On another team, perhaps, Billy Glading would be the guy who scores the
goals, delivers the assists and gets the glory. “That would be pretty fun,” he
admits.
But on Virginia’s lacrosse team, the senior midfielder’s role is decidedly
different, though coach Dom Starsia calls it “paramount.”
For the fourth-ranked Cavaliers, who face No. 12 North Carolina in the ACC
semifinals tonight at Klockner Stadium, Glading does a lot of the dirty work
and a little bit of everything else.
“My focus this year has been on defense — riding, clearing the ball, killing
penalties,” he said. “For me, it starts with defense and goes from there.”
It wasn’t that way in high school, when Glading had 56 goals and 25 assists as
a senior at Gonzaga. Even last year, he took on more of an offensive role,
scoring 15 goals while running with UVa’s first midfield unit.
With the departure of last year’s top two defensive midfielders, however,
Glading has assumed that role as his primary duty. He also has moved to the
second midfield unit, where he provides leadership and experience for
sophomore Nathan Kenney and freshmen Matt Poskay and Tyler Gilbert.
Some players would chafe at position changes that limit their offensive
opportunities, but Glading isn’t a complainer.
“In his heart of hearts, I think Billy probably wanted to be on the first
midfield and playing more offense,” Starsia said. “But he’s a great kid who
truly wants to help the team. I think he understands that he can help us in a
variety of ways, and he’s done a great job as a defensive middie for us all
season.”
Starsia told Glading about his likely role at the end of the fall.
“It wasn’t tough to take because this is my last season. I just want to win,”
Glading said. “The focus for me has always been on the team. This is the best
way for me to help the team and try to go out on a good note.”
Glading has been a key part of a defense that has allowed eight goals or fewer
in eight of nine games.
Starsia says Glading, Kenney and freshman J.J. Morrissey give him his finest
set of short-stick defensive midfielders in 11 years at UVa.
“Scoring goals is always fun, but holding a team to two goals, like we did
against Towson, that’s something you can be proud of,” Glading said.
“Everybody notices goals, but there’s a lot more to the game than that.”
Glading can still score on occasion, too, as he showed last Saturday against
Duke. In an 11-8 victory, he had three goals, including two on two shots in a
third-quarter run that opened up a tight game. He also picked up three ground
balls in another strong defensive performance and earned ACC player of the
week honors for the first time.
“When Billy scores goals, that’s icing on the cake for us,” Starsia said. “He
does so many other things. He’s just a complete player. To the casual fan, he
may toil in the background a little bit. But lacrosse coaches appreciate Billy
Glading.”
Glading says the only drawback to his situation is he rarely gets to run with
his classmates and friends, Chris Rotelli and A.J. Shannon, on the first
midfield.
At the end of close games, however, Starsia has put the three seniors on the
field at the same time while taking out freshman Kyle Dixon.
All of Virginia’s 11 seniors are eager to win the ACC championship. They won
the title as freshmen in 2000 but have not earned any hardware since. Duke has
won the past two conference crowns.
“When I got here, we were kind of dominating the ACC a little bit,” Glading
said. “Then Maryland got better, and Duke and North Carolina got better. We’d
like to get back to how things used to be.”
A pair of St. Anne's-Belfield graduates
are returning to Char-lottesville this weekend to duke it out for Duke in the
ACC lacrosse tournaments at Klockner Stadium.
A.J. Kincel, a 1998 STAB graduate, returns to Charlottes-ville this weekend
for the ACC men's lacrosse tournament. The 6-1, 185-pound goalkeeper is in his
senior season for fourth-seeded Duke, which faces Maryland at 6 p.m. Friday in
the first semifinal.
For the Duke women, Danielle Freedman returns as a freshman defender.
Freedman, a first-team All-Central Virginia selection a year ago, is a reserve
for the Blue Devils and has not appeared in a contest this season. Duke faces
UVa at 3:30 p.m. in the tourney semifinals.
Kincel made eight saves in his most recent outing, an 11-8 loss to Virginia
last Saturday.
But ACC fans certainly remem-ber Kincel's tournament of a year ago - the
goalkeeper carried the Blue Devils to the tourney title with his outstanding
individual performances in the cage.
"If A.J. has his head in the right place and gets into the game early, he can
do what he did last year. Then you just hope Duke puts the ball in the goal,"
said Rodney Rullman, who was Kincel's goalie coach at STAB. Rullman is also
the president of the Charlottesville chapter of U.S. Lacrosse. "Frankly, that
can be said about all four keepers this weekend. Three I know very well and if
Tillman [Johnson for UVa], A.J. and Dan McCormick [for Maryland] - and you can
say this for [UNC's Paul] Spellman as well, I just don't know him very well -
get their heads in the right place and get going, you'll be looking at a heck
of a goalie battle."
Rullman said he talked with Kincel on Wednesday night about the upcoming
tournament at Klockner. Kincel's high school playing field is just a few short
miles away and the lights of Klockner are visible over the trees from STAB's
athletic complex.
“I love watching any of the kids I've worked with play," Rullman said. "I
spoke with A.J. [Wednes-day] and he's ready to go. The game with Maryland
could be a very, very good game. … He's in great spirits and the nice thing
about it is that he's been there before. I told him he's been in these
pressure-cooker situations before at Duke and when he was at STAB with me, he
had several, so he's ready for it.”
Spring fling
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 18, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE Al Groh asked, "What do you think?"
Marques Hagans answered, "Let's go for it."
And with that, Hagans, the understudy to Virginia quarterback Matt Schaub in
2002, became a wide receiver. Whether the move will be permanent, Groh isn't
saying. But Hagans, a rising sophomore from Hampton, has taken on the new
assignment with his trademark smile and a positive attitude.
"I told coach Groh that if it helped the team and gave us the best chance of
winning, I'd do it," Hagans recalled. "I just want to play. If playing receiver
is going to get me on the field, I'm going to play and do it to the best of my
ability."
Schaub, the reigning ACC player of the year, is back for his senior season,
which means "that position's taken for a while," Groh said. So why, Virginia's
coaches figured, keep one of the team's most dynamic players on the sideline?
Hagans, after all, totaled 272 yards in punt returns and, in spot duty, rushed
for 102 and passed for 143 last season. He also intercepted a pass on a fake
punt. In U.Va.'s rout of West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl, Hagans
threw a TD pass on a trick play and returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown.
"I like him in the game," Groh said.
From all accounts, the Hagans-to-wideout experiment has been a success. U.Va.
fans can judge for themselves tomorrow afternoon at Scott Stadium, where the
team will hold its final spring practice.
"It's been a challenge," Hagans said, "but it's also been fun."
Groh said: "He's got ball skills, and I think he showed with all his punt work
last year that he's got good hands. He's got excellent hand-to-eye coordination,
he's got elusiveness, he's got a lot of those requisite abilities [for a
receiver]. We've just got to get him some turns."
Not only did Groh want to get Hagans on the field, Virginia's third-year coach
wanted freshman QB Anthony Martinez, who redshirted last season, to get more
reps this spring. There aren't enough snaps to go around for three quarterbacks
in practice.
"This has been profitable in two ways," Groh said. "One, it's pushed Martinez
along much faster than otherwise would have been the case. And two, it's given
Marques a very good orientation to this other position."
As a sophomore at Hampton High, Hagans occasionally lined up at receiver. But he
admits he knew nothing about the finer points of playing his new position before
this year. Blocking, for example, was a skill he'd never had to master.
"It's a whole different world out there," Hagans said.
Groh said it's too early to tell where the 5-10, 207-pound Hagans will play in
the fall. The Cavaliers' coaches want to gauge Martinez's progress and see if
incoming freshman Kevin McCabe is ready to fill the No. 3 slot.
And next spring, after Schaub is gone?
"I don't know," Hagans said. "I'm not going to speculate. I'd love to play
quarterback. I haven't given it up, but right now I'm just focusing on getting
better at receiver. When next spring comes, I guess I'll have to deal with
that."
Since matriculating to U.Va. in 2001, Hagans has played quarterback, tailback
and receiver. He's returned punts. What's next, defensive back?
"Wherever Coach wants to put me," Hagans said with a smile.
Taylor signs with Texans
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
The opportunity to play for the NFL's youngest franchise has lured former
Patrick Henry High School and University of Virginia standout Shannon Taylor to
the Houston Texans.
It will be the third professional stop for Taylor, a 6-foot-3, 247-pound
linebacker who spent the last two seasons in Baltimore after beginning his
career in San Diego.
"I had offers from a few teams," said Taylor, who was an unrestricted free
agent. "I had an offer on the table from Baltimore. This just looked like a
better situation for me - a younger team without much history. I'm trying to
carve my name in somebody's program."
Taylor started the first two games for Baltimore last season, but said he
actually received more playing time for the Ravens in 2001. He would have
entered the 2003 season as a backup to former Virginia Tech standout Cornell
Brown.
Taylor was asking for $600,000, but Baltimore didn't want to give that kind of
money to a backup. There is no guarantee he will start for the Texans, but
Houston will be paying him most of what he was seeking from the Ravens.
In Houston, Taylor will be reunited with Jamie Sharper, another former Virginia
linebacker who was one of Houston's first free-agent acquisitions before it
opened play this past fall.
"I talked to [ex-UVa star] Terry Kirby a couple of weeks ago," Taylor said, "and
he told me, 'Everybody can't be a starter, so do what you've got to do for the
team. If you've got to play guard on punts do that.'
"I just want to play as long as I can and eventually get a chance to start. I
think I have a chance to compete for a starting job here but nothing's
guaranteed."
Taylor, who recently celebrated the birth of a son, Amare, with longtime
sweetheart Bridgette Joyce, will return to Roanoke this week to begin
preparations for the Pop Warner sandlot team he is forming.
Taylor hopes to hold tryouts this month for his Pop Warner team, which will
compete against teams from other cities. He will return to town later in the
spring for his football camp June 13-14.
Shuman says he would take Brown again in August
Fork Union Military Academy postgraduate football coach John Shuman has advised friends that he might be wearing a disguise Saturday at Virginia's spring football "festival."
Shuman’s son, Ryan, is a promising junior lineman on the Fork Union undergraduate team and has informed his father that he wants to take a look at the Cavaliers, so father and son will be making the 35-minute drive from Fluvanna County.
A number of Fork Union products will be in uniform, including co-captain Muffin Curry and quarterback-turned-wide receiver Marques Hagans, but there have been some disappointments for both parties in the past 14 months.
Over that time, UVa has signed four players whom it subsequently directed to Fork Union -- Ahmad Brooks, Robert Armstrong, Keenan Carter and Philip Brown. One, Brooks, never showed up at Fork Union. The other three did not complete their planned tenure.
Brooks went to Hargrave Military Academy, which allows cadets to leave after one semester if they have proof of college acceptance, and enrolled at UVa in time for the spring semester. He will be on display at Scott Stadium on Saturday.
Armstrong, disappointed that UVa and/or Fork Union wouldn't make similar concessions to him, enrolled at Maryland. Brown, who arrived at Fork Union at midyear, was gone by the end of March. Carter, praised repeatedly by Shuman for his personal growth, was dismissed earlier this month for fighting.
"Keenan is back home," Shuman said earlier this week. "He called me today. He called me three times Friday. I communicate with Keenan regularly. We love Keenan. We still believe Keenan will be a superior player next year and we're glad that Keenan made it to this point.
"He could have bailed out at Christmas. He could have bailed out at spring break. He just had a little hiccup. It was time well-spent. Keenan is a lot better for the experience. He misses us, obviously, and we miss him.
"There's nothing like a Keenan in the hallway or on a bus. He's going to be a productive guy. I thought it was better to get two linemen [Armstrong and Carter]. Linemen get dumped on all their whole lives. Linemen usually go through here with no problem.
"With Robert, the psyche of 'doing something for Ahmad and not doing something for me' just drove him nuts. Keenan just got in a situation. There's fights that happen every day in public schools and so on. We thought it got out of control and had to make a decision."
Carter had the good fortune of having graduated from high school and having met NCAA eligibility requirements at Fork Union. His fellow combatant, undergraduate defensive back Delton Ashburn, has not graduated from high school and may have some difficulty playing enrolling next year at Michigan State.
"It was a decision coach Shuman had to make about how to pursue this," said Shuman, who does not normally refer to himself in the third person. "Keenan got in a big fight and I was the first guy on the scene. He didn't back down and the other kid didn't back down.
"I thought it was excessive enough that we had to pursue it through the commandant's office. That Friday, Keenan had just gotten his defensive-line drills [from Virginia]. That's all we were talking about. Then, he lost it. He had a meltdown. It's a shame."
There was a different twist to Brown's departure. Brown, one of two cadets who skipped out on a required corps run, said he was sick. The Fork Union medical staff checked him out and found no sign of illness.
"You know how these military people run," Shuman said. "They shuffle and do all these chants. It's a leadership thing. Philip could have walked it. He could have walked it with me. Copping a medical excuse doesn't work.
"We said, 'We'll give you an opportunity to go find this doctor and get a note.' Well, he couldn't go over to the infirmary at 7 o'clock in the morning to get the note, so it snowballed into more than a skipping situation. Our guy said, 'Either march Saturday or go home,' and he said, 'I ain't marching,' so we sent him home."
Shuman normally is reluctant to take players at midyear because that is a time when much of his energy is spent getting his outgoing players placed. When Brown left Phoebus High School in January, the forecast was that he would need three more semesters of classwork before graduating.
Shuman thinks Brown would have a chance of playing college football in 2004 if he can pass two courses in summer school.
"I would definitely take Philip Brown in August but I don't think there's a chance of that," Shuman said. "Our school would allow him to come back in August but I don't think he would want to come back here. He thought we were picking on him from Day One.
"It was a bad experience and I just wasn't smart enough to say to Mr. [Al] Groh, 'Look, it would be best to put the kid in summer school and then come.' We couldn't indoctrinate the guy like we wanted him to and things happened. It was out of my control."
Fork Union had a huge presence on Virginia's 2002 team, including two players who might be selected in the NFL draft, linebacker Merrill Robertson and wide receiver Billy McMullen, the ACC's No. 2 all-time leading receiver.
Fork Union players still on the roster are Curry, Hagans, cornerback Jamaine Winborne, outside linebacker Darryl Blackstock, 2002 center Zac Yarbrough and cornerback-turned-wideout Art Thomas. All have started for the Cavaliers at some point.
"I don't think they'll put any more kids in here," said Shuman half-seriously, "but, anything UVa has wanted us to do, we've tried to do. Fork Union is just a hard place in April and May. Some guys are just not mature enough to handle it. "We've had some problems with UVa recruits, but the stuff that's happened with them happens all the time. We will always have open arms for Virginia recruits."
MULTIPLE CALLS AND e-mails have confirmed that Andy Rippeon, who has joined the UVa football team as a walk-on place-kicker, played at Essex High School, a Group A program in Tappahannock on Virginia's northern neck.
Rippeon was listed in UVa's spring football outlook as being from the Essex School, immediately identified by Daily Progress sportswriter and former Frat Life major Andrew Joyner as a prep school in New England.
Among the readers who made the correct Rippeon-Essex connection was Mark White, athletic director and head football coach for the Trojans. Also confirming that information was one of Rippeon's predecessors as Essex place-kicker, Joe Taylor, as well as Virginia Farm Bureau agent Randy Kelley.
Kelley correctly pointed out that Virginia's most famous football player from Essex was former defensive back Darryl Hammond, a UVa senior in 1987 who is still playing Arena Ball. Kelley played against Hammond and coached against Rippeon.
Last week's call for information about Rippeon and Essex met with some skepticism from reader Vic Dandridge, who was upset that the prize was a free subscription to a weekly feature, the UVa Insider, that already is free.
That's a good point. In the future, contest-winners will receive a free subscription to Notebook Plus.
GREENSBORO -- In measured, fact-heavy language, ACC commissioner John Swofford on Thursday denied accusations from his Big East counterpart that the ACC is engaged in a campaign to expand by stealing Big East schools.
In Wednesday's New York Daily News, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said: "I have no use for the ACC right now. They're a bunch of hypocrites. They operate in the dark. They'll never acknowledge this, but I'm aware that the ACC for the last couple of years, without ever picking up the phone or calling me, has basically gone out and tried to convince our teams to enter their league.
"They have already made two presentations to the University of Miami -- and have been turned down -- but they continue to come back, hoping to get the right answer. They've gone to Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Teach."
Tranghese did not mention any person by name in his comments to the paper.
Swofford, who spoke with Tranghese on Thursday, responded with an 11-sentence statement that said expansion has been an open topic of discussion in his league but not the source of improper conduct. Florida State, which joined in 1991, is the newest of the ACC's nine members. The Big East has eight schools in football and 14 in every other sport.
"Obviously, conference affiliation is a two-way street and reacting publicly to informal conversations and rumors serves no purpose," he said. "I will say that no offers have been made to any institution since Florida State joined the league.
"I am totally comfortable with the way our league conducts its business, and I feel like the relationship between the schools in the ACC and the Big East is good, which is why I find the comments from the Big East office on this issue unfortunate."
If the ACC were to expand, it would almost certainly have to take three teams so it could go to 12 members, the magic number needed for a football championship game according to NCAA policy.
Tranghese charged that the ACC's recruiting pitch is an unfounded prophecy of Big East doom. He alleged that the scare tactic played a role in Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser's decision last week to reject an offer from Big East member Pittsburgh and accept a 10-year contract extension to remain in Winston-Salem.
"He has every right to go to either Pitt or Wake, but it's obvious that people in power got to him and convinced him that our league would not be here," Tranghese said.
Prosser could not be reached for comment Thursday, but in the news conference announcing his new deal, he made no reference to Pittsburgh.
Going Where Needed
Cavs Have Many Uses for Midfielder Glading
By Christian Swezey
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, April 18, 2003; Page D10
A move from the starting midfield to the second unit actually has translated
into more playing time for Virginia's Billy Glading. He moved because he is a
rarity in college lacrosse: He is the team's best defensive midfielder and one
of its best offensive midfielders.
The switch means he can still play some offense -- although not as much as the
starters -- while also playing every defensive possession for the fourth-ranked
Cavaliers (7-2).
"There's no question he's our best defensive midfielder," Virginia Coach Dom
Starsia said. "We may have taken away from what he could have done on offense.
But now he anchors our second midfield, and he hardly ever leaves the field. . .
. We told him the role we needed him to take was a little less visible, but was
much more profound."
Glading, a senior, hasn't completely been left out of the offense. He has 11
goals entering an ACC tournament semifinal against North Carolina (5-5) tonight
at Klockner Stadium at 8:30 p.m. Glading was an All-Met midfielder at Gonzaga
High in 1999 and scored 43 goals as a junior and 56 as a senior. He also was a
starting offensive midfielder for Virginia as a sophomore and junior.
But his strong defense comes mostly from his days as a point guard for Gonzaga's
basketball team. During his senior year, he guarded DeMatha graduate and current
Seattle SuperSonics guard Joseph Forte and George Washington all-time leading
scorer Chris Monroe, a Good Counsel graduate.
"I think basketball definitely has helped me in lacrosse, it helped me move my
feet and keep alert about picks," Glading said.
"I had all winter to think about it [the change] and get ready. I knew it would
be a change. But I also knew that as a senior, I really didn't care about
individual recognition. I think Coach is right, this is the best role for me."
The role is more than an on-field one. Glading was one of six players who came
back to Charlottesville from Christmas break a week early to run sprints.
Starsia said Glading's individual conditioning workouts in January and February
were so impressive that he began making the younger players attend.
Glading has not left basketball far behind -- teammates say he is the first
player chosen in their informal pickup games over the winter and summer. He also
struck up a friendship with former Good Counsel and Virginia basketball standout
Roger Mason Jr. Glading helped Gonzaga to the Washington Catholic Athletic
Conference championship with a victory over Good Counsel -- and Mason -- in
1999.
"We've certainly had defensive midfielders in the past who it's clear would
rather be playing offense," Virginia midfielder and leading scorer Chris Rotelli
said. "That's more their focus, and that's just natural -- everybody wants to
play offense. But I've never seen that from Billy. He just does whatever he's
asked."
Rotelli, who also plays some defensive midfield, leads Virginia in scoring with
18 goals and 11 assists; he would be the first midfielder to lead the Cavaliers
in scoring since 1989.
The ACC women's tournament also begins today. Maryland (13-1) senior goaltender
Alexis Venechanos (.627 goals against average) played all but the final five
minutes of a 19-4 victory over Johns Hopkins last week; she had missed a loss to
James Madison on April 5 with a knee injury.
Virginia (11-3) senior attack Lauren Aumiller had three goals and seven assists
in a 15-8 victory over George Mason on Tuesday. The 10 points were the most by a
Virginia player since 1985. Aumiller is the leading scorer in Virginia's 27-year
history and enters the ACC tournament with 275 points (194 goals, 81 assists).
| Cavalier Daily
Associate Editor
|
"The ACC tournament is a frickin' meat grinder," Starsia said. "It doesn't matter who you play, you've got your work cut out for you."
Four of the nation's top 13 ranked lacrosse teams visit Klöckner Stadium this weekend to compete for the ACC tournament crown.
The semifinals take place tonight, with No. 4 Virginia (7-2, 2-1 ACC) facing No. 12 North Carolina (5-5, 2-1) following the first semifinal at 6:00 p.m. between No. 5 Maryland (7-2, 2-1) and No. 13 Duke (7-5, 0-3). The winners then will face off in the championship game Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
The Cavaliers, Tar Heels and Terrapins all finished with identical conference records, but Maryland drew the tournament's No. 1 seed in a blind draw.
Although the Blue Devils have had little success in conference play this season, they managed to win the title last year under similar circumstances. After losing to both Maryland and Virginia in regular season play, Duke beat both squads in the tournament.
Upsets seem to be a consistent feature in the tournament. Only six top seeds have won the tournament since 1989.
"Every team is going to be better in the ACC tournament because that's when the title is at stake," freshman attackman Matt Ward said. "Every team is going to be gunning for each other."
The Cavaliers beat North Carolina 10-7 April 5 and hold a three game winning streak over the Tar Heels, but will face a difficult task in defeating North Carolina for a second time in under two weeks. Unlike the other ACC schools, Virginia plays all of its conference games the three weeks before the ACC tournament.
"I think that we have the greatest challenge in the conference," Starsia said. "It's really hard, after you beat these guys, to come out and play them again. I don't care if we're better or not, it's going to be a tough game."
Virginia has won the regular season ACC title seven times but has won only three tournament crowns.
Goalie Tillman Johnson had a standout performance for the Cavaliers in Virginia's last win over North Carolina, stopping 14 shots to help earn him ACC Player of the Week honors. Johnson continued his stellar play the following week in an 11-8 victory over Duke in Virginia's regular season finale, and could carry the Cavaliers to victory this weekend if his hot streak continues.
The Cavaliers come into this weekend's tournament riding a two game win streak and face a North Carolina squad that has dropped three straight games since its upset win over then-undefeated Maryland.
But, after all, this is the ACC tournament and none of these statistics are likely to matter. So throw the numbers out the window and buckle up. It's going to be a wild weekend of lacrosse.