Any team wants to look back on its season with satisfaction, to be able to pinpoint accomplishment and minimize regret.
A stunning 15-14 overtime loss to Hofstra in the first round of the NCAA tournament ended the season for the Virginia men's lacrosse team on Sunday, May 13. The Cavaliers (7-7) held a 14-9 lead with 8 minutes, 24 seconds left in regulation, but the Pride rallied back to win the game at the United State Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
It almost seemed as if this senior class deserved better. The Virginia women's lacrosse team (11-6) ended what they had hoped to be a slam-bang season with a dull thud May 10 when they lost to a James Madison squad, 11-8, they had trounced, 15-6, during the regular season. No one felt that thud more than Virginia's five senior members - Jill Hansen, Mills Hook, Jamie Haas, Lacey Aumiller and Libby Hoyle - who played their last game as Cavaliers in the loss to the Dukes. "I don't think anyone was ready to end the season," coach Julie Myers said.
The USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee announced Wednesday that Virginia women's basketball coach Debbie Ryan has been named the head coach of the 2001 USA Basketball Women's World University Games Team. University of Iowa coach Lisa Bluder and East Carolina coach Dee Stokes were selected to serve as Ryan's assistant coaches for the team that will compete Aug.
Despite upsetting No. 4 Loyola Wednesday night, the Virginia women's lacrosse team does not have much time to dwell on its victory.
If you are a kid growing up in Baltimore, you play lacrosse. For Conor Gill, it was no different.
Nothing can divide a town, or University Grounds for that matter, more than a quarterback controversy - a dilemma Virginia faces entering the 2001 season. Both red-shirt sophomores Bryson Spinner and Matt Schaub knew two years ago that this time would come as soon as the ink dried on their respective letters-of-intent.
The murmur in Charles Barkley's 314-pound gut whispers that Michael Jordan is 95 percent certain a comeback is in the cards (and he's not referring to the blackjack deck that cut a swathe through Jordan's pocketbook and image during the 1993 playoffs). Washington Wizards majority owner Abe Pollin won't pin it down to a specific figure, but he gets that same uneasy rumbling deep down in his digestive track. Even "His Airness" himself, who ballooned to 240 pounds after retiring, modified a previous statement in which he insisted he was 99.9 percent sure he would not suit up for the 2001-2002 season.
In the fall of 1997, hailing from three different states, the four set foot on Grounds for the first time.
As the Virginia men's baseball team finishes up the regular season and prepares for the ACC tournament, its supporters have begun a campaign of a different sort close to home. A consortium of players' parents operating in alliance with baseball-friendly Cavalier alumni responded to the Strategic Planning Task Force on Athletics' report by forming the Committee To Save U.Va.
The No. 8 Virginia women's lacrosse team upset fourth-ranked Loyola, 8-7, in Baltimore last night. With less than 30 seconds left in the game, junior defender Lauri Kenis broke up a Greyhound fast break by blocking a pass and preserved the Cavaliers' slim 8-7 lead. Goalkeeper Liz McCarthy notched 15 saves - her highest total of the season - including three on the Greyhounds' first three shots.
Last night, the Virginia baseball team (23-22) fell to James Madison (25-18-1) on a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning, 7-6, ending the Cavaliers' four-game winning streak. The Dukes took an early lead in the bottom of the third with four runs but Virginia slowly fought back. In the bottom of the eighth inning, senior designated hitter Jon Benick, 3-for-4 on the night, smashed a ball out of the field for two RBIs.
I do not hail from a family of sportsmen. My father's usual Sunday afternoon companions are a good book and the living room couch, not John Madden and the Fox NFL crew.
Virginia tight end Billy Baber grew up near Charlottesville, dreaming of a career in the NFL. Sunday, his dream came true when the Kansas City Chiefs selected him as the 141st pick of the 2001 NFL Draft. Baber was watching the draft at his parents' home in Crozet when he was chosen in the fifth round of the draft. "I thought I might go a little higher," Baber said.
Caitlin Banks blends well into the University of Virginia landscape. The soft-spoken New York native moves through crowds and attends class like any other first year. But Banks is not youraverage University student.
Cavaliers Conor Gill, Mark Koontz and Chris Rotelli were selected as members of the 2001 All-ACC men's lacrosse team as chosen by the conference's four head coaches. Gill, a junior attackman, also was on the team last year and was a first-team All-American.
This weekend against Maryland, Virginia baseball (23-21) finally found the offensive power that has been eluding it recently. The Cavaliers swept three games from the Terrapins in their final homestand and now will hit the road to take on James Madison and George Mason today and tomorrow, hopefully with powerful bats in tow. Virginia mounted 30 runs in three games against Maryland in an offensive display that bodes well for the Cavaliers' week of in-state competition.
A ha! This is it. Finally, after two months of being the Thursday columnist, I get the chance to come out on Tuesday.
Spending 29 hours on a bus in one weekend doesn't sound like much fun, but the Virginia women's crew team came out of it all right. The weekend didn't start off so well.
When the final home game rolls around, a team wants to be able to look back on its home season proudly and honor those members playing in friendly territory for the final time. Yesterday afternoon in front of an ample crowd at The Park, the Virginia softball team (47-13, 4-2 ACC) did just that against ACC rival Maryland (34-16, 1-3), beating the Terrapins in two come-from-behind wins, 3-2 and 5-1.
