When the World Cup is mentioned, one immediately thinks of Pele, soccer chants and an announcer yelling "Goal!" as loudly as he can.
It was Theodore Roosevelt who said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." It was Virginia senior catcher Jenn Wynn and sophomore pitcher Coty Tolar who followed that mantra yesterday at the Park as the Cavaliers (16-21, 5-3 ACC) blanked the Maryland Terrapins (19-12, 3-3 ACC) 2-0 to finish 2-1 in a three-game series with their ACC neighbor and rival.
Despite the fact that Virginia men's lacrosse has beaten North Carolina 41 times dating back to 1938, Saturday's 15-9 drubbing of the Tar Heels will always hold a special place in the history books. The win, which boosted the Cavaliers' record to 8-1 overall, also was coach Dom Starsia's 138th victory at the University, making him the most successful men's lacrosse coach in school history. Starsia moved into first place after passing Jim "Ace" Adams, head coach from 1978-1992. "I think guys knew [the record was coming up] in the back of their heads, but no one brought it up all week," junior Matt Poskay said.
Monday may have been Opening Day for Major League players, but for the Virginia Cavaliers, the baseball season already is in full swing. After nearly two months of games, Virginia currently stands at 20-9 on the season, which at first glance may seem like an admirable record for such a young team.
When the No. 3 Virginia men's lacrosse team takes on North Carolina Saturday, it'll get a glimpse of where it stood as a team at this stage last year. When the two teams met last season in Chapel Hill, North Carolina had a 5-3 record and NCAA aspirations.
Conventional wisdom says that most major conference schools try to use early season non-conference games to tune up heading into their conference schedule.
Following Saturday's loss to Duke, the No 4. Virginia women's lacrosse knew it would need to learn from the experience.
Last April, the Cavaliers saw the traditional script of Virginia versus No. 5 Duke. For the first two years of coach Brian Boland's tenure, Virginia won more matches than the previous year before ultimately running into a wall against the Blue Devils in April.
"Wait, who are you going to go interview again?" my roommate asked yesterday afternoon as we were chilling on our balcony. "Oh, I don't know, only someone who was in PLAYBOY last year!" I shot back. Sensing his initial shock, I decided to lay it on even more. "Not only that, but I've also heard reports that this person is the president of the Fashion Club at U.Va.
In the evolution of lacrosse, the final progression is the development of professional leagues. Baseball, basketball, football and hockey each only have one premier league in the United States, but lacrosse doesn't just have one league -- it has two.
If there were any signs yesterday that the No. 3 Cavaliers were looking ahead to their ACC clash with No.
I woke up Monday morning in horror. The Washington Post reported that Virginia offered its coaching job to Dave Odom and he would accept shortly. Thankfully, The Post's source was erroneous (see, it happens to the best of us), and Odom reiterated Monday night that, though he and Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage had talked as friends about the Virginia job, he was not a candidate for it. That is not a knock on the 63-year-old former Virginia assistant but rather a statement that he is not the right person for the job.
Snyder Tennis Center, resting in the heart of the Grounds, is the perfect outdoor venue for University students to appreciate a cordial afternoon tennis game.
SOMEWHERE ON I-70, Ill. -- As I traverse the width of Illinois for the third time in as many days, shuttling back and forth between the men's and women's Final Fours in St.
The Virginia women's golf team bagged an eighth-place finish in the 17-team Bryan National Collegiate Tournament held in Brown Summit, N.C last weekend.
Lacrosse at the youth level may be growing astronomically, but at the college level it is stagnating.
At a school where the biggest news was Jerry Falwell's steadily improving condition and a nearby sign said "Go Tar Heels," it would be fairly easy to overlook a baseball game going on in a small field tucked away just behind the entrance to Liberty College in Lynchburg, Va.
It was one of those days that announces that spring is here, with sunshine and warm temperatures sticking around well into dusk. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, it also was one of those days where, despite any and all attempts, the ball seemed to bounce just out of reach, and all the breaks went in Townson's direction. Towson (17-11, 5-1 CAA) completed a doubleheader sweep over Virginia (14-21, 3-2 ACC), coming back to take a 5-4 victory in the first game and then outlasting the Cavaliers 3-2 in the night cap that lasted ten innings. "It's a day where everything we tried to do just didn't go right," Virginia coach Cheryl Sprangel said. In the first game, the Cavaliers jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind stellar pitching from sophomore Coty Tolar and solid hitting from junior Sara Larquier, senior Jenn Wynn and Tolar. With the game seemingly in hand, Sprangel opted to take Tolar out in favor of sophomore Meghan O'Leary.
The Virginia men's golf team entered Tuesday facing one final round of play in the Morris Williams Intercollegiate from Austin, Tex.
As the famous saying reads, "Go west, young man," so has lacrosse. The sport pioneered by American Indians but perfected by elitist New England prep schools has taken Greeley's advice and, over the past few decades, has spread outward from its Eastern roots to form a network that now includes every state in the nation. Like anything else, growth must start from the bottom up, beginning with a solid base to build upon.
