The Virginia men’s lacrosse players sat at long tables and signed autographs for their young fans after Saturday’s game against Maryland. Normally, it is an obligation the Cavaliers would perform cheerfully, but this time they couldn’t hide their glum expressions. Frustrated by their second straight loss, some of the players barely looked up as they signed, unable to muster any enthusiasm. The 8-7 defeat to the No. 7 Terrapins — coming on the heels of last week’s loss by the same score to now-No. 1 Johns Hopkins — furthered dampened a superb start by No. 2 UVa (5-2, 0-1 ACC). “Pretty much pathetic by us, I feel,” said senior midfielder A.J. Shannon. “We kept turning the ball over, we kept taking bad shots and we kept making bad choices. We have so much talent on this team, but we make stupid choices all the time. We have to shape up or it’s going to be a long year.” The Cavaliers went into March like a lion, defeating both of last year’s NCAA finalists, Syracuse and Princeton, but they leave like a lamb. The offense, in particular, has been subpar of late, generating 10 goals or fewer in four of the past five games. Virginia struggled against Maryland’s stellar defense, led by its pair of preseason first-team All-Americans, Michael Howley and Chris Passavia. For most of the game, those two shut down UVa’s top attackmen, John Christmas and Joe Yevoli. Yet the Cavaliers said they had only themselves to blame for rushed shots, careless turnovers and poor ball movement. “Not to take anything away from Maryland’s effort, but I think we self-destructed on the offensive end,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, whose team again suffered through a long offensive drought. The Cavaliers failed to score in the first half against Johns Hopkins, falling behind 5-0 before making a comeback. This time they scored the first two goals, then went more then 34 minutes without beating goalie Dan McCormick, who made 15 saves. The Terrapins (6-2, 2-1 ACC) scored seven straight goals and led 7-2 late in the third quarter. Once again, Virginia rallied to make things interesting. Freshman attackman Matt Ward ended the drought by converting a feed from freshman midfielder Kyle Dixon in front of the cage with 4:18 left in the third. Shannon then scored on a 10-yard rocket, again off Dixon’s assist, to make it 7-4 going into the final period. Freshman attackman Joe Walters scored his third goal for Maryland, restoring the four-goal margin, but the Cavaliers weren’t through. Junior attackman Justin Mullen scored his first goal of the season with about nine minutes left, then Christmas took a pass from senior midfielder Chris Rotelli and whipped a nifty behind-the-back shot past McCormick with 1:39 remaining. Sixteen seconds later, Yevoli scored on an eight-yard rip to bring Virginia within one goal at 8-7. When the Cavaliers won the ensuing faceoff and called timeout, many of the fans packing Klockner Stadium rose to their feet, hoping for a game-tying goal. But it didn’t happen. Rotelli’s initial shot was deflected. Christmas picked up the ball and had his shot stopped by McCormick. Virginia gained possession once more but Christmas’ lob pass into the middle was stolen in the final seconds. Afterward, the Cavaliers took little consolation from their comeback. “We don’t want any moral victories,” said Rotelli, who finished with a career-high four assists. “We didn’t deserve to win it and we didn’t deserve to win last week. If we play better at the beginning of games, we won’t have to come back. We never should have given these guys a chance. We gave them the game.” Virginia plays at home against No. 8 North Carolina next Saturday following what should be an interesting week of practice. “We don’t seem quite so willing to do the work as we were early in the season,” Starsia said. “I like this team. They’re a good group. They work hard. But there are a lot of young guys and they just have got to learn to do what’s required.”
Virginia fans have had a difficult time containing their enthusiasm about two football recruits who signed with the Cavaliers in February of 2002 but have yet to put on a Wahoo uniform. They won’t have to wait much longer. Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham, two of the nation’s top linebacker recruits more than a year ago, are working hard in spring practice in hopes of making an impact on this season’s squad. Both were All-World as their reputations grew to legendary status in state high school football. Last season, Parham sat out with a back injury that prevented him from playing, while Brooks attended Hargrave Military Academy where his football talents were showcased at a higher level. Now, they’re ready to roll. Not only are the fans excited, so are the coaches. “I’m like everybody else,” said UVa coach Al Groh at his spring press conference on Friday. That was a couple of hours before the first practice session. “We got a little look at Kai in the pre-bowl practices and that was fun to see. Very few of us have really seen Ahmad with pads on given what the NCAA rules are in recruiting.” Good impression In fact, up until this weekend’s practices, Groh was the only coach on the staff to have seen Brooks in pads. There’s no question he was impressed. It was when the UVa team and coaches were attending the Chicago Bears vs. Carolina Panthers game during bowl week back in December that Groh found it difficult to contain his enthusiasm. Bystanders were chatting with Groh when Bears’ All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher intercepted a pass. The Virginia coach caught Urlacher’s feat in the corner of his eye, quickly excused himself from the interception, saying he wanted to watch what happened. After the Bear ran through Carolina’s personnel, Groh turned and said, “We’ve got two linebackers like that coming in this year,” or something to that effect. Wowing coaches Parham arrived to UVa’s program with a body already built for the NFL. When he did get a chance to practice a little in December, he quickly raised a few eyebrows. “Kai took a few blocks on in bowl practice, where the coaches had to turn around and cover their smiles because they didn’t want to just stand there and grin like they were going down the kiddie slide at McDonald’s,” said Groh. “They were like, ‘Whoa, did you see that?’” Brooks played inside linebacker in high school and outside at Hargrave. He will likely return to inside at Virginia. “I think he’s talented enough to play both,” said Groh. “There are some players who have been great players at one or the other but that’s what they were. I really think that this player could be both.” Because of mind-blowing speed, which has made Brooks a freak of nature, he is a dynamic pass rusher from the outside. That fits perfectly into the 3-4 scheme of Virginia. But for now, Groh is working both Brooks and Parham as inside linebackers and that’s just fine with Brooks. “I prefer inside because you can run from sideline-to-sideline there,” said Brooks after Saturday’s practice session. “I like the contact you get at inside and you get more tackles there. That’s what I like about it.” Parham wasn’t available in the UVa locker room after practice on Saturday, but, like Brooks, has been highly involved in both practice sessions heading into today’s 2:15 workout (open to the public). Outside linebacker Darryl Blackstock, who broke the ACC’s freshman record for sacks by a rookie last season, said he has spent time with Brooks, helping him learn the college game. “I’ve tried to keep him focused and let him know it’s not high school any more,” said Blackstock. “It’s not basic, simple offenses any more. We play technique, we play physical, we’re playing fast. You have to run to the ball, you have to swat the ball, you have to fill your gap. “You don’t have to be THE person to make the play every time ... they’re expecting the defense to make the play,” said Blackstock. “It’s more like, trust the man beside of you.” Brooks is more than happy to fit into the defense and learn his job, earn his way. That’s one reason why he enrolled at the semester break, so he could a head start. “It helped me a lot,” said Brooks. “The fact that I had the chance to come here for spring ball and be able to work out with the fellas has given me a step ahead of the other freshmen coming in this fall. This is a big advantage.” In what ways? “Just the workouts and learning the defense earlier and to get used to school,” said Blackstock. He started learning the defense a month ago. “For me, that’s been kind of hard because I need visual teaching,” said the national defensive player of the year in USA Today’s high school rankings for the 2001 season. “I can learn it on the board, but I’ve got to see it on the field to really learn it.” Friday, Brooks said he felt he performed horribly, but felt improvement on Saturday. “It’s a big change,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff you need to know and it’s going by quick, so you’ve got to study like you’re doing homework. If you don’t know it, you’re going to have to learn it on the field.” So far, Groh hasn’t made the same comment that his former boss, Bill Parcels said about linebacker Chris Slade after Slade’s first week with the New England Patriots: “He’s like a lost ball in high weeds.”
Maryland Men's Lacrosse Hands Virginia Second Straight 8-7 Loss
Cavaliers fall in ACC opener.
Charlottesville, Va. - Maryland scored seven unanswered goals and held Virginia
scoreless for more than 30 minutes to defeat the Cavaliers 8-7 Saturday
afternoon at Klöckner Stadium in UVa's ACC opener. The loss, Virginia's second
in a row by an 8-7 count, drops the Cavaliers to 5-2 overall this season.
Maryland rebounded from a home loss to North Carolina last week to improve to
6-1 overall, 2-1 in the ACC.
Virginia delighted the crowd of 3,207 on a sunny day in the heart of Jefferson's
country by getting an extra man goal from John Christmas and Billy Glading's
first goal in two games to take a 2-0 lead against the one of the nation's
toughest defenses midway through the first quarter.
The seventh-ranked Terrapins used their tough defense and a patient offense to
take the momentum from Virginia and keep it well into the fourth quarter. Junior
Justin Smith got the Terrapins' first goal to cut the UVa lead to 2-1 at the end
of the first quarter.
Senior Mike Mollot knotted the score at two early in the second stanza as
Maryland scored five unanswered goals in the quarter. Freshman Joe Walters
tallied twice and Mollot got his second of the game on an extra-man opportunity
33 seconds before halftime to send the Terps to the locker room up 6-2.
Maryland pushed the run to seven goals on Jamie Daue's third goal of the season,
but the Cavaliers cut into the lead behind goals by Matt Ward and A.J. Shannon
late in the third period. Ward's goal, at the 4:14 mark of the third quarter,
ended Virginia's scoreless drought at 33:06.
Walters scored his third of the game less than two minutes into the final
quarter to slow the Virginia rally somewhat and give the visitors an 8-4 lead.
Junior Justin Mullen notched a man-down goal off a nice feed from Chris Rotelli
to trim the deficit to three at 8-5.
The teams traded possessions for nearly eight minutes without scoring.
Long stick middie Trey Whitty provided the big defensive play the Cavaliers
needed by intercepting a pass by Dan LaMonica with 1:53 left. Whitty took the
pass and hit Billy Glading in transition at midfield. Glading found Rotelli who
hit an uncovered Christmas at the right pipe. Christmas easily beat goalie Dan
McCormick with a behind-the-back shot with 1:39 to go as UVa inched to 8-6.
Maryland was called for illegal procedure on the faceoff, giving Virginia
possession. The Cavaliers creeped closer 16 seconds later as Joe Yevoli took a
feed from Rotelli and beat McCormick from the right side.
With the momentum clearly shifted, Jack deVilliers won the ensuing faceoff to
give the Cavaliers a chance to tie. McCormick saved Christmas' bid for the tie
with 48 seconds left on the clock.
Maryland called timeout with 28 seconds to set last minute strategy. The effort
failed as Mollot was called for withholding the ball from play two seconds
later. Virginia's possession was very nearly aborted as defenseman Ned Bowen's
pass into the offensive zone was intercepted by Lee Zink. Zink quickly lost
possession after being stripped by Ward.
With the clock ticking, Christmas picked up the loose ball at the top of the box
and tossed the ball in front of the Maryland cage, hoping he'd find a teammate,
but McCormick was the only player there. He snared the pass and ran out the
game's final seven seconds to secure the win.
McCormick finished with 15 saves, including five in the final quarter, as
Maryland held Virginia's offense in check most of the game.
Christmas scored twice and was the only Cavalier with more than one goal.
Rotelli didn't score but he assisted on a career-high four goals. deVilliers was
sensational at the faceoff X, winning 15 of 19 attempts, including eight of nine
in the second half to help Virginia crawl back into the game.
CHAPEL HILL - His evaluation into men's basketball coach Matt Doherty almost complete, North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour soon will become a jury of one and determine Doherty's fate for the 2003-04 season.
If the central issue were coaching ability, Doherty's return would be guaranteed.
Sources close to Baddour say he was impressed with Doherty's third season, in which the Tar Heels rebounded from their 8-20 campaign of a year ago to go 19-16 -- winning late-season games against Maryland and Duke and reaching the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Tar Heels played 24 of their last 25 games without their only ACC-caliber inside presence, freshman center Sean May, who broke his foot Dec. 27. Doherty's first two seasons ran the gamut, from his debut in 2000-01 as national coach of the year to his 8-20 year.
However, the central issue is not coaching. Baddour is evaluating Doherty's relationships with his players, and to that end he spent Thursday and Friday meeting with players and, in some cases, their parents.
What Baddour has discovered, according to numerous sources close to the program, is a schism that appears to be drawn along the lines of playing time, although that line may be coincidental.
Published comments in recent weeks along with Observer conversations this week with players, parents and North Carolina staff members show the following Tar Heels are solidly behind Doherty, all of them starters: freshman point guard Raymond Felton, sophomore forward Jawad Williams, freshman forward David Noel and May.
The players with complaints are sophomore guards Melvin Scott, who started a few games at the end of the season, and Jackie Manuel, a starter most of the season; graduating senior guard Jonathan Holmes; and junior walkon Philip McLamb, who played for Charlotte Country Day.
Manuel's father, who could be heard screaming at Doherty at the ACC tournament at Greensboro Coliseum two weeks ago, accompanied Manuel to his meeting Thursday with Baddour.
After the Tar Heels' season-ending loss Wednesday to Georgetown in the NIT, Scott indicated his dissatisfaction with Doherty. Asked if he planned to stay, he replied: "We've got to sit down and talk ... make some decisions about what's best for the program."
In another part of the locker room, Felton said he was tired of the rumors of locker-room discord and said he wanted to play "for no other coach."
The only member of the regular rotation whose feelings about Doherty remain unclear is freshman Rashad McCants, who had sniped at Doherty early in the season when he was benched because of poor defensive effort. Since returning to the lineup, McCants has been noncommittal regarding his position on most things related to UNC basketball.
After last season, Williams and his mother, Gail, were among Doherty's most vocal critics. Williams threatened to transfer, and referred to the team's decision-making process as a "dictatorship."
In recent weeks, Williams has been a vocal supporter of Doherty in postgame interviews, and his mother reiterated that position Friday.
"I think they've grown to understand each other," she said of Doherty and her son. "The only side I'm on is my son's. If he's happy, I'm happy, and if he's happy I think the other kids will follow."
Asked if Jawad was happy with Doherty, Gail Williams said, "I think he is happy. He really is."
Felton's father, Raymond, told The Observer his son has improved "beyond my expectations" from October to March.
Noel's mother, Sheila, told The Observer, "David doesn't have a problem with coach Doherty -- not that I've heard about."
Meanwhile, a faction of the Education Foundation -- the fund-raising arm of UNC athletics -- is pushing Baddour to retain Doherty.
"I'd say a majority of the Education Foundation wants to see Doherty continue as coach," said Hickory's Tom Shores, a member of the foundation's executive committee. "He deserves another year, no question about it. He's recruited good players and deserves to coach them."
If retained, Doherty might not be the only UNC alumnus on the staff. Two assistants -- Doug Wojcik with Wright State and Bob McKinnon with Elon - are in the hunt for head coaching vacancies. If either leaves, sources say, Doherty will offer Phil Ford, UNC's career scoring leader and a former assistant coach, a job on the staff.
HILL ILLS: Uncertainty breeds
wacky days at UNC
Talking? Venting? Building the case for Coach Matt Doherty's firing? Building the case for saving Doherty's $900,000 job? Declaring transfer intentions if The Coach in the Gray Flannel Suit stays?
What a mess.
A successful coup usually requires the cover of darkness, the element of surprise, the stealth of silence. In the Dean Dome hallways, you can hear the ear-splitting echoes of practices past and the groans of Dean Smith friends bypassed.
To coup or not to coup? To coo or not to coo? Those are the relevant North Carolina basketball questions, which come straight from a Marx Brothers movie. The movie: Horse Feathers, with Groucho as Professor Wagstaff, the shifty president of Huxley College.
Groucho espouses a philosophy that fits the Carolina scene: Whatever it is, he's against it. In Chapel Hill's life-imitates-art revival, whatever basketball issue you raise, large constituencies are against it.
Heat, but no light
Doherty? Big split. Roy "The Rejector" Williams? Big split. Giving Doherty a little more time? Big split. Giving Doherty a substantial extension of his three-year deal? Big split. Appeasing the players so they'll stay? Big split. Telling anti-Doherty players to jump in Jordan Lake? Big split.
Athletics Director Dick Baddour's evaluation method resembles a player revolt draped in university process, a process that makes Doherty look weak and makes Baddour look infinitely weaker.
Kansas' Williams, who qualified for Carolina atonement by finally beating Mike Krzyzewski in the West Regional, carefully left his bizarre options open while professing affection for protege Doherty.
"We don't have a democracy at Kansas, especially on the court," Williams said. "And there wasn't a democracy at North Carolina when I was an assistant coach there."
Far and wide, the Tar Heel tribunal has been equated to letting the inmates run the asylum. People don't know how close the cliche comes to literal truth, at least the asylum part.
Doherty's first group of players - including Joseph Forte and Ronald Curry - considered him nuts for screaming so much. Neither returned for an encore. His second group - including freshmen Melvin Scott, Jawad Williams and Jackie Manuel - considered Doherty verbally abusive. They met with him after the 2002 season and received a promise of greater authoritarian sensitivity.
Doherty evidently kept the promise, more or less, until a second-half meltdown against Kentucky four months ago. According to knowledgeable sources, Doherty's blistering locker-room tirade upset players so much that some complained to their parents, who eventually opened lines of communication with Chancellor James Moeser.
Along the way, the plan for further meetings after this season became a given. The strangest part: Doherty said that he proposed the sessions between players and Baddour.
What a mess.
At least Carolina folks agree on something: They want to win. So did Groucho. He recruited his brothers Harpo and Chico to play on the Huxley football team. One couldn't talk. The other couldn't think. No problem. Coaches can always hire tutors. But then the parallels break down.
Huxley might have belonged to the NCAA in 1932, but that was before the SAT and core-curriculum requirements. Huxley might have needed funds back then, but nothing on the order of Chancellor Moeser's Carolina First campaign, which set a goal of $1.8 billion in 1999.
Moeser dances around hot coals whenever he strolls through The Southern Part of Heaven. He has irritated legislators, faculty members and local residents with a series of political gaffes. The most visible: handing university attorney Susan Ehringhaus a golden parachute worth about $376,000, money that keeps coming two years after her retirement.
The economy has slowed fund raising, the chancellor's forte, and athletics discord darkens the donor picture. A basketball revival would make Moeser's life much smoother.
Groucho Marx, otherwise known as Huxley's football president, had a center, which is more than you can say for Doherty. Groucho also had a clue, which is more than some people will say for Baddour. In fact, if you assembled a posse of wild-horse boosters and conducted a Gallop Poll, the majority would favor expediting Baddour's safe transit to another planet.
The ways things appear now, the controversial chancellor has shoved the controversial athletics director onto a weak limb high above the ground, saying that Baddour will handle the touchy evaluation alone. Baddour can't back off the limb without breaking it, and he probably can't jump without breaking himself. He looks more like a goner than Doherty, the automatic magnet for criticism regardless of his next basketball recommendation.
Baddour has been there before. When Jim Donnan turned down the football job, Baddour panicked and listened to the players promoting Carl Torbush. When that didn't work out, Baddour dumped Torbush on a Friday, or so Torbush thought, and then unfired him the next Monday. The equivocation damaged recruiting while only delaying the inevitable for one year.
After Bill Guthridge retired and Roy Williams unraveled Smith's succession plan, Baddour tilted toward his new chancellor instead of old Coach Smith. The administrators vetoed Larry Brown. Baddour chose Doherty, who had completed only one year as a head coach, at Notre Dame.
Doherty demanded the right to bring his staff and dump the Carolina holdovers, including Smith favorite Phil Ford. Baddour consented. That night, minutes after the introductory news conference, Smith compared the atmosphere to a funeral. He lamented the assistants' treatment. Smith also revealed that he had never insisted that Carolina hire a Carolina alumnus.
Arrogantly and clumsily, Doherty created deeper fissures. He moved the established entourage out of customary seats behind the bench and moved his friends in.
Those changes amounted to strike one.
His inability to control his temper amounted to strike two, which may offset a fine coaching job recently and a 19-16 record (despite Sean May's injury). The players, led by the maturing Williams and freshman Raymond Felton, put aside differences and hustled until the final horn.
In February, Smith addressed the furor surrounding Doherty's regime. "You just try to do your job, and you have your team with you," he said. "That's the first thing I really believe. If your team is with you, the fans can say anything. If you have got your players with you, you are secure."
Does Doherty have his players with him? Has Moeser heard the players' case, called strike three and told Baddour to don the umpire's mask for a theatrical reenactment?
Everyone will learn the answers to this messy mystery soon. Until then, Asylum Pictures can only suggest a working title: Tarred and Feathered.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A rebuilding year in the ACC ended Friday when rebuilt Maryland finally dropped the banner.
For the first time since 1979, no ACC team reached the round of eight.
Maryland's loss, which came rhythmically after Duke, Wake and State fell earlier in the tournament, ended any pretense. A rebuilding year in a rebuilt ACC produced no team capable of challenging for a national title, even in a wide-open tourney that will include at least one and maybe three longshots.
A longshot from the ACC never materialized after a long and trying season left three teams playing in the NIT and four struggling to remain afloat in the NCAA tournament. When Maryland went down in the last second against upstart Michigan State, a season went down with it.
The season ended with one coach fired and another clinging to his career. The season that started with such uncertainty, ended in shocking certainty. Not since 1996 has a Final Four been played without an ACC representative. Not since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had a tournament been played without an ACC threat.
Looking back, you could argue that this was predictable. Still, no one could picture it because it hadn't happened since back before every player in the ACC was born. For the first time since the ACC was born 50 years ago, no one could say it was the best in the nation top to bottom.
The bottom was weak, and the top was bottom heavy.
Clemson will now go off in search of a coach. Florida State expects a big turnaround, and North Carolina will expect the unexpected.
Georgia Tech hopes to build around its young colt, praying that young Chris Bosh stays for his sophomore season. Virginia will lose Travis Watson and hopes to find consistency after a season gone awry.
Of the four teams that survived to play in the NCAA tournament this month, only Maryland faces mystery. State should be better despite making few strides in recruiting. Wake will bring in Winston-Salem phenom Chris Paul and rebuild without Josh Howard. And Duke will bring in the country's top recruit, Luol Deng, with an eye on next year's Final Four.
For now, all eyes are on a season in retreat as the conference fell from grace in a stunning reversal of form.
State slipped into the tournament then slipped out after a 45-minute stay. The Pack crumbled against California having never really solved the problem of replacing injured Ilian Evtimov. The forward from Winston-Salem Reynolds was the key all along, and his return next year should restore a semblance of purpose to an offense that resembled chaos.
Julius Hodge will continue to emerge, possibly as a point guard in Herb Sendek's quest for a playmaker.
California exposed State's lack of cohesion and brought down the Wolfpack after State ran out of timeouts and ideas. In a region that produced a week of upsets, the Pack went out on the first day.
Wake survived to play a second day, but only because ETSU survived the Southern Conference tournament. Davidson would've beaten Wake. Charleston would've beaten Wake. Appalachian State would've beaten Wake.
On the first Sunday of the tournament, Auburn did beat Wake. The Deacons fell without much of a struggle, and the ACC's top seed bid adieu to Howard and a rare opportunity in the NCAA tournament. The Deacons should get another next year with a winged defense and a three-guard offense. Confidence remains high at Wake despite a recent run of postseason lows.
Duke got through the fist weekend with a favorable draw, but wilted in the second weekend against a hopeless draw. Kansas dispatched the Devils with a one-man act and moved on to play Arizona. Duke has now gone two years without reaching the round of eight as an NBA pipeline finally left the Devils dry.
If Deng is as good as they say, and they say he's as good as we've ever seen, Duke will win a sixth straight ACC title, catch UNC with a 15th title overall, and complete a rebuilding phase that started this year.
Rebuilt Maryland, the defending NCAA champion, came up one shot short after advancing earlier from one shot late. Drew Nicholas and Steve Blake dragged the Terps as far as they could, and Maryland, which sorely needed would-be junior Chris Wilcox, went down only after Blake's would-be miracle bounced hard off the back of the rim.
The Terps will rebuild still again with a solid recruiting clas and an emerging sophomore class. The graduating class that carried the Terps and the conference to the bitter end, was a great one to watch.
The ACC will watch next week and wait for next year. The 50th ACC season was nothing to remember, though the 51st should make it easier to forget.
Terps stay collected, ride 'D' to 8-7 win
No. 8 UM jets to 6-2 lead by holding No. 2 Virginia without a goal for 33:06
By Jeff Zrebiec
Sun Staff
Originally published March 30, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - There was nothing flashy about what the Maryland men's
lacrosse team threw at Virginia yesterday, but it looked quite nice to Terrapins
coach Dave Cottle, who saw his team execute his staff's game plan for nearly the
full 60 minutes.
Deliberate and possession-driven on offense and back to their usual stingy
selves on defense, the eighth-ranked Terps led early and then held off No. 2
Virginia, 8-7, on a beautiful afternoon at Klockner Stadium.
Maryland held the high-powered Cavaliers scoreless for a 33:06 stretch, turning
a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 halftime lead. Then, senior goalie Danny McCormick made
several key saves in the final minutes, allowing Maryland to leave
Charlottesville with a victory for the first time since the 1998 Atlantic Coast
Conference tournament championship game.
It was also a huge step for the Terps (6-1, 2-1 ACC) in putting the memories of
last week's listless performance and disappointing loss to North Carolina behind
them.
"Sometimes when you lose a game like that, it's tough to bounce back," said
senior defender Michael Howley, who kept Virginia star attackman John Christmas
relatively quiet. "I think we needed this game more than Virginia needed it."
Indeed, the Terrapins played like the more focused and desperate team
throughout, leaving Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia to bemoan his team's impatience
and lack of movement on offense.
Virginia (5-2, 0-1) also showed both those undesirable traits in last week's
loss to Johns Hopkins.
"They had a little bit of a desperate tone in terms of their approach to this
game and we were not prepared to match their effort today," Starsia said. "I
thought they had a plan coming in and they stuck to their plan."
Freshman Joe Walters scored three goals and senior Mike Mollot added two more
for the Terps, who lost 14 of 19 faceoffs but made the most of their possessions
by taking good shots and working the clock. The Terps also never allowed the
Cavaliers' defenders or midfielders to get much going in transition.
An extra-man goal from Mollot with 33 seconds left in the first half, followed
by Jamie Daue's 18-yard rocket past Virginia goalie Tillman Johnson (12 saves)
about seven minutes into the third capped a five-goal run and made the score
7-2.
When freshman Matt Ward slam dunked Kyle Dixon's pass right in front of
McCormick's crease to make it 7-3, Virginia had its first goal in nearly two
quarters.
"It was our best defensive effort," said Cottle. "When you play against a potent
attack like that, you've got to be aware every minute of the game."
As they did last week against Hopkins, the Cavaliers made it interesting as they
crept within 8-5 on Justin Mullen's goal with nine minutes to play.
Christmas and Joe Yevoli, who was played masterfully by Terps All-American Chris
Passavia, then beat McCormick (15 saves) just 16 seconds apart to cut the Terps'
lead to 8-7 with 1:23 left.
Virginia's Jack deVilliers won the faceoff, but McCormick got a piece of Chris
Rotelli's high shot and then turned aside Christmas' game-tying attempt from in
close with 45 seconds to play.
The Cavaliers had one more chance after a Maryland turnover, but McCormick
picked off a desperation heave.
"This is a major turning point of the season," said Walters. "It was the first
game we played hard for the full 60 minutes."
Stingy Defense Sparks Terrapins To ACC Triumph
By Christian Swezey
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, March 30, 2003; Page D05
CHARLOTTESVILLE, March 29 -- Maryland's coaches had several contingency plans in
place, just in case their defense had trouble with their initial matchups
against No. 2 Virginia's high-scoring attack today.
They didn't need any of them. The seventh-ranked Terrapins held Virginia without
a goal for more than 33 minutes early, then held on for an 8-7 victory before
3,207 at Klockner Stadium.
Virginia (5-2, 0-1 ACC) trailed 8-5 with two minutes left. Goals by sophomore
attackmen John Christmas and Joe Yevoli 16 seconds apart made the score 8-7 with
1 minute 23 seconds left.
The Cavaliers won the faceoff after the goal by Yevoli, but senior goaltender
Danny McCormick saved a shot from Christmas with 46 seconds remaining. Maryland
(6-1, 2-1) turned over the ball with 26 seconds left but clinched the victory
when McCormick intercepted a pass near the goal crease in the final seconds.
The late goals by Christmas and Yevoli marked one of the few times they were
able to shake free from their defenders today. Senior Michael Howley held
Christmas to 2-for-7 shooting and five turnovers.
Junior Chris Passavia held Yevoli to 1-for-6 shooting.
Christmas was guarded by Passavia and had four goals in an 11-10 win over
Maryland last year. Yevoli added three goals in that game.
"We switched a couple things up," Howley said. "The coaches had plans to change
a couple other matchups if the ones we started with didn't work, but they seemed
to be working."
Virginia took a 2-0 lead following a goal by senior Billy Glading with 7:20 left
in the first quarter. The Cavaliers did not score again, however, until a goal
by freshman Matt Ward with 4:14 left in the third quarter.
The scoreless streak spanned 33:06 and marked the second game in a row Virginia
has been held scoreless for at least 33 minutes. Virginia went nearly 35 minutes
without a goal in an 8-7 loss to Johns Hopkins last week.
"We're trying to hit a home run with every possession," Virginia Coach Dom
Starsia said. "Nobody is willing to work. . . . To me, we seem a little full of
ourselves on offense."
Maryland's defense entered today leading the nation with a 7.6 goals against
average; Virginia is the sixth team to be scoreless for at least 17 minutes
against the Terrapins this year.
"John Christmas is very athletic, and I thought Michael Howley did a great job
staying in front of him," Maryland Coach Dave Cottle said. "It got a little
scary at the end. . . . But I thought it was our best defensive effort this
year."
Freshman Joe Walters had three goals, and McCormick had 15 saves for Maryland.
Senior Chris Rotelli had four assists, and goalie Tillman Johnson had 12 saves
for Virginia. Today marked Maryland's first regular season win in
Charlottesville since 1988.