virginia men’s golf team, the latter option is the only option.Both this season and last season, Cavalier golfers have consistently displayed an uncanny knack for bouncing back from disappointment. Last season, after a mediocre seventh-place finish at the River Landing Intercollegiate and an underwhelming ninth-place finish at the ACC Championships, Virginia recovered to win its second consecutive Cavalier Classic. Then, two weeks later, the squad pulled off a stunning final-day rally to place 10th in the competitive 33-team East Regional Tournament. The strong finish gave the team the final berth in the NCAA Tournament, in which it finished 26th as the only unranked team in the field. It was the team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance with coach Bowen Sargent, now in his fifth season at Virginia.In last week’s River Landing Intercollegiate, the No. 42 Cavaliers struggled during the first two rounds of play, compiling an 18-over total to tie for ninth place heading into the final round. Although they could not jump to the top of the leaderboard, they still put together an impressive final-round effort, posting four scores of 1-under 71 for the fourth best final round score of the tournament’s 15 teams and walk away with an eighth-place finish. With the ACC Championships this weekend, Saturday’s solid final round might be what Virginia needed to kickstart a successful postseason.“I realized the importance of it heading into ACCs,” Sargent said. “I didn’t think we needed to be second-guessing ourselves and wondering where we were as a team. I didn’t think mentally we could have afforded a poor round. It was nice to see them bounce back and respond to what was definitely the worst round of golf we’ve played this semester.”The ACC Championships will be held Friday through Sunday at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C., the site of the previous seven conference tournaments. Virginia, which has never won a conference title, finished ninth last year with an 868 total, 30 shots behind first-place Florida State. Seven teams enter the tournament ranked in the top 50, headed by No. 3 Clemson. The Cavaliers have finished ahead of every team except No. 10 Georgia Tech — which it has not faced — at least once in tournaments this spring, senior Conrad Von Borsig said.“It’s obviously a tough conference,” Sargent said. “Going into it, regardless of what team you are, it’s hard to be overly confident heading into that thing in terms of just thinking about winning it, just because it is such a tough conference. But I know if our guys play the way they’re capable of playing, we will give ourselves a chance to win the tournament.”Virginia’s weekend lineup will feature sophomore Will Collins, junior Kyle Stough, Von Borsig, and freshmen Bruce Woodall and Ben Kohles. Collins, who has racked up three top-five finishes in his last five outings, leads the team with a 72.62 stroke average this season. He was Virginia’s top finisher at last year’s ACC Championships, coming in 26th place with a 1-over 217 total. Heading into this year’s tournament, Collins — like the rest of his teammates — is not content to shoot for anything less than a victory.“I don’t think anybody really goes anywhere in any competitive sport without expecting to win,” Collins said. “So that’s the mindset you have to have. All you can do is go out there, play hard, count ‘em up when you’re done and see what happens.”Collins is not the only Cavalier hitting his stride this season. No player better embodies his team’s gritty character than Von Borsig, the team’s lone senior, who has demonstrated a great deal of resilience in bouncing back from a forgettable fall season. After playing in only one tournament in the fall, this spring he has put together four top-20 finishes, including two in the top 10. He also has shot three rounds with scores in the 60s.“Since I’m graduating, I’ve had a real sense of urgency,” Von Borsig said. “When the semester started I really wanted to go out on a high note. I think I just kind of lost my focus last semester and wasn’t working as hard as I normally do. So when I got back to school in January, I tried to make my number one priority golf, and it worked really well. Hopefully it will all come together at ACCs.”Von Borsig will not be the team’s only player going into the tournament with plenty of experience at Old North State Club. Woodall and Kohles, both from North Carolina, have competed in several tournaments at the course. Woodall enters the tournament playing particularly well after leading the team in scoring at last week’s River Landing Intercollegiate. He also finished in seventh place at the Rehoboth Beach Spring Invitational earlier in the week.With experience and a strong collective mindset, Virginia might be poised to respond to adversity with a breakout performance.“I think the team has improved dramatically,” Sargent said. “We had a very young team last year, and this team right now is much better than the team we had last year. We continue to improve each and every year I’ve been here, and I don’t plan on retreating.”
The No. 3 Virginia women’s golf team used a strong final round Sunday to push its way to a second-place finish in the 18-team Bryan National Collegiate, a three-day tournament held in Greensboro, N.C. that featured nine top-25 teams.Although their 1-under 287 Sunday was the lowest round of the tournament, the Cavaliers could not overcome a 14-shot deficit from Friday’s opening round to No. 9 LSU, which walked away with a four-shot victory at 23-over 887.Sophomore Calle Nielson anchored the Cavalier’s solid final round with a 5-under 67 score, the lowest single-round of the event. It marked the second time this spring she tied the school scoring record. She also achieved the feat three weeks ago at the LSU Classic, where she tied for first place and earned ACC Player of the Month honors. Her round Sunday began with a bogey at the par-4 fifth hole, but she quickly bounced back with birdies on holes seven, eight and nine. The rest of her round included four more birdies and just one bogie.“It was an up and down round,” Nielson said. “I started off really bad and was really frustrated but then I finally held it together.”Senior Jennie Arseneault tied Nielson for a sixth-place finish individually, putting together three steady rounds of 73-76-72 to finish 5-over. It was the 10th top-10 finish of her career. The two teammates finished six shots behind LSU sophomore Megan McChrystal, who took medalist honors.“Of course I’m disappointed we didn’t win,” Arseneault said. “But I think we made a really good comeback. None of us think we had a really solid tournament, so I think it’s pretty good that we only lost by four and none of us even think that we played well.”Finishing closely behind Nielson and Arseneault was senior Lene Krog, whose final round 72 gave her a 13th-place finish at 10-over 226. Junior Whitney Neuhauser closed with a 76 to tie Krog at 10-over, and senior Kristen Simpson finished 35th at 14-over 230. Sophomore Joy Kim, playing as a non-scoring individual, placed 74th with a 239 total.Ultimately, it was Virginia’s slow start that prevented the team from winning the first-place trophy, as its opening round 304 was much higher than LSU’s 290. Cavalier golfers attributed the deficit partially to an unlucky tee time, as LSU’s early time of play did not witness the same level of high winds that hindered Virginia’s efforts in the afternoon. Adding to the unlucky circumstances, Virginia coach Kim Lewellen noted that it was the first time that her team was forced to compete in three consecutive rounds since the LSU Classic in mid-March, as the first two rounds of last week’s Liz Murphey Classic were rained out.“We haven’t been able to play as much competitive golf as I think the girls would like to have,” Lewellen said. “So I think having these three days to compete, each day we got a little bit better, a little bit mentally tougher. I think we needed the three days of competition to set us up for ACCs.”With the ACC Championships beginning in less than two weeks, Virginia golfers are focusing on one of their two most important goals — to steal the conference crown from Duke, which has won the past 13 years. Ranked No. 1 in the ACC and third in the country, the Cavaliers seem poised to achieve the feat. Despite Duke’s longtime stranglehold on the women’s golf world, Virginia players insist that the Blue Devils are not even their biggest concern heading into the tournament.“I think we’re looking more at Wake Forest than we’re even looking at Duke,” Arseneault said. “Duke hasn’t had a very good year, so I don’t think they’re our biggest competition this year.”Duke edged Virginia by just one shot at last year’s conference tournament, the closest any team has come to beating Duke in the past 13 years. With Nielson, who has either led or tied as the team’s scoring leader in the last four tournaments, and a wealth of depth and experience, Lewellen and her players are confident that this is their year to succeed.“We have a lot of good players,” Lewellen said. “And any one of them that we take to a tournament can step up to the plate and shoot a low number. That’s nice to have on any golf team, [and] I would say there aren’t many in the country that can do that.”The ACC Championships will take place April 17 to 19 at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro. The NCAA regional championship will be held May 7 to 9, and the NCAA Championships are set for May 19 to 22.“We have two goals,” Nielson said. “To win ACCs and to win a national championship. Hopefully in two weeks we’ll have accomplished one goal.”
The No. 6 Virginia rowing squad gave a solid performance Saturday and Sunday in the Pac-10 Challenge, a two-day regatta in Redwood City, Calif. pitting many of the nation’s top teams against each other in more than 114 races. The Cavaliers swept UCLA and won the Second Varsity Eight race against No. 5 California Saturday, and continued their success Sunday, winning two races against No. 4 Stanford.Rowers raced Henley-style, made famous for the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England, that features one-on-one racing.Virginia opened Saturday’s morning session with a loss to California’s Varsity Eight boat, whose time of 6 minutes, 26.6 seconds bested the Cavaliers’ mark of 6:35.1. “We knew it was [going to] be a tough race,” said senior captain Augusta Stratos, a member of the Varsity Eight. “We knew it was [going to] be a battle all the way through no matter what. It was good to race them early in the season though to see where they are and where we are, and where we need to be in the end.”Virginia responded with a spirited win from the Second Varsity boat, which finished in 6:31.7 to edge California by about a boat length. The momentum did not last long, however, as the Varsity Four and Novice Eight boats went on to drop their races against the Golden Bears.All four Virginia boats turned their luck around in the afternoon session, emerging victorious against the Bruins. The Varsity Eight posted a winning time of 6:48.4, topping UCLA’s time of 6:54.3. The Second Varsity Eight won with a time of 6:52.8. Meanwhile, the Varsity Four finished in 8:31.7, compared to the Bruins’ time of 8:37.3. The Novice Eight also dominated its contest, using a 7:50.0 time to beat UCLA’s boat by more than 16 seconds.Sunday’s series with Stanford brought mixed results as well. The Second Varsity Eight’s 6:48.3 outpaced Stanford’s time of 6:50.5 time, and the Novice Eight defeated Stanford by more than 18 seconds with a time of 7:11.1. The Cavaliers’ Varsity Eight, however, could not match Stanford’s 6:38.9 time, finishing in 6:49.2.“The competition was pretty steep,” Virginia coach Kevin Sauer said. “[UCLA’s] and Stanford’s varsity eight are very, very good. They have Olympians from the 2008 Olympics in their boats. We found out what kind of speed is out there and what people are bringing. It’s hard for us to lose, but it’s good for us to know what kind of competition is out there and what we need to do to meet it.”In the wake of the weekend’s hard-fought competition, which came a week after the team’s season-opening sweep of Bucknell, Sauer stressed that his team’s goals for this season are basically the same as those of last year: to work hard everyday, to win a school-record 10th consecutive ACC Championship and to strive for the NCAA Championship. While this year’s team contains relatively equal depth to last year’s squad, which finished fifth at the NCAA Championships, Sauer says the nature of his team is a bit different this year, though.“Last year we had some really good early speed,” Sauer said. “This year, I think we’re the kind of crew that’s [going to] get faster and faster over the course of the year.”Although graduating coxswain Caitlin Mixter, as well as losing rowers Katrin Sydlik, Bridget Wandelt, Kelsie Chaudoin and Rebecca Ryall, the Cavaliers still return two All-Americans from the Varsity Eight in juniors Jennifer Cromwell and Lauren Hutchins. Seniors Amanda Chase and Augusta Stratos join Hutchins as the team’s captains.“We know we have a lot of potential this year,” Stratos said. “So we’re just trying to bring it all out and give 100 percent every single time we race.”In a sport in which every athlete basically does the same thing, however, Sauer — who has been in charge of the Virginia rowing program since its inception as a varsity sport in 1995 — emphasized that everyone on the team must carry equal weight to be successful.“It’s a team sport,” Sauer said. “Everybody’s a part of this. It’s hard to key in on individuals in a sport like this.”Virginia is just one of four schools to compete in at least 10 NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships, finishing in the top four seven times. It will battle No. 12 Ohio State Saturday at Lake Monticello. The Buckeyes also competed in the Pac-10 Challenge, defeating UCLA 2-1 but losing to Stanford 1-2 and California 0-3.“Everyone has the same goal in mind long term — the NCAA Championship,” Stratos said. “So we have some big steps to get there.”
You know what they say: “April showers bring May flowers.” This old adage, which is a slightly adapted version of the even older Pacific Islander expression, “April showers bring much death and destruction,” seems to adequately sum up the current state of the University community. After putting up with all of March’s crap, including the persistent cold weather, Daylight Savings Time, the basketball coaching controversy, the commencement speaker controversy, the switch to SIS and Twitter, we are finally ready to move on and put up with all of April’s crap, including taxes, spring cleaning, Kelly Clarkson’s birthday, the onslaught of allergies and mysterious egg-dealing bunny rabbits.Yes, there are a myriad of things to get excited about in April, which according to the omniscient Professor Internet, has been deemed by federal lawmakers as National Pecan Month, Irritable Bowel Syndrome Month, Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month and, of course, National Straw Hat Month. Here are just a few highlights of the next 30 days:April Fool’s Day: What better way to kick off International Pooper-Scooper Week (not kidding) than to partake in a day full of annoying hoaxes and rampant lying? Frankly, I am fed up with the blatant dishonesty that this holiday promotes, which is why I have decided to start a new April Fool’s ritual this year. Every time someone tries to play a silly little trick on me, I am going to punch them square in the face. Maybe that will remind this country of its most cherished values: untamed violence and bullying.Easter: Falling on the first Sunday after the first moon of the vernal equinox has waxed 36 degrees southeast and made approximately 4.5 counterclockwise waning movements in response to the gravitational pull of Jupiter — or in layman’s terms — on the day when the Easter Bunny comes out of hiding, Easter is a special time of year for Eastern Christians and Western Christians alike. The night before, in accordance with ancient tradition, a crazed man dressed in a bunny suit delights children everywhere by breaking into their homes and placing baskets filled with eggs, candy and toys in random places, taking in exchange several important items from their parents’ liquor cabinet. To my knowledge, no one has really nailed down the true connection between the resurrection of Jesus and the egg-addicted magnanimous bunny rabbit, but I suspect alcohol might have something to do with it.Taxes: Suck it up, people. Recession or no recession, the government still needs your hard-earned dollars to pay for important projects like finding a cure for headaches, building a shipping shortcut through Florida and increasing inefficiency at airports. As a spoiled college student, however, I will once again play my role in this whole Tax Day business by ignoring it completely.The National Football League Draft: Arguably the most exciting television event since the creation of the Golf Channel, the NFL Draft is a non-stop, full-throttle, roller-coaster ride of pure entertainment. Ex-football players, wearing absurdly clashing suits, make false predictions about the futures of college football players, each of whom, they must always make clear, has “a lotta talent” and is indeed “a big-time playmaker.” To counteract the vague “analysis” of guys like Keyshawn Johnson and Chris Carter, the Confucius of draft knowledge, Mel Kiper Jr., is always on hand to pour forth his frighteningly acute knowledge of every aspect of every college football player in history, right down to their bedtime schedules and annoying bathroom habits, all the while looking like a tremendous prick.Mr. Pollen Comes to Town: Mr. Pollen is that genial old mass of plant excrement who mostly keeps to himself and pays you no mind throughout the year. In April, however, he goes on his annual rampage, wreaking havoc on your sinuses and forcing you, practically at gunpoint, to stock up on tissue boxes and Claritin tablets.Movie Month: As is the case every April, some of the greatest films of our time will finally be released to the eager public. This month’s surefire Oscar nominees include “Dragonball: Evolution,” “Crank High Voltage,” “17 Again” and “Hannah Montana: The Movie.”Koninginnedag: Also known as Queen’s Day, this April 30 celebration of the Queen of the Netherlands is meant to bring all Dutch people together to emphasize national unity and an unwavering commitment to get as trashed as possible. Apparently, everyone just dresses in orange and parties like it’s 1999 — meaning that this definitely is something in which U.Va. can participate.Yes, my friends, April truly is something to get pumped about. And if you still aren’t convinced, let me remind you that we are a mere 25 days away from National Scoop the Poop Week, an additional celebratory week of picking up your dog’s droppings tacked onto the calendar in 2007 by the reputable pet company “Dogologie,” which simply felt that one week wasn’t enough. Until then, though, enjoy all the other events April has to offer, and you better not cross me Wednesday.Nick’s column runs biweekly Mondays. He can be reached at n.eilerson@cavalierdaily.com.