Cavs snuff out Blue Jays
UVa uses smothering defense to knock off defending champs
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
March 26, 2006

This week, the Virginia men's lacrosse team moved into the No. 1 spot in the polls for the first time in three years.
On Saturday afternoon, in front of a record-setting 7,440 fans at Klockner Stadium, UVa played like it wants to stay there a while.

Virginia, propelled by a stingy defense, routed defending National Champion Johns Hopkins 12-6.

"Our defense came out and showed how good they are," said Virginia midfielder Matt Poskay. "After it was 2-2, we got on a roll a little bit, and our defense held it from there. Our defense definitely proved to be our MVP today."

Said defenseman Michael Culver: "Kip Turner just played an unbelievable game and Matt Kelly, a younger guy, stepped up. Every game our defense keeps improving. I think if we can keep that up, we'll be tough to handle come Memorial Day."

Virginia's Ben Rubeor and Danny Glading led a well-balanced scoring attack with two goals apiece. Eight other players scored for UVa (9-0).

Johns Hopkins (3-3) was led by Michael Doneger's three goals.

The win was particularly sweet for Virginia, which suffered a heart-breaking defeat to the Blue Jays in the semifinals of last year's NCAA Tournament.

"It left a bitter taste in our mouth," Culver said. "This was certainly a sweet, sweet victory today. I loved every minute of it. I think we've really established ourselves as a team. We're jelling on both ends of the field."

Virginia, which came into the game leading the nation in scoring, is constantly being heralded for its offense. After the game, Virginia coach Dom Starsia joked about the lack of respect for his team's defensive unit.

"When was the last time you heard someone say Virginia plays good defense?" Starsia said.

Virginia goalie Kip Turner played one of his sharper games of the season, turning away seven of 13 shots. But it was defensemen such as Culver, Ricky Smith and Mike Timms who kept penetration to a minimum and seemed to frustrate Johns Hopkins as the game wore on.

"I've got a nice group of young guys on defense who are working hard," Starsia said. "I felt like today, early in the game, we could defend these guys. Kip looked to be on the ball early and Timms did a good job on Paul Rabil, who's a great player. Mike Culver did a great job.

"Our ability to defend them individually was very important to the team effort overall."

After Johns Hopkins tied the game at 2 on a Rabil rush with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter, Virginia clamped down. The Blue Jays, who trailed 5-2 at the half, didn't score again until the 11:40 mark of the fourth quarter, a drought of 38 minutes.

Meanwhile, Virginia's offense was able to capitalize on enough of its scoring chances to build a nice cushion.

"We didn't hit some shots early," Starsia said. "I thought we could have had a couple more goals, but we kept battling and winning the ball back. I thought over the course of the whole game Charlie Glazer and Drew Thompson [who won 11 of 20 face-offs] were such an important part of the puzzle."

Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said Virginia is a far different squad than the one his team faced last year.

"This Virginia team reminds me a lot of our team last year - with their experience and a couple of young guys sprinkled in that are talented," Pietramala said. "They're poised. They're athletic. They're a very good lacrosse team. Simply put, they beat us today."

When the game was over, Culver and the team's other captains, J.J. Morrissey and Matt Ward, accepted the inaugural Doyle Smith Cup.

Culver sported a huge smile as he playfully hoisted the small trophy above his head.

"I'm very proud of our team," Culver said, "but I'm not going to feel satisfied until we're holding up that big trophy. That's the ultimate goal right now."

Virginia returns to action on April 1 when it hits the road to face No. 4 Maryland, which defeated North Carolina, 9-6, on Saturday.

 

UVa knows importance of defense
Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 26, 2006

The old coaches will tell you that defense wins championships, so every time someone brings up the fact that Virginia's unbeaten lacrosse team leads the country in scoring, Dom Starsia must cringe just a little.
It's not that the veteran Cavaliers' coach dislikes offense. He knows as well as anyone that if his No. 1-ranked Virginia team is to remain on top through Memorial Day when they hand out the big trophy, it's probably going to be more about defense.

"I told the guys Friday on the practice field that we don't ever get any credit for playing defense," Starsia said Saturday, moments after his Wahoos dismantled Johns Hopkins 12-6 in a huge midseason showdown.

If it was defense Starsia wanted, his team made a strong statement against the Blue Jays,

In 80 meetings against lacrosse's most storied program, Hopkins' six goals was the fewest ever.

"Music to my ears," grinned senior defenseman Michael Culver, who draws the opposition's top attackman.

In fact, after the Blue Jays knotted the scored at 2-2 late in the first quarter, Virginia's defense smothered the Hopkins attack, shutting down the Baltimore visitors for the next 38 minutes.

But just as the old axiom goes, offense sells tickets, defense wins championships. Sometimes one feeds off the other, and that was the case Saturday as Virginia improved to 9-0.

"What I noticed was their time of possession," said Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala. "It was dominant. [Virginia] was winning faceoffs and it was our turnovers. The thing that impressed me most about Virginia was its ability to do things between the boxes ... and we played pretty good defense."

However the win came about, it was fine with Starsia, who described Saturday as a special moment for his program.

Nah, it wasn't the same Hopkins team that stole victory from Virginia in a dramatic, last-minute NCAA semifinal classic last May. The Blue Jays feature six new starters and came into Saturday's matchup with a 3-2 record, which would be like Florida State's football team coming into a UVa matchup at 5-4 - almost unheard of.

"They still walk with that same swagger and there's still that same aura about them," said Culver, who also got into the scoring act with a rare breakaway.

Hopkins is the New York Yankees of the lacrosse world, so any victory over the baby blue-jerseyed opponents is one to cherish.

While the Cavaliers certainly earned the right to celebrate well into the morning, they were keenly aware that the hard work still lies ahead.

"We'll take a lot of things from this game, but mostly we realize we'll have to get better," said senior attackman Matt Ward. "We'll take all that to the practice field."

No wonder Starsia calls this a fairly mature team. The players seem to get it. But then again, the seniors have been through a lot: a national championship season; followed by an inexplicable 5-8 implosion; then last year's heartbreaking loss in the national semis.

A No. 1 ranking in March isn't a big deal to Starsia, who learned long ago to ride the veterans and mold the youngsters. Perhaps it was a little distracting this week, but no more so than fans asking about avenging last year's NCAA loss to the Jays.

The fact that a lacrosse record crowd of 7,440 showed up at Klockner Stadium for the first Doyle Smith Cup game between the late Smith's alma mater (Hopkins) and his beloved adopted Cavaliers, where he spent his adult professional life, was a pleasant distraction.

"Sometimes you come out there and it's just your parents in the stands," Ward said.

Starsia hadn't seen a crowd like this at Klockner since a soccer game way back when he started work at Virginia in the early '90s.

"I think our players understand that it's still only March and the big fish come up in May," the UVa coach said. "We have to keep getting better and that's the language I keep hearing on the practice field."

Now that is music to a coach's ears.

Pietramala said it wasn't his place to judge whether this was the best Virginia team he had seen because there have been some great ones in the past. But he was confident of one thing.

"This is the best team we've played this year," the Hopkins coach said.

Starsia's job, with the assistance of his seniors, is to keep it that way.

 

Wake tops UVA, sets up important rubber match
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
March 26, 2006

Jacob Thompson was one pitch away from keeping his perfect season alive.
That pitch landed in the deepest part of Davenport Field.

Wake Forest right fielder Evan Ocheltree drilled a two-out, two-run triple in the seventh inning that ultimately gave the Demon Deacons a series-evening 3-2 win over Virginia on Saturday.

The loss for the Cavaliers (21-5, 5-3 ACC) snaps a 16-game home winning streak and sets up an important finale today (1 p.m.).

Wake Forest, which lost by the same score to UVa on Friday, stands at 19-6 overall and 5-3 in the ACC.

"To come in here against a streaking club at home and with a very good record ? and for us to come out on top, that is obviously huge," said Wake coach Rick Rembielak. "We knew it was going to be a good series."

With Wake clinging to a 1-0 lead in the top half of the seventh and runners on the corners, Thompson quickly worked ahead of Ocheltree, Wake's No. 9 hitter.

Virginia's coaching staff called for a breaking ball. Thompson's 86th pitch instead broke into Ocheltree's bat and rocketed over Virginia center fielder Tim Henry's head.

"[Thompson] had him right where he wanted him and he couldn't bury that breaking ball that we had called and left it up," said Virginia coach Brian O'Connor. "He just couldn't put Ocheltree away."

Ocheltree, who is below the Mendoza line at .191, almost didn't get to face Thompson.

Virginia's pitching coach Karl Kuhn visited Thompson on the mound prior to facing the batter. After Kuhn returned to the dugout, O'Connor appeared headed to the mound, which would have signaled the end of Thompson's day.

The umpiring crew stopped O'Connor before he reached the infield.

O'Connor thought the batter had not been introduced.

"It was a discrepancy on whether I thought the batter was announced at the plate or not," O'Connor said. "It is a rule discrepancy and the umpire said that he was announced."

That meant Thompson, who had been under the weather all week, had to face one more batter.

After the stand-up triple, O'Connor went to the bullpen for Shooter Hunt, who combined with Michael Schwimer to keep Wake off the scoreboard for the final 2.1 innings.

While Thompson (5-1) took the loss, O'Connor said the game was lost at the plate.

Virginia managed just three hits and two unearned runs off three Wake Forest pitchers.

The hot-hitting Brandon Marsh had two of the hits and is now batting .514.

"We have to come out and earn it," O'Connor said. "We have got to earn our wins through getting clutch hits, and unfortunately tonight we didn't do that."

Eric Niesen, who was making his first start of the season for Wake, silenced Virginia's bats for five innings. Niesen (2-0) allowed just two hits, while striking out seven, before leaving with a torn fingernail.

UVa scored its runs off Josh Ellis, the first of two relievers to pitch for Wake.

With Wake up 3-0, Ellis allowed back-to-back walks to open the seventh.

After striking out Brandon Guyer on four pitches, Ellis' first pitch to Jeremy Farrell produced an "excuse-me swing" that turned into a quick grounder to the left of mound.

Instead of trying to go to second for a double play, Ellis fired a throw to third that pulled Matt Antonelli off the bag and left the bases loaded.

Luckily for Wake, Antonelli squeezed the errant throw, avoiding what Rembielak said was "almost a huge mistake."

"If he throws that ball way," Rembielak added, "I don't think we are winning that game."

UVa took advantage, scratching out two runs as Tom Hagan drew a bases-loaded walk and Beau Seabury dropped down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt.

The frame, however, ended one batter later when Tim Henry struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch from Wake closer Ben Hunter.

The Cavaliers were retired in order by Hunter in the eighth and ninth. Hunter maintained his 0.00 ERA in 14 appearances and picked up his eighth save.

For the series, Virginia has just 10 hits in 58 at-bats, which is not a huge shock to O'Connor. Wake entered the weekend with a 3.86 earned run average.

"We knew coming in that Wake Forest had very good pitching," O'Connor said. "You see the guys they bring out of the bullpen and they have all got really good arms and good breaking balls and they are tough kids.

"I can see why they have had the success that they have had this year."

No. 1 Virginia rips Hopkins
Cavs' defense excels against defending NCAA champion
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 26, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Long after the game started, fans kept streaming into Klockner Stadium yesterday. They packed the stands and swarmed the grassy areas surrounding the field.

They didn't go home disap- pointed on this chilly afternoon. In front of the largest crowd ever to see a lacrosse game at Klockner, the nation's top-ranked men's team destroyed defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins.

In a series that dates to 1904, until yesterday Hopkins never had scored fewer than seven goals in a game against the University of Virginia.

No. 1 U.Va. surrendered two meaningless goals in the final minute but romped 12-6, a defensive tour de force that delighted most of the 7,440 spectators. Virginia (9-0) continued the best start in school history and snapped a two-game losing streak against the Blue Jays (3-3). The Cavaliers also took possession of the Doyle Smith Cup, which will be presented to the winner of these teams' annual regular-season clash.

Virginia's longtime coach, Dom Starsia, knows NCAA titles aren't won in March. Even so, he didn't try to downplay the significance of yesterday's performance.

"Any time you have a game like this, it's a special moment," said Starsia, who has guided U.Va. to two NCAA titles.

Senior Charlie Glazer won 10 of 17 faceoffs, and 10 players scored at least one goal yesterday for Virginia, led by attackmen Danny Glading and Ben Rubeor with two apiece. But the game was decided at the other end. The Cavaliers lead the nation in scoring, and all that firepower can obscure their stout defense.

"When's the last time you heard somebody say Virginia plays good defense?" Starsia said with a smile.

Praise is overdue. Only once this season -- in a 20-15 shootout with Syracuse -- has U.Va. allowed more than seven goals. Yesterday, Starsia's starting defensemen -- senior Michael Culver, junior Ricky Smith and freshman Matt Kelly -- teamed with junior goalie Kip Turner and freshman long-stick midfielder Mike Timms to help the Cavs avenge their overtime loss to the Blue Jays in last year's NCAA semifinals.

"Our offense has definitely been clicking," senior attackman Matt Ward said, "but we're only going to go as far as our defense is going to take us."

After Paul Rabil's goal with 4:40 left in the first quarter made it 2-2, ninth-ranked Hopkins went 38 minutes before scoring again. By that time, the Cavs had taken control and were headed toward their 17th straight win at home.

Contact staff writer Jeff White at jwhite@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6838.

Johns Hopkins ------------------------- 2 0 0 4 -- 6
Virginia ------------------------- 3 2 2 5 -- 12

Goals -- Hopkins: Doneger 3, Rabil, Christopher, Huntley. Virginia: Glading 2, Rubeor 2, Ward, Thompson, Poskay, Riley, Dixon, Billings, Little, Culver

Assists -- Hopkins: Peyser 2, Byrne, Rabil. Virginia: Ward 2, Gilbert, Poskay, Riley, Thompson

Goalies -- Hopkins: Schwartzman (12 goals allowed, 13 saves). Virginia: Turner (4, 7); Brody (2, 0)

No. 1 Cavs top Blue Jays
'D' keeps No. 10 Hopkins in check; Va. runs record to 9-0
By Gary Lambrecht
sun reporter
Originally published March 26, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. // Although the final score might indicate otherwise, a youthful Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team came to Klockner Stadium yesterday and played some fine defense against the most explosive team in the country. Trouble was the top-ranked, unbeaten Virginia Cavaliers proved they are more than just a scoring machine.

Virginia took an early cue from its young, athletic defense, which did much to silence the No. 10 Blue Jays. And after struggling early, the Cavaliers' array of good shooters gradually broke through Hopkins junior goalie Jesse Schwartzman.

In the end, Hopkins could not overcome a stifling scoring drought, as the Blue Jays dropped a 12-6 decision before 7,440, an attendance record for a lacrosse game at Klockner.

For the third time this season, Hopkins (3-3) failed to record a two-game winning streak, while Virginia (9-0) extended the best start in school history with relative ease. The Blue Jays, who have lost their past four games in Charlottesville by a combined 21 goals and have lost as many regular-season contests as they surrendered in the previous four years combined, fell behind after one period and never awakened.

Virginia was quicker to the ball, grabbing 40 ground balls to the Blue Jays' 22. Ten different players scored for the Cavaliers, who were not exactly on their game offensively. But Virginia's defense, led by senior Michael Culver, junior Ricky Smith and freshmen Mike Timms and Matt Kelly, did a number on Hopkins, which whiffed on four of five extra-man chances, rarely got great looks at the net, and could not hang on to the ball.

"We played a ton of defense, and there were times when we played some darn good defense," Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. "But between our midline and offensive box, we'd throw a bad pass or get checked from behind. Some turnovers were forced, some were unnecessary. The bottom line is you just can't have them. What you saw today was a work in progress. They beat us."

The Blue Jays, who start two seniors, hit the mute button on offense and got stuck. Hopkins went 38 minutes without scoring. During that span, Virginia turned a 2-2 first-quarter tie into a 7-2 lead at the end of the third quarter. Not even a great first half by Schwartzman, who had eight of his 13 saves in the first quarter, could stunt Virginia's confidence for long.

The Cavaliers, who were led by sophomore attackman Ben Rubeor (Loyola) and freshman attackman Danny Glading -- they had two goals each -- stretched the lead to 11-3 with 4:34 left.

Sophomore attackman Michael Doneger led Hopkins with three goals, but they came after the issue had been decided. Sophomore attackman Kevin Huntley and sophomore midfielder Paul Rabil each scored a first-quarter goal. Junior attackman Jake Byrne had one assist and took just one shot. Senior midfielder Greg Peyser had two assists but did not score a goal.

Huntley, Rabil, Byrne and Peyser, the team's top four scorers, took a total of four shots on goal.

"I thought we picked up where we left off against Syracuse," said Rabil, alluding to last week's 14-9 win over the Orange. "We were rolling a little bit [early]. Then [Virginia] started to take over. They were beating us to ground balls and knocking us off our game. When you don't have many touches or possessions, you can't get anything."

The Cavaliers controlled possession time by winning 11 of 20 faceoffs, and by hounding the Hopkins offense with good checking and physical play to force many of the Blue Jays' 16 turnovers. Virginia extended its defensive pressure to great effect, and owned the middle of the field with its athleticism.

Culver, who spent most of the day covering Huntley, symbolized an unheralded defense that gets lost in the shadow of an offense that averaged an NCAA-best 15.4 goals before yesterday.

In addition to his strong defensive work, Culver followed a man-down save by Virginia junior goalie Kip Turner (seven saves) by running more than half the field, before ripping a shot off Schwartzman. It tricked into the goal, giving the Cavaliers a 6-2 lead with 6:10 left in the third quarter.

"We put the ball on the ground a bunch, we sat down and played defense when we had to, and we controlled a couple of high-powered scorers," Culver said.



 

Early exits piling up for Duke
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Mar 25, 2006

ATLANTA Let's stipulate for the record that Mike Krzyzewski is a great college basketball coach. He's won more NCAA tournament games than anyone on the planet, living or dead. He's claimed three national championships. He's guided Duke to nine ACC titles and America's-team -- love 'em or hate 'em -- status.

He's a Hall of Famer. He's our next Olympic coach. He knocks off 30-win seasons like an assembly-line foreman.

So how come of late his commercials go deeper into the tournament than his Blue Devils?

Krzyzewski's crew fell to LSU 62-54 Thursday night in a region semifinal. That's four Sweet 16 exits in the past five years, if you're keeping track -- three of them with J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams in the lineup. One of them is Duke's all-time leading scorer. The other is the school's all-time rebounder and shot-blocker. That's a pretty nice base to start from.

And it's not as if they were alone.

Include current freshman Josh McRoberts in the conversation, and Duke never suited up fewer than three future pros during the Redick/Williams era. Dahntay Jones is a Grizzly, Luol Deng and Chris Duhon are Bulls, Daniel Ewing a Clipper, Shavlik Randolph a Sixer.

Redick and Williams formed the nucleus for that mix, and they'll play in the NBA as well. But save for a Final Four appearance in 2004, the postseasons for those players all ended a round or two shy of the potential and expectations that hover above Duke every October.

Underachieving? That's a dirty word in the coaching biz, and Krzyzewski's body of work blunts it. Athletically-challenged? You can make a case. Overvalued? Even with a passel of McDonald's All-Americas and pros-in-waiting on the roster? Entirely possible. Krzyzewski even suggested as much about this Duke edition after the LSU setback.

"We had a great year," he said. "Thirty-two wins, four losses, championships. Finished the regular season No. 1. I know we're not -- we weren't ever a dominant team. We knew that. And so things have to go right for us to win."

Nothing much went right Thursday from the moment Redick's leaner rolled off the rim on Duke's second possession -- his first of 15 misses in 18 attempts. LSU strangled the Blue Devils into 27.7-percent marksmanship all told, swatted away nine of their shots, held them 28 points below their normal scoring average, rattled them into 16 turnovers.

Dismal numbers notwithstanding, Duke was there till the last half-minute. That's when Tyrus Thomas split Redick and Williams with a midcourt dribble and cruised for the dunk that ignited a 7-0 LSU run to close the game. Duke's two headliners went to the bench for good with nine ticks on the clock -- their careers stocked with achievement but curiously unfulfilled.

Krzyzewski now faces some retrenching. He's lined up pedigreed reinforcements for next year, has commitments from two of the top schoolboy prospects in the Class of '07, probably has his hooks into the snazziest 11-year-old point guard in the country.

But he's also losing two of the best and most productive players he'll ever coach just when North Carolina is loading up to challenge his ACC supremacy. The latest Blue Devils entry was primed to springboard the program toward its next stage of development. Instead, it belly- flopped at the worst moment.

"We're fresher than we were last year," Krzyzewski said three days ago. "We're better than we were last year at this time."

Their season derailed at precisely the same juncture. What was a pattern is threatening to become a trend.



 

Virginia Roundup
Cavalier tennis upsets Duke
From staff reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
March 26, 2006

The Virginia women's tennis gained the biggest regular-season victory in school history, upsetting No. 10 Duke 5-2 on Saturday at the Boar's Head Sports Club, for its first win over a top-10 opponent.
Virginia conquered the Blue Devils for the first time since 1980, ending a 32-match losing streak.

"We are so happy for the individuals on this team," said Virginia first-year head coach Mark Guilbeau.

The Cavaliers, who also beat a top-20 team, TCU, recently, improved to 8-5 overall, and 2-2 in the ACC standings.

For the fourth consecutive match, the Cavaliers won the doubles point. After the Blue Devils (9-4, 2-1 ACC) won at No. 3 doubles, the Cavaliers drew even when Douglas Wink and Rachel DelPriore won 8-6. The No. 15 team of Kristen James and Lori Stern clinched the point with an 8-4 victory.

Wink toppled the No. 2 player in the nation, Daniela Bercek, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

Stern grabbed a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 4. Lindsey Pereira assured the Cavalier victory at No. 5 with a 6-3, 7-6 result. James won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 at No. 2.

The Cavaliers will have another chance to beat a Top 10 opponent today. Virginia hosts No. 5 North Carolina at 11 a.m.

CAVALIER WOMEN DOMINATE TIGERS: In Princeton, N.J., senior goalkeeper Ginger Miles did not allow a second-half goal as the Virginia women's lacrosse team grabbed a 16-3 victory at Princeton.

Senior Tyler Leachman (three assists) and freshman Blair Weymouth each scored four goals for the Cavaliers (8-2). Jen Holden had a team-high six ground balls and Nikki Lieb won five draws.

Virginia, which led 27-17 for ground balls, outscored the Tigers 10-0 in the second half.

Sophomore Megan O'Malley and junior Kate Breslin each contributed two goals. Lieb and Kim Connors each contributed a goal and an assist.

Virginia returns to action on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., hosting James Madison. That will be the 500th game in the history of Cavalier women's lacrosse, which began in 1976. UVa shows a 363-131-5 record the last 30 years.

UVA ROWERS EXCEL IN CALIFORNIA: In Redwood City, Calif., the Virginia women's rowing team won its varsity eight (7:15.41) and second varsity eight (7:21.49) competitions against Stanford at the Windermere Collegiate Crew Classic. The regatta, which features more than 100 crew races, is held on the 2,000 meter Redwood Shores course.

CAVALIERS LOSE TWICE TO YELLOW JACKETS: In Atlanta, the Virginia softball team lost 10-2 and 7-4 at Georgia Tech.

UVa (14-11, 1-4 ACC) plays its home opener on Wednesday, hosting Radford for a doubleheader at 2 p.m.

Georgia Tech (28-8, 5-0 ACC) won the first game in five innings with four unearned runs in the second inning. Sara Larquier smacked a two-run single for UVa.

The Cavaliers could not hold the lead in the second game after getting two early runs on a throwing error. The Yellow Jackets, helped by two Virginia errors, scored three times in the fifth for a 5-2 edge.

Virginia plays Georgia Tech again today at 1 p.m.