Cavs' comeback falls short in Miami
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 2, 2008

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Miami’s Jack McClinton had been putting on one of the best shooting displays that you’ll ever see.

So it was no wonder that with under 10 seconds left in the game and Virginia trailing by a point, the Cavaliers’ entire defense gravitated toward the Hurricanes’ leading scorer as the shot clock was about to expire.

But the wily McClinton - who had already scored 25 points in the half - didn’t jack up another jumper. Instead, the senior guard dished to Lance Hurdle on the wing. The junior from San Diego calmly drained a 3-pointer to put Miami up by four points with eight seconds to go.

“I was a little late on the close-out,” said Virginia guard Sean Singletary, “and he was able to line it up.”

The shot ensured Virginia’s ninth straight loss in the Sunshine State. UVa, which hasn’t won a game in Florida since 2001, saw its modest two-game winning streak fall by the wayside on Saturday as Miami emerged victorious, 95-93, in front of a crowd of 6,128 at BankUnited Center.

“I’ve always maintained that those shots at the end of the shot clock are going to go in or not go in based on how you feel more than anything else,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, whose team must bounce back quickly for a game at Georgia Tech on Monday night. “I think we made them feel too comfortable today.”

Singletary took the blame for the key defensive sequence, but Virginia (13-13, 3-10 ACC) wouldn’t have been in sniffing distance of Miami (20-8, 7-7) if it weren’t for him. Singletary scored a career-high 41 points - the highest total by a UVa player since Donald Hand’s 41 in 1999. He also pulled down nine rebounds.

“Singletary is a hell of a player,” said Miami coach Frank Haith. “When he’s on a roll like he was today, he’s basically unguardable.”

Singletary’s previous career high was a 37-point outburst at Gonzaga in 2005.

“As his career winds down, I just keep saying the obvious,” Leitao said. “He’ll go down in history as one of the top players this school has ever seen and that this league has ever seen.

“I think people in Miami who hadn’t seen him up close and personal got a sense of that today.”

Singletary hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Virginia to within four at 91-87 at the 1:23 mark. Lars Mikalauskas followed with an offensive put-back as he was being fouled for a 3-point play to make it 91-90 with 40 seconds left.

After Hurdle’s 3-pointer, Singletary scored on a quick deuce to cut the lead to two with four seconds left.

McClinton (career-high 34 points) missed a free throw that gave Virginia one last gasp. However, the Hurricanes wisely fouled Singletary with .9 seconds left. Singletary made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but no teammate could corral the rebound before time expired.

Although they didn’t guard each other very much, the matchup between Singletary and McClinton was a basketball fan’s delight.

After a basket by Mikalauskas put Virginia up 45-44, McClinton reeled off 20 of the Hurricane’s next 24 points, including 14 straight.

“He can shoot it, but we didn’t offer up much resistance,” said Singletary, who had engaged in some friendly trash talk with McClinton on his cell phone earlier in the week. “He’s a great player, but when you give somebody like that confidence, it’s tough.”

The story of the first half was Virginia forward Jamil Tucker. The sophomore put together the finest stint of his brief career. Tucker had 13 of his career-high 14 points before the break.

Tucker’s prettiest play came when he pumped faked a Miami defender on the perimeter and blew by him for a baseline dunk. The basket, which had the entire Virginia bench on its feet, gave the Cavaliers a 39-35 lead heading into the break.

Virginia shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half, including a respectable 39 percent (5 of 13) from downtown. The Cavaliers did a good job of holding McClinton in check. He was only 3 of 7 in the first 20 minutes.

McClinton laughed when asked if his first-half shooting had anything to do with an unlevel rim, which had caused the game to start 32 minutes late. The “equipment malfunction” came just 10 days after Virginia’s game at Georgia Tech was postponed due to a leaky roof.

Leitao said his team will regroup for its make-up date on Monday with the Yellow Jackets.

“Fortunately, it was an afternoon game and it gives us a few more hours,” he said. “We’ll see how we feel come Monday night, but it’s like you talked about with the rim or a roof - it’s not something that I can control.”

Dunks

The rim was never repaired completely. Both coaches agreed to play with it slightly off kilter. “If it helped or hurt us, it was the same thing for them,” said Leitao, when asked about the rim and whether it had taken his team out of its rhythm. Because of the delay, there was no national anthem or player introductions.…Lars Mikalauskas had career-highs in points (16) and rebounds (13)…Senior Tunji Soroye dressed but did not play…Singletary had an ice pack on his knee after the game. He said he had sustained a bruise…Sophomore Solomon Tat made his appearance in five games.

He looked good in the first half, knocking down two jumpers before finishing with six points.

 

'Canes spoil day
Miami overcomes Sean Singletary's career-best 41 points.
Staff reports

MIAMI -- Virginia was in good shape Saturday at the Bank United Center until it had to shoot at the bent rim.

Miami spoiled a career-high, 41-point afternoon by Virginia senior Sean Singletary, holding off the Cavaliers 95-93 in a game that was delayed 32 minutes prior to tipoff.

Nine days after a Virginia road game at Georgia Tech was postponed by a leaky roof, UVa coach Dave Leitao was given the option of rescheduling Saturday's game when it was determined that a bent rim could not be repaired.

Leitao gave the go-ahead to play and saw his Cavaliers distinguish themselves in several areas but come away with their seventh loss in a game decided by one or two points or in overtime.

Virginia (13-13 overall, 3-10 ACC) took a 39-35 halftime lead while shooting 51.6 percent on the good rim, but, when the teams switched ends, the Hurricanes (20-8, 7-7) did even better.

Miami shot 59.4 percent from the field in the second half and led by as many as 15 points, 72-57, before a Singletary-fueled UVa comeback kept the Cavaliers in the game.

Virginia trailed 91-81 with 1:46 remaining but the Cavaliers got as close as 91-90 following a three-point play by Lauris Mikalauskas with 40.3 remaining.

With the Cavaliers devoting most of their defensive attention to Jack McClinton and the 35-second clock winding down, freshman Lance Hurdle hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining to give the Hurricanes a four-point cushion.

A Singletary layup got the Cavaliers as close as 94-92 with 4.3 seconds left, then McClinton made one of two free throws with 3.3 seconds on the clock.

With the Cavaliers needing a 3-pointer, Hurdle fouled Singletary near mid-court. Singletary converted the first of two free throws with 0.9 seconds left, but the Cavaliers were unable to tip in the rebound when he deliberately missed the second shot.

It was the only missed free throw for Singletary, who scored 31 points in the second half. He finished 12-of-25 from the field and 13-of-14 from the line. He also had nine rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 36 minutes.

Singletary topped his previous high of 37 points, set against Gonzaga during the 2006-2007 season, and lifted his career total to 1,940.

McClinton, a 6-foot-2 junior, finished with a career-high 34 points, including 26 in the second half.

He scored 14 straight points for Miami during a 2 minute, 28-second stretch of the second half when it turned a 45-44 deficit into a 58-54 lead.

"He throws daggers," Leitao said. "Not only can he hit a 3-pointer, but it means more than the three points that go up on the board because he's a tone-setter with what he does offensively."

When he wasn't setting screens for McClinton, 6-foot-8, 245-pound junior Jimmy Graham scored a career-high 19 points, including six of the Hurricanes' eight dunks.

Singletary got no help from the Cavaliers' Nos. 2, 3 and 4 scorers entering the game. Mamadi Diane, Adrian Joseph and Calvin Baker combined for six points, shooting a combined 0-for-10 from the field, including 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.

Mikalauskas came off the bench to record career highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds but was involved in a particularly damaging sequence as Virginia was trying to weather a Hurricanes' 3-point barrage.

The Cavaliers were headed up court, trailing 60-55, when Mikalauskas tossed a pass that was stolen by Graham.

As Graham was headed downcourt, Mikalauskas was called for an intentional foul. After Graham converted two free throws, the Hurricanes retained possession and McClinton drilled a 3-pointer to turn a five-point lead into a 10-point lead without Virginia ever having possession.

Another UVa sub, Jamil Tucker, scored 13 points in the first half and finished with 14 in joining Singletary, Mikaluaskas, McClinton and Graham with career scoring highs.

The Cavaliers had seven turnovers, one over their season low, and outrebounded the Hurricanes 39-32. Miami had six turnovers.

The Hurricanes raised their record to 13-2 at Bank United Center in reaching the 20-win mark for the first time since 2001-2002.

Virginia, which could have moved out of the ACC cellar with a victory, now travels to Georgia Tech for a Monday night makeup of the game postponed Feb. 21.

Facing the prospect of three games in five days, Leitao made a slight adjustment to the nine-man rotation he had used in recent games and used 11 players, including sophomore Solomon Tat for 16 minutes.

Tat was one of a handful of players UVa tried on McClinton and also joined in a full-court press that UVa uses reluctantly.

"As I've said a hundred times, wearing Sean out is not a good thing when you ask him to extend the floor defensively," Leitao said, "but we had no other choice."

 

Singletary gets hot at Miami with 41; Virginia falls short
Singletary gets hot at Miami with 41; Virginia falls short
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008 - 12:07 AM

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Jack McClinton lost a scoring duel with Virginia's Sean Singletary, but helped Miami move closer to an NCAA tournament berth.

McClinton scored a career-high 34 points to lead the Hurricanes to a 95-93 win over the Cavaliers yesterday. He finished 11 of 18 from the field for the Hurricanes (7-7 ACC, 20-8) and eclipsed a previous career high -- a 31-point performance against Florida State on March 3, 2007.

Singletary scored a gameand career-high 41 points and helped Virginia (3-10, 13-13) rally from a 91-81 deficit late in the second half.

"We just tried to attack and stay aggressive until the final whistle," Singletary said.

Singletary, whose previous career high was 37 points against Gonzaga on Jan. 3, 2007, praised McClinton's play.

"He's a good player, I know he's aggressive just like me," Singletary said.

Laurynas Mikalauskas' 3-point play with 40.6 left reduced Miami's lead to 91-90. Mikalauskas finished with 16 points.

Lance Hurdle's 3-pointer with 9.2 left put the Hurricanes ahead 94-90.

"Over the course of the whole second half, I don't think we played very good defense," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "A guy like Hurdle, or anybody else, can hit those shots because there isn't as much presence on the defensive end, which allows a player to feel more confident. When they get a shot like that, they are more likely to make it."

Singletary's driving layup cut the deficit to 94-92, but McClinton converted on one of two free throws with 3.3 left to give the Hurricanes a 95-92 lead.

Singletary hit the first of two free throws with 0.9 left, but Miami's Anthony King tipped away his deliberately missed second attempt.

"They put a lot of pressure on us offensively," Leitao said.

The victory assured the Hurricanes of their first 20-win season since 1999-00, when Miami finished 23-11.

"Obviously, I would like to say we're in right now, but you just don't know," Miami coach Frank Haith said of the Hurricanes' NCAA tournament hopes. "I think our résumé is really good, 20 wins and only the 10th time in the history of the school to get 20 wins and we are excited about that."

The Hurricanes enjoyed their biggest lead, 72-57, on Jimmy Graham's two free throws with 10:03 left. Graham scored a career-high 19 points.

Jamil Tucker, who finished with 14 points, scored all 10 of his first-half points in the final 4:04 and Virginia entered the break up 39-35.

 

Mikalauskas, Tucker impress
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 2, 2008

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Jamil Tucker never looked so good. Lars Mikalauskas wasn’t too shabby, either.

Both players had career scoring highs in Virginia’s 95-93 loss to Miami on Saturday.

Mikalauskas finished with 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

Tucker had 14 points, three rebounds - all on the offensive glass - and two assists in his 20 minutes of action.

In the first half, the 6-foot-8 sophomore nailed a 3-pointer that gave Virginia an early 16-15 lead. Later in the half, Tucker followed with back-to-back triples that enabled UVa to regain the lead at 31-30.

“The team gave me a lot of confidence with my shot,” Tucker said. “I got a lot of good, open looks because of penetration from different guys. It was basically being able to step up and knock them down.”

In the last minute before halftime, Tucker received the ball on the perimeter. As Miami defenders converged on him, Tucker gave a pump fake and drove hard to the rim, throwing down a sweet one-handed dunk.

“He made some jumpshots and played off of that to get some drives,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao. “When he does that, he becomes more effective.

“It’s something we’re looking from him more consistently.”

Leitao said he gave no consideration to starting the red-hot Tucker at the beginning of the second half. “I didn’t want to displace Mike [Scott] for a host of reasons,” Leitao explained.

Leitao never likes to talk about specific players after a loss, but he seemed relatively pleased with both Tucker and Mikalauskas’ performances.

Mikalauskas gave Miami fits on the boards all game. The Lithuanian’s 3-point play with 40 seconds left pulled Virginia to within a point.

“I think personnel-wise, having Lars gives us another option versus not,” Leitao said, “but we’ve played and come up short for a lot of the same reasons - beginning year, end of the year and now toward the tail end of the year.”

Leitao said a sluggish start on defense was the biggest factor in his team’s latest setback.

“It took us a little while to pick it up,” he said. “We didn’t get as many deflections or help-down and support that we had been getting recently.

“We played psychologically and structurally catch-up basketball from there, and you’re just not going to do that against a good team in their gym.”

Especially when the other team’s best player is knocking down shots from all angles. Miami’s Jack McClinton was unconscious from the perimeter in the second half.

“I said it before the game that he’s as dangerous of a shooter as there is the country,” Leitao said. “He flies off screens and has terrific body control to get his shot off…it takes a concerted effort to stop him. He’s hurt us in the past and he hurt us again today.”

 

Canes get 20th win, top Virginia
Jack McClinton scored 22 of his 34 points in a five-minute, second-half span as UM won for the fifth time in six games.
Posted on Sun, Mar. 02, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY MANNY NAVARRO
mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com

Jack McClinton said he got a friendly phone call from Virginia guard Sean Singletary earlier this week telling him to ''expect a battle'' Saturday.

Singletary stayed true to his word, dialing up a career-high 41 points against the Canes to outscore his old high school friend. But it was McClinton and the Hurricanes who got the last word and an important victory for their NCAA Tournament hopes.

McClinton scored a career-high 34 points and made a pass to Lance Hurdle, who sunk a three-pointer with 9.2 seconds left, as UM held off a late surge to beat the Cavaliers 95-93 in front of a crowd of 6,128 at BankUnited Center.

The win -- UM's fifth in its past six games -- gives the Canes 20 wins for only the 10th time in the program's history and it moved them into sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. With two games to play in the regular season, UM (20-8, 7-7) trails Virginia Tech and Maryland by a game for fourth place and a potential first-round bye in the ACC tournament.

''I knew it was going to be a battle,'' McClinton said of his duel with Singletary. ``We talked before the game, some trash or whatever, on the phone. He's a great player. He keeps you on your heels. We knew it was going to be a battle . . . but we came out with the victory today.''

UM led 91-81 after Brian Asbury made the second of two free throw attempts with 1:46 left. But the Cavaliers (13-13, 3-10) mounted a 9-0 run behind back-to-back three-pointers from Singletary and a three-point play by forward Lars Mikalauskas with 39 seconds left.

McClinton, who scored 22 points in a five-minute span in the second half, had Miami's final offensive play designed for him. But after being trapped, he found Hurdle open in the left wing for the decisive three-point shot.

After McClinton made a free throw, Singletary hit the first of two free throws with 0.9 seconds left. UM's Anthony King tipped away Singletary's deliberately missed second attempt, and Virginia was unable to get off a final shot attempt.

''We actually talked at the half about trusting your teammates,'' UM coach Frank Haith said. ``When Jack saw that guy sink up, he made the pass to Lance and the shot clock was going down. It was a huge shot.''

CAREER GAMES

Five players had career-scoring efforts -- including Miami's Jimmy Graham, who had 19 points off the bench, mostly on dunks.

''I was getting a lot of good dishes from my teammates, and I was just taking it to the rim,'' Graham said. ``It was a big confidence booster, and I just got to take it to the next game.''

Virginia led 39-35 at the half and the lead changed hands 13 times before McClinton got rolling in the second half.

At one point, he scored 14 consecutive points for the Hurricanes and made eight consecutive shots as UM rallied and took a 15-point lead on a Graham dunk with 10:03 remaining. McClinton had 22 of UM's 24 points during a 26-12 run.

'In the locker room, walking out, Coach was like, `Stay confident, it's going to fall, it's going to fall,' '' McClinton said. ``And when I got that one, I started feeling it. I hit another one and I started heating up.''

`HE WAS FEELING IT'

Said Haith: ``We just kept calling his number and he kept delivering. He was on a roll. You could just see it. You could see he was feeling it.''

Last year, McClinton hit a pair of three-pointers in the final 1:06 to beat Virginia at home. Saturday, though, might have been the finest shooting performance he has ever put together.

''I said it before the game and I'll say it again -- he is as dangerous a shooter as there is in the country,'' Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. ``He flies off screens, has terrific body control to get his shot off. He shoots it with range. It takes a concerted effort to stop him. He hurt us in the past and he hurt us again today.''

 

Late run lifts Virginia
Cavaliers score 5 of last 7 to beat Syracuse in OT
By Edward Lee | Sun Reporter
March 2, 2008

The starts left a lot to be desired, but the Virginia men's lacrosse team had no qualms about the finish.

The No. 3 Cavaliers fell behind by two goals early in three of four quarters, but Virginia scored five of the last seven goals in the final 13 minutes -- including the game-winner from sophomore midfielder Brian Carroll (Gilman) -- to edge No. 11 Syracuse, 14-13, in overtime in the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium yesterday.

Carroll's second goal of the game came with 1:29 left in overtime and gave the Cavaliers their fifth consecutive win against the Orange (2-1).

The Cavaliers (4-0), who broke late ties against unranked Drexel and Stony Brook in their first two games, trailed the Orange 2-0, 6-4 and 11-9 in the first, third and fourth quarters, respectively, but rallied on each occasion.

"Being adaptable, being resourceful, demonstrating a little bit of toughness, especially in the second half, I think we've gotten tougher as these games have gone on," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "These are characteristics you'd like to have distinguish an athletic team."

Down 11-9 with 10:15 left in the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers used a goal from senior defensive midfielder Will Barrow to cap a 4-1 run and take a 13-12 lead with 2:58 left. Freshman midfielder Shamel Bratton and sophomore defenseman Ken Clausen scored eight seconds apart to tie the game at 11 and start the run.

But with 28 seconds left in regulation, Syracuse senior midfielder Steven Brooks ripped a shot from 13 yards into the top right corner to send the game into overtime.

In the extra period, the Orange won the faceoff (its 19th in 30 attempts) but could not beat Virginia freshman goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman (14 saves) in two possessions.

On the Cavaliers' second series, Bratton roamed down the left side of the box and skipped a pass to Carroll on the opposite side of the field. Carroll had a few seconds to wind up and sling the ball past the stick of Syracuse freshman goalie John Galloway (15 saves).

"Shamel dodged down the left side, and the back side had been open all day," Carroll said. "He made a great look across, and luckily, it went in."

Said Galloway: "I got a piece of it, but it fell for them. I think we had a couple of chances in overtime, and to lose that way is pretty tough."

Junior attackman Danny Glading led Virginia with three goals and two assists. Junior attackman Garrett Billings recorded two goals and two assists, and senior attackman Ben Rubeor (Loyola) and Bratton each had a goal and two assists.

Brooks paced the Orange with a hat trick and two assists, and junior attackman Kenny Nims added three goals and an assist. Orange coach John Desko pointed to Syracuse's inability to extend its advantage as a key factor in the loss.

"We were up by a couple goals, and I kind of felt if we could've gotten one or two more in that flurry, we might have been able to make something happen," he said. "But we didn't. ... To be in a game like this and not to come out on top is disappointing."

 

Carroll's goal lifts Cavs over Orange
By Bart Isley / risley@dailyprogress.com | 978-7240
March 2, 2008

BALTIMORE - The venue didn’t matter much. Virginia’s 14-13 overtime victory over Syracuse would have been exciting anywhere.

“We could’ve played them in a back alley someplace,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “It’s a meaningful moment for a college lacrosse player and for a college coach - but it’s still early in the season.”

The No. 3 Cavaliers and the No. 8 Orange locked up instead at M&T Bank Stadium and Virginia escaped with the narrow victory. The winner came on an overtime goal from Brian Carroll with 1:29 left in the extra period on a near-perfect assist from highly-touted freshman Shamel Bratton.

“Shamel dived down the left side and the back side had been open all day,” Carroll said. “He made a great look across and luckily it went in.”

Carroll went to high school minutes from downtown Baltimore in Towson, Md.

Virginia, who moved to 4-0 on the year, battled through nine ties in a game that went back and forth for all 60 minutes. The Cavaliers never led by more than one and they trailed for a big portion of the second half as the teams exchanged scoring flurries throughout the second half.

With a little less than seven minutes left, Syracuse took the lead on a Brendan Loftus crank shot off a Steven Brooks pass. Not to be outdone, Virginia knotted the contest at 12-12 when Garrett Billings scored on Ben Rubeor assist that Ryan Nizolek set up with a check on the defensive end that forced the ball out of bounds.

Rubeor, an first-team All-American in 2007, made his first appearance of the season and gave Virginia a big lift in a big game with a goal and two assists, including the late pass to Billings. Rubeor’s mere presence seemed to aid the Cavaliers.

“He’s always calm and he’s always working so hard,” said Virginia’s Danny Glading. “He always handles pressure and really calms down the offense.”

A few minutes after Billings’ goal - one of two on the day by the junior - Will Barrow scored a critical goal, flying down the field and scoring on a fastbreak. The defensive midfielder has just 11 career goals but he obviously has a sense of timing, as his tally put Virginia up 13-12 with just 2:58 to play.

Barrow wasn’t the only unexpected offensive contributors for the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter. Ken Clausen, a sophomore longstick defender also scored, scooping the ball up on a faceoff, creating a fastbreak on the other end. That goal tied the contest at 11-11.

Barrow’s goal nearly became the gamewinner, but Virginia surrendered one more goal, a laser of a shot by Brooks from 14 yards out. The Cavaliers were hanging back in a zone defense that had slowed down Syracuse much of the game, and Brooks took advantage.

In overtime, Syracuse won the initial face off, but Barrow made a nifty play after a couple of minutes of the Orange holding the ball. The senior scooped up the ball with one hand near the sideline and fell but maintained possession before sprinting into Virginia’s offensive zone.

Virginia couldn’t capitalize on Barrow’s nifty play and turned the ball over, but the Cavaliers forced another turnover to set up Carroll’s winning goal.

The Cavaliers and the Orange played to a stalemate in the first half as both squads’ freshmen goalies made a number of critical saves. Ghitelman made eight saves in the first quarter alone, a finished will 11 for the first half. He’s only made 17 total in the Cavaliers’ three previous contests.

“The type of game that it was at the end is something I’ll never forget,” said Ghitelman, who finished with 14 saves, a high for his young career. “You want to play all the Syracuses and all the big teams - you don’t want to play them to overtime, you want to win by eight goals but you want to play these type of games.”

In fact, nearly every stat category was all but dead even at the break and remained that way in the second half. In ground balls, shots and turnovers the two squads were all within two or three of each other.

Glading exploded midway through the third quarter, scoring back-to-back goals before assisting on another. He finished with a hat trick and two assists.
 

Search unnecessary; Classic has a home
David Steele
March 2, 2008

Check off Brian Carroll as being in favor of playing the Face-Off Classic in Baltimore on a regular basis. Sort of. Scoring the game-winning goal in overtime in his hometown, in front of his family and friends, has its appeal, he said.

"Yeah, it's a great venue, great for the sport and everything, draws a lot of people. I enjoy playing here," said Carroll, Virginia's sophomore midfielder, Gilman graduate and hero of yesterday's doubleheader opener against Syracuse at M&T Bank Stadium.

"But at the same time," he added, "I would also want a chance to play at [Syracuse's Carrier] Dome."

There's the problem, shared by players and their coaches after Year 2 of an idea that works too well to be messed with. The other three teams can get envious, and understandably so.

"This is fun," said John Desko, coach of the losing Orange. "The tough part is if you have a five- or six-game home schedule, and your fans want to see Virginia or Hopkins, and you put the game on the road. That's a difficulty for them. Especially if you're a team like us, and you miss the playoffs -- you could say, 'What if the Virginia game was at home?'

"But, no," he added, speaking of the choice of settling the games here or bringing them elsewhere, "it's something to talk about."

Between now and the end of this year, the organizers and the lacrosse powers-that-be will do plenty of talking about every aspect of this. Despite the discomfort of the typical coach about playing teams this tough in the beginning of the season, these coaches - the same four who played in the inaugural Classic last year - like what they've seen, even the level of play - particularly in the opener, one of the most entertaining regular-season games you'll ever see.

And, by the way, the second overtime result in as many years, after Johns Hopkins beat Princeton last year.

Inside Lacrosse magazine, the event organizers, were thrilled, and ESPNU, which carried the game nationally, had to be.

Granted, the Princeton folks had to be very magnanimous about everything, considering the thumping they took from Hopkins in the first half of the nightcap. Still, the big picture won out.

"It's a great opportunity for both teams," said Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala, "the national exposure, the opportunity to play in front of a large crowd in a playoff-type atmosphere. Whether you win or lose, the experience for all four teams is invaluable."

However, keeping the event in one place would also be good for the sport. Baltimore, in particular. Making this a destination, a target, the place to be, would be great.

Andy Bilello, director of business development for Inside Lacrosse, was still processing the day's events 20 minutes after Hopkins' win, but he couldn't deny the immediate pluses - the crowd (close to 20,000, after drawing over 20,000 last year), the buzz, the corporate support, the high level of play.

And the location.

"There's no question that Baltimore has the greatest fan support for lacrosse of any venue in the country," Bilello said. "It's like [what] the schools [say], every part of the experience was good, but we have to evaluate everything about it."

Sure sounds as if there's more reason to keep it here than to move it. This does, too: "We want [this event] to be a place where the fans plan to be every year ... We feel like this year proves that last year was not a fluke. This was an event that has support, and it's something we can continue to build on."

As alluring as it is to find new areas in which to grow the sport - and that appears to be one reason the NCAA doesn't come through here with the final four more often, and why, for instance, it's in Foxborough, Mass., this spring - making this event an annual part of Baltimore is just as alluring.

No matter how many locations can claim to be a hotbed for the sport, only one deserves to be called the hotbed.

Overall, there should be no bigger priority in lacrosse than making it more inclusive, for plenty of reasons. But marrying that ideal to the other notions that the sport holds dear - tradition and roots - is a lofty ideal, too. Locking in the Face-Off Classic here would go a long way toward accomplishing that.

Bringing home the Brian Carrolls of the sport and seeing them become the hero is just icing on the cake.

 

Defense-minded UVa shuts down Syracuse
By Liz Keller / ekeller@dailyprogress.com | 978-7258
March 2, 2008

Virginia’s Blair Weymouth couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to return to the lineup.

The junior All-American, playing in her first meaningful action this season, made her presence felt against fourth-ranked Syracuse, scoring four second-half goals to help the Cavaliers stay unbeaten this year.

Weymouth, who sat out UVa’s first two games with an ankle injury, finished with five goals to lift the second-ranked Cavaliers to the 13-8 victory in their season debut at Klockner Stadium.

Syracuse’s defense entered the game allowing 2.13 goals per game, but Virginia coach Julie Myers credited her own defense with being prepared for the Big East team.

“I thought our defense was really ready. We were able to get our game plan on Syracuse, and our attackers ran through their offensive sets pretty effectively,” Myers said. “And that gave our defense a chance to see where they were coming from and where they like to strike, and I thought our defense was ready for it. We did a great job. Even as well as we played, they were still able to get lots of shots off, but [goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty] was able to make a couple of huge saves down the stretch.”

The Cavaliers (3-0) held a one-goal lead entering the second half, but it was quickly erased as Katie Rowan scored her third goal to tie the game at 5-5.

But Virginia quickly answered, as Brittany Kalkstein (four goals) took a pass over the middle from Kaitlin Duff for the quick goal and the lead.

The Cavaliers got several nifty stops from McBrearty before taking advantage of a free position shot. Senior Megan O’Malley notched her second goal of the game on the play, and UVa held a 7-5 advantage. McBrearty paced the defense with a season-high 12 saves.

But the Orange wasted little time before getting back in the game, as Megan Mosenson made an athletic move around a Virginia defender and hurled the ball into the net to cut the deficit to one.

The teams traded goals in the next minute before the Cavaliers surged ahead, scoring three unanswered goals to take a commanding 11-7 lead. Kalkstein, a sophomore midfielder, recorded two straight goals to fuel UVa’s run.

“I thought this was going to be a possession game, and they slowed it down and I thought they did a nice job,” first-year Syracuse coach Gary Gait said. “We certainly had our opportunities, but we didn’t put them away early, and we got a little tight and didn’t put the ball in the basket when we had the open shot. That always makes a difference.”

Throughout the game, Virginia slowed down the pace, keeping the ball away from the Orange. The Cavaliers outshot Syracuse 32-23. Syracuse got on the board again with under eight minutes left, as Awehiyo Thomas scored on a free position. But the visitors could not get any closer.

“We knew at any point that Syracuse could rattle off 20 goals,” Myers said. “We wanted to make sure that we had possession of the ball because we didn’t want their attack to have it. We wanted to make sure Syracuse got frustrated by not having the ball as often as they’re used to having it. But it’s only our third game, we really didn’t want to push the fast break too often.

“We wanted to take the opportunity to get used to having the ball and be comfortable running some of our sets against a solid defense.”

Weymouth’s back-to-back unassisted goals with four minutes remaining were icing on the cake for UVa.

“It just happens - it’s the flow of the game,” Weymouth said of her second-half scoring. “People miss catches and you’re right there. I think it was just being in the right spot at the right time.”

Virginia doesn’t have much time to enjoy the win as it jumps right back into ACC play on Tuesday, traveling to fifth-ranked Maryland.

 

Cavs rally for sweep of Big Red, Saints
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 2, 2008

Brian O’Connor witnessed numerous things during his team’s first eight games. Some were more encouraging than others, including spotty defense.

Virginia’s baseball coach had not seen, however, what his team would do when they were losing.

O’Connor knows now.

Hours after cruising past Cornell, 12-2, the Cavaliers stumbled out of the gate against Siena before mounting a mid-game rally that produced a 7-4 victory at Davenport Field.

With the come-from-behind win, Virginia (9-0) matched the program’s best start, previously registered in 1924.

“It was good to see our guys hang in there and get some runs in the middle and latter part of the game against Siena,” O’Connor said. “It was great to see how we would respond in that situation.”

In the closely-contested nightcap, Virginia fell behind 3-1 after the Saints scratched for lone runs in the top-half of the first, second and fourth innings.

Virginia right-hander Andrew Carraway, who was named the ACC pitcher of the week Monday, struggled getting into a rhythm early and said he ran his pitch total up early as he went “through the motions.”

“I wasn’t putting my fastball where I wanted and that’s what I go off of,” Carraway said. “If I am not able to do it in the first inning, it slows me down the rest of the time.

“By the third inning, I was able to get it back, but it took me a while to get my bearings.”

Carraway (2-0) did ensure the deficit remained manageable, stranding four runners in the first four innings.

“I thought Andrew did a nice job of controlling the game and not giving up crooked numbers on the scoreboard,” O’Connor said. “If you do that, with our offense, you are going to have a chance to win.

“You are not going to shut everybody out all the time. How you handle that is really important.”

Eventually, Virginia’s offense did respond as an offensive star from the opening game struck again.

First baseman Jeremy Farrell pushed a breaking ball over the right-field wall in the fourth inning for a game-tying, two-run homer.

“It was a close game, man was on second and nobody was out, so I was looking to move him over,” Farrell said, “and I kinda got it up in the jet stream and I hit it out.”

The Cavaliers enjoyed their first lead in the fifth with a three-run frame fueled by an RBI triple from Tyler Cannon and run-scoring single by Phil Gooselin, who also scored in the seventh inning on a pinch-hit single by Dan Grovatt.

After allowing one run in the top of the eighth, Virginia closer Michael Schwimer registered his third save by retiring three of the four batters he faced.

In the opening game against Cornell, Virginia left-hander Pat McAnaney hurled six strong innings, scattering six hits and striking out 11 of the 25 batters he faced.

“Early on, I felt a little out of it, to be honest with you,” McAnaney said. “I was just happy with the way the change-up was going.”

McAnaney (1-0) was spotted an early lead as Farrell highlighted a three-run first inning by connecting on his first homer of the season, a blast into the trees behind the wall in left-center field.

“Being a middle-of-the-lineup guy, it’s my job to drive those guys in,” Farrell said. “I was just trying to square a ball up and put it in the gap and I got the ball into the air.”

For the game, Virginia torched three Cornell pitchers for 18 hits, four of which were registered by second baseman David Adams.

The Cavaliers will close out the three-team, round-robin weekend with a lone game today at 3 p.m. against Cornell. Siena and Cornell will also square off at 11 a.m.

 

UVa tennis completes perfect weekend
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 2, 2008

Bad news for Virginia’s remaining opponents in men’s tennis. Coach Brian Boland said his Cavaliers are far from playing their best.

A couple of weeks removed from winning the national indoor championship, UVa kept its perfect record intact after 15 matches on Saturday, rolling to a 7-0 win over No. 9 Baylor on Boyd Tinsley Courts at Boar’s Head Sports Club.

Only 16 hours after beating fifth-ranked Texas by a 5-2 score on Friday night, the Cavaliers came out strong by sweeping through the doubles competition to take that point, then followed by winning all six singles matches. In the process, Somdev Devvarman, Ted Angelinos and Sanam Singh all remained unbeaten in dual matches this season.

Devvarman, ranked No. 1 nationally, ran his consecutive victories streak to 17 in beating Baylor’s 12th-ranked Denes Lukacs 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Only a freshman, Singh won his 14th in a row after moving up from No. 6 to the No. 3 singles spot in the lineup, beating the Bears’ Dominik Mueller 6-4, 7-6 (2), while Angelinos made it 12 straight win a straight set triumph over Jordan Bux.

It was the second straight day that none of the singles matches went to three sets.

“It was a convincing win and a great way to end our indoor season before we head into spring break,” said Boland. “I’m really proud of the guys. They’ve done an unbelievably good job the first half of the season and I know they’ve worked extremely hard.”

One of Saturday’s highlights was freshman Michael Shabaz’ win at the No. 4 singles spot, a 6-2, 6-0 win over Gwen Corches.

“He’s showing signs of what we expected out of him when he signed,” Boland said of the prized recruit from Northern Virginia. “He’s starting to feel healthy and not too far away from playing at an extreme high level.”

Meanwhile, Treat Huey - one of the heroes of UVa’s national indoor title performance against Ohio State - finished off a strong weekend with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 57 David Galic. Huey defeated No. Ed Courrie of Texas in straight sets on Friday night.

With the depth that Shabaz provided, Boland was able to pull Dominic Inglot from the No. 2 singles spot for some rest after the London, England, native teamed with Houston Barrick to a win at the No. 2 doubles slot.

Winning the doubles point was a big deal for the Cavaliers, something the coaches discussed with the team prior to the Baylor match. Virginia had fallen into a recent trend of losing the doubles and having to come back strong in the singles, putting pressure on the individuals to win at least four of the six singles competitions, as they did against Texas.

“After Friday’s performance, losing the doubles was one of our disappointments,” Boland said. “We feel we have the best doubles lineup in the country and stuggled to win that point. When we win the doubles point it puts a lot of pressure on opposing teams because it’s hard to take four points off the singles lineup we have.”

Now, Boland will give his team a week off to rest before opening ACC play against Maryland on March 15.

“We’re playing with an incredible amount of confidence and with a great deal of momentum,” Boland said. “But there’s a lot of work each individual needs to get better. We’ll be able to refresh a little mentally and physically and reenergize for the second half of the season. I think we’re right where we need to be, and a long ways from playing our best tennis.”

Note to UVa’s opponents: you’ve had fair warning.

 

Cavaliers keep up success in pool
From staff reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
March 2, 2008

Virginia continued its dominance in ACC swimming on Saturday night in Atlanta by capturing its ninth men’s swimming and diving crown in the past 10 years.

The Cavaliers won their 11th overall conference swimming title, the longest stretch of supremacy in ACC swimming history.

Led by Matt McLean - who was voted Most Valuable Swimmer by the coaches - UVa piled up 833 points, the fourth-highest in ACC history, to beat out runner-up North Carolina with 560 points. Defending champion Florida State, which ended Virginia’s eight-year title streak last season, finished third this time around with 524 points.

With UVa’s women’s team claiming their title last week, it marked the first time since 1994 that both the Cavalier men and women have won the league title in the same year since 1994. They both also held titles simoultaneously in 2003, 1999 and 1990.

Rounding out the top five in the meet were Georgia Tech with 375 points, followed by Virginia Tech with 363.

McLean capped off a phenomenal freshman campaign with his Most Valuable Swimmer award. The rookie from Sterling shattered four of the six records broken at the meet this week and was also part of the ACC record-setting 800-yard freestyle relay team. McLean also won titles in the 200 and 500 freestyle events and was on three winning relay teams, including the 400-yard freestyle, the final event of Saturday night’s finals held at the Georgia Tech Acquatic Center.

Three other Wahoos joined McLean in the victory circle on the final day of competition. Junior Bjorn Falk, junior Pat Reams and senior P.J. Sullivan all turned in first-place finishes to give the Cavaliers a strong finish. Falk won his first ACC title by taking the 200 backstroke in 1:44.66, while Sullivan also grabbed his first ACC crown with a first in the 200 breaststroke with a winning time of 1:58.03. Reams became the fifth straight Cavallier to take home the 200 butterfly title, clocked in 1:45.32.

Virginia Tech’s Kaan Tayla collected his second ACC title at this year’s championship, winning the 100 freestyle, becoming the first Hokie to ever win that ACC title.

In all, 19 upperclassmen won a medal in the remaining seven events on Saturday.

Final team standings: 1. Virginia 833; 2. North Carolina 560; 3. Florida State 524; 4. Georgia Tech 375; 5. Virginia Tech 363; 6. Clemson 346; 7. N.C. State 302; 8. Maryland 235; 9. Duke 110; 10. Boston College 68; 11. Miami 44.