Tat deals with his limited minutes
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 27, 2008

When Solomon Tat arrived in Charlottesville, the last thing that he expected was to become a cheerleader.

Unfortunately for Tat, that is what he has been reduced to this season.

During Virginia’s recent seven-game losing streak, the sophomore played a total of 20 minutes.

In UVa’s last five games, Tat has played just once. That appearance came during garbage time of the Cavaliers’ 31-point home loss to Clemson on Feb. 7.

While a lot of players would probably be discouraged by the limited playing time, Tat is not.

“I have a real positive attitude toward everything,” said Tat, who is averaging 7.5 minutes this season. “When you look at the team, at this point we’re playing well. The chemistry is good.

“I’m a little bit frustrated from not playing, but in order for us to win, we have to sacrifice in some areas. That’s what’s happening right now.”

Tat missed the first 11 games of the season as he recovered from offseason sports hernia surgery. In his second game back, he scored a career-high 12 points at Xavier. The performance seemed like it might catapult him into a consistent spot in the rotation.

However, the Nigerian didn’t do much in subsequent games against Duke and Virginia Tech, and Virginia coach Dave Leitao hasn’t played him much since.

“Coach makes the decisions,” said Tat, whose high school coach once proclaimed that he would become the “Ronnie Lott of college basketball.” “If coach doesn’t play me, I don’t look at it as bad thing. He probably has a reason. I just come out ready because I don’t know when I’ll be out there.”

Lately, Leitao has trimmed his rotation to nine players. That has left Tat and big man Jerome Meyinsse, among others, on the outside looking in.

“It’s not like there’s great separation between the nine guys who have played and the guys who haven’t been playing,” said Leitao, whose team plays at Miami on Saturday. “It’s just that I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to continue to put guys back in [the game] regardless of what went on before - just to kind of keep them into it a little bit more mentally.”

Defense is considered Tat’s greatest strength. The 6-foot-5, 223-pounder is one of the team’s best on-the-ball defenders. However, he hasn’t developed enough of an offensive perimeter game to warrant anything more than bit playing time as a wing player.

Tat said he hasn’t given any thought to what parts of his game to work on over the summer.

“If I start focusing on the offseason, it means I’ve given up on this season,” said Tat, who will turn 22 this summer. “I’m still focused on this season and any way I can be a help to the team.”

Tat, who battled visa problems before enrolling at Virginia, told The Daily Progress he has given no thought to transferring and definitely hopes to be back next season.

Somewhat remarkably - given his limited playing time and experience at the college level - Tat has established himself as one of the team leaders. During games, he is one of the most vocal players and can usually be seen encouraging teammates when they come to the bench.

Last season, Leitao referred to Tat - the only married player on the team - as UVa’s “spiritual leader.”

“I want the other guys to learn from me,” Tat said. “Maybe if sometime they don’t get to play, maybe they won’t have a bad attitude toward the team. I just have to show by example. No matter what we’re going through, you have to be able to stick in there.”

 

Cavs win big against Catamounts
By Bart Isley / risley@dailyprogress.com | 978-7240
February 27, 2008

Virginia men’s lacrosse coach Dom Starsia and his staff spelled it out during a timeout with four minutes left in the first half and then again at the break. It wasn’t a complicated message - play with more effort, play with more energy, play with more passion.

“I’ve got a good bunch,” Starsia said. “They heard me.”

Apparently so. The Cavaliers quickly translated the message to the field and rolled to a 15-4 victory over Vermont after leading just 6-2 at the half.

Over a 20-minute stretch from the late second quarter to the early fourth, Virginia outscored Vermont 8-1, reeling off six straight goals in the third quarter alone.

“It never felt like it was magic out there, but it was a workmanlike win,” Starsia said.

It didn’t start off like that though. In the first half, Virginia struggled to move the ball around on offense and made several errant passes that resulted in unforced turnovers. The Catamounts applied a lot of pressure defensively, which pushed Virginia out of its offensive rhythm at times.

“Its tough to move the ball around when there’s a lot of pressure and you don’t move hard,” said attackman Brian Carroll.

Virginia did a better job of handling the pressure and working its offensive sets after the late first quarter timeout. Steve Giannone scored just 19 seconds after the teams returned to play off an open shot when the Cavaliers quickly worked through their offensive set. A few minutes later, freshman Rhamel Bratton, the No. 2 recruit in America according to Inside Lacrosse, notched his first career goal to put Virginia up by four going into the half.

It appeared for a second that Virginia hadn’t heeded Starsia’s halftime instructions though when Vermont’s Luke LaBranche scored just six seconds into the third. But Virginia found another gear after that and started pouring it on.

Garrett Billings’ second and third goals off assists from Danny Glading and Max Pomper highlighted the third quarter run. By the start of the fourth, Virginia was in complete control.

The scoring explosion was particularly impressive for a team that is still without Ben Rubeor, last year’s leading scorer and a preseason first team All-American. Peter Lamade, a senior midfielder who transferred from Duke to play as a graduate student in his last year of eligibility, has stepped in at attack with Rubeor out. Lamade dished out three assists in the win, and all three came right in a row on the final goals of the first half.

Defensively, Virginia never really struggled, holding Vermont to just two goals in the first quarter, and another pair in the second half. Ken Clausen spearheaded the strong effort with several heady plays in the first half, including a nice clear off a groundball from just in front of the goal with freshman goalie Adam Ghitelman on the ground and Vermont closing in. If Clausen hadn’t cleared the ball and the Catamounts had punched it in, the goal would have knotted the contest.

“Saturday [against Stony Brook] we had a lack of communication,” Clausen said. “Today we made an effort to get everyone talking and I think it showed.”

Ghitelman bounced back from a rough outing against Stony Brook where the rookie goalie surrendered 11 goals and made just three saves. He made four saves against Vermont and allowed three goals.

“I thought he bounced back well,” Starsia said. “But after you looked at the tape [against Stony Brook], we didn’t give him any help at all.”

The Vermont win serves as Virginia’s last tuneup before a tilt with Syracuse, another national powerhouse, in Baltimore at the Face-Off Classic. Princeton and Johns Hopkins will also lock up at the Classic.

 

Virginia vanquishes Vermont at Klöckner
After another slow start, Cavaliers control second half in convincing victory over Catamounts Tuesday
Megan McDonald, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Last night, Ryan Curtis, Vermont head coach and Virginia men's lacrosse alumnus, squared off against his mentor, Virginia coach Dom Starsia. As the No. 3 Cavaliers squashed the Catamounts' hopes for an upset, the 15-4 win improved Starsia's career record against his former players to 6-1.

In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, every Virginia player who dressed made an appearance on the field. Ten Cavaliers scored while eight tallied assists.

Although Virginia (3-0) got out to an early 3-0 lead, the Catamounts (0-2) came within 1 by the close of the first period. Vermont failed to even the score; however, and after a stalemate start to the second quarter, Cavalier sophomore midfielder Brian Carroll scored his second of the day to make it 4-2 Virginia.

"I felt like we were so quiet in the locker room before the game that we needed to play with more enthusiasm and energy," Starsia said. "Early on we weren't as sharp as we needed to be offensively ­-- we were a little careless at that end of the field at the beginning."

The momentum began to shift in favor of the Cavaliers from that point, and before heading into the locker room at the half, junior midfielder Steve Giannone and freshman midfielder Rhamel Bratton had extended the Cavalier lead against Vermont to 4 as both players put in a goal. Bratton's goal was the first of his Virginia career.

Coming out in the second half with new energy, the Cavaliers pelted Vermont goalkeeper Justin Lubas in the third, finding the back of the net six more times before the period ended. Up 12-3 heading into the fourth quarter, Virginia maintained its intensity and brought the final goal total to 15.

"So far I think we have tended to be better in the second half in general," Starsia said.

In contrast to the game against Stony Brook Saturday, the Cavaliers looked solid defensively from start to finish. Although the Catamounts got 13 shots off in the first half and 6 in the second, a combination of good defensive maneuvering and excellent goalkeeping by both Adam Ghitelman and Bud Petit limited Vermont to just two goals per half.

"After last Saturday's game we knew that we needed to step up," sophomore defenseman Ken Clausen said. "In that game we suffered from a lack of communication, so today we made an effort to get everyone talking and to communicate well from the beginning – that is really going to be key for us."

With last night's win, the Cavaliers head into their Spring Break schedule with a 3-0 record. This coming weekend they will travel to the Face-Off Classic in Baltimore, Md., where they will face their first top nationally ranked opponent, No. 8 Syracuse, in Saturday's opening game. As Starsia noted, in the 19 times the teams have met since he took the helm in 1993, Virginia has won nine, while Syracuse has taken 10. This year, the two teams are nearly mirror images of one another: Each has a freshman starting goalie, each has a defense still trying to establish itself and each is potent offensively.

"If you are a Virginia lacrosse fan, this is a game that you are going to be excited about," Starsia said. "I won't have any trouble getting the guys' attention in practice. The Orangemen have looked very good so far, so we have our hands full, but it will be fun getting ready for them."

After the game Saturday, Virginia will have the chance to scout firsthand both No. 9 Princeton and No. 1 Johns Hopkins, the defending national champion, as the two teams compete in the day's second contest. The four teams converging in Baltimore this Saturday have combined to win 26 of the past 30 NCAA titles.

Following Saturday's invitational, Virginia returns to Charlottesville for a midweek matchup against the Virginia Military Institute before concluding its Spring Break schedule at Princeton March 8.

"Every weekend from here on out we are going to have our hands full," Starsia said. "But that's the kind of schedule the guys who come here want to play. It is what we look forward to doing."

 

Attack looks to build from victory against Virginia Tech
Myers looks for continued strong play from attack, defense as team enters meat of schedule this week
Ryan Williams, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Coming off of a 14-6 season-opening victory in Blacksburg last Wednesday against rival Virginia Tech, the No. 2 Virginia women's lacrosse team (1-0, 1-0 ACC) is setting its sights on today's game at Richmond as well as three matches week.

In last week's win, the Cavalier offense was led by senior captain and attacker Megan O'Malley and sophomore midfielder Brittany Kalkstein, with four goals apiece. Junior attacker Jenny Hauser and junior midfielder Ashley McCulloch also contributed to the offensive effort, each tallying four points. Kalkstein, last year's National Rookie of the Year, and senior goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty paced the strong defensive effort.

Richmond (1-2) is coming off two straight home losses, dropping the Spiders out of the top 20 after being ranked 19th just a week ago. The last meeting between the two teams in Richmond in 2006 saw the Spiders win 8-7, but the Cavaliers won 13-5 in last year's matchup in Charlottesville. Virginia leads the all-time series between the two schools 27-3-1.

"We need to make sure we bring our best effort and our attackers really dominate," Virginia coach Julie Myers said.

Last week's 14-goal output against Virginia Tech indicated that the Virginia offense is a threat to any opposing defense.

"I think we look awesome," O'Malley said. "Everyone is stepping up because we are older."

The Cavaliers will look to their captains, O'Malley and senior defender Claire Bordley, to lead the way on the offensive and defensive ends, respectively, against the Spiders.

"Being fourth-year kids, they've always been key players," Myers said of the captains' experience. "They've been through a lot of games and from an experience and work-ethic standpoint, they're great to have."

As always, however, leadership has to come from every player on the team.

"One thing our team does is we count on everyone to be the leader," Myers said. "We're only as good as everyone is willing to be."

This team approach will be put to test not only today, but also in the team's next three contests. While many students will be at home during Spring Break, the women's lacrosse team will be getting into the meat of its schedule.

Saturday, the Cavaliers will take on No. 4 Syracuse in their first home game of the season and their toughest test yet. Last year's fierce face-off, ending in a 10-8 Virginia win, is still fresh in the Cavaliers' minds.

Virginia will then travel to face ACC rival Maryland Tuesday. Last season, the Cavaliers beat Maryland twice, once at home, 15-4, and again in the ACC Tournament, in a closer 10-7 contest.

The site of Virginia's final trial during the break will be Penn State next Friday. In last year's matchup between these two teams, the Cavaliers dominated their way to a 13-6 victory.

The squad will look to defend its No. 2 national ranking in these four upcoming matches.

Myers said that the team is aware of the ranking, but noted that the Cavaliers "haven't earned it yet." Nevertheless, she expressed excitement about her team's chances, looking to today's game and those next week.

"I think we've got all the pieces in place," she said.

 

Chargers' Wallace will suit up for Cavs COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Dominique Wallace commits to Virginia
Date published: 2/26/2008
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.

Just two weeks ago, Dominique Wallace said he'll make a college decision shortly before next football season began.

But the Chancellor High School standout junior running back had a change of heart on Sunday when he attended Junior Day at the University of Virginia.

Wallace orally committed to the Cavaliers yesterday, turning down scholarship offers from Penn State, Maryland and North Carolina State.

"I said I might commit right before two-a-days," Wallace said. "But when I went there [Sunday], I was like, 'No other college could change my mind and make me not want to go here. So why not just do it right now and get it over with?'"

Wallace said although he can't sign a letter of intent with the Cavaliers until next February, he doesn't envision changing his commitment.

He doesn't plan to take any other visits. He'll unofficially visit Virginia for the sixth time next Wednesday when he attends the Cavaliers' men's basketball game against Duke.

He said on Sunday, he was already itching to join the football team.

"I felt like, 'I want to be here right now. Just give me the pads and put me in the dorm room, so I can be on this campus and in this school,'" Wallace said of his visit.

Wallace (6-foot-1, 230 pounds) is also a standout linebacker, but he said the Cavaliers recruited him to play running back.

He rushed for 1,543 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Chargers last season. He went on to be named first-team all-Battlefield District, all-Region I and All-Area.

Virginia was the first school to offer a scholarship, but Penn State, Maryland and N.C. State offered last week. Virginia Tech and Notre Dame also showed interest.

"I've been to Penn State. I've been to Maryland. I've been to Notre Dame and I've been to Virginia Tech," Wallace said. "And to me, nothing compares to U.Va."

Chancellor coach Bob Oliver said he knew early on Wallace wanted to stay in-state. He said Virginia is "a good fit."

"He feels like U.Va. is home for him," Oliver said. "He's fired up about U.Va. and that's what you've got to be."

Wallace said Virginia's rebound from a 5-7 2006 season to a 9-4 finish and a Gator Bowl appearance last year was attractive to him. He attended games against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech last season and was impressed with the atmosphere.

"It's the perfect fit for me," he said. "It's an hour and a half away from home. They have good location, good academics, good athletics, good facilities and a beautiful campus. You can't do any better than that."