This game was over as soon as the entire Maryland team assembled at midfield and started jumping up and down before the start of the game...

Cavaliers cruise by Terrapins
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 3, 2005

Call Matt Ward the bizaro Nostradamus.

The junior attackman on the Virginia men’s lacrosse team spoke earlier this week of his teammates strong desire to avenge an 11-2 loss at Maryland last season and stated bluntly “it will not be 11-2 this time.”

Turns out, Ward’s prediction of what would not happen was 100 percent right. The No. 3 Cavaliers, in a thoroughly dominating performance, toppled No. 4 Maryland 10-2 on Saturday at Klockner Stadium.

John Christmas had two goals and two assists and Matt Rubeor added two goals and an assist for the Cavaliers (7-1). Goalie Kip Turner (nine saves) and the defense completely suffocated the Terps (5-3).

“I would have taken a one-goal victory easily. I thought we had their attention. We had good energy in the locker room before the game and I thought we would come out and play hard,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, whose team fell to top-ranked Johns Hopkins 9-7 last Saturday. “I felt we took control early and except for a few moments in the third quarter, I felt we were in control the whole game.”

The game was delayed by 30 minutes by lightning as the weather, not the Terps, slowed the Cavaliers slightly.

Christmas, Hunter Kass and Ward scored goals to give Virginia the 3-0 lead after the first quarter. Rubeor then added two goals in the second to stake the Cavaliers to a 5-0 advantage at intermission. While the game at this point was nothing like the meeting in College Park last season, it also was nothing like the JHU game last week and others this season in which Virginia has struggled to score in the opening quarters.

“Sometimes last Saturday has to happen to have this Saturday. … We learned that we didn’t play smartly for 60 minutes and against a good team, that’s just not going to be good enough,” Starsia said. “This was probably the most complete game we have played to date.”

A goal by freshman Jack Riley with 9:54 left in the third quarter pushed the lead to 6-0 as the Maryland offense found few opportunities.

Finally, the Terps erased any possibility of a rare shutout when Mike Walters, who entered the game with a team-high 18 goals, scored on an extra-man opportunity with 4:51 left in the third quarter.

An extra-man situation was almost necessary for Walters as he was blanketed by Virginia defenseman Michael Culver for nearly the entire game.

“I can’t take credit for that because it really was the whole defense. Everyone helped me out,” Culver said. “Obviously, the attention lavished on me right now is reflective of how good a player he [Walters] is and how well we defended him today.”

If Walters and his teammates managed to elude Culver and the defense, then Turner was there to stop them. Turner saved nine of the 11 shots he faced and produced two or three spectacular stops.

“Our defense was unbelievable. They make it easy for me,” Turner said.

A goal by Xander Ritz early in the fourth quarter briefly cut the deficit to 6-2 but then Virginia closed the game with goals by Matt Poskay, J.J. Morrissey, defenseman Rob Bateman and Christmas.

Christmas’ was certainly the flashiest of the four. With 4:08 left in the game, Christmas dodged a defender and rolled toward the goal. Just before reaching the crease, Christmas stopped and whipped a behind the back shot into the goal. It’s likely that Maryland goalie Harry Alford never even saw the ball until it was in the net.

Overall, Christmas played perhaps his most complete game of the season, as did the Virginia offense in general. The Cavaliers have scored more goals this season but have not had as crisp an offensive effort from the midfield to the attack as Saturday.

“The middies were doing a good job today getting the ball to the ‘X’ [position] and just in transitioning the ball in general. When we do that we will be successful,” Christmas said.

As for the difference between this game and last year’s, Christmas punctuated the obvious first and then expanded those thoughts.

“The difference is that we won the game. They beat us 11-2 last year and we came back and beat them 10-2 this year. Coach really wanted to win this game and I think we all did,” Christmas said. “We’d rather beat no one more than Maryland.”

Cavs using bowl loss as motivator
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 3, 2005

The last time fans saw the Virginia football team walk off a field after a game, the color of the field matched the feelings of everyone associated with the program. Both were blue.
After going 8-3 in 2004 in the regular season, the year finished on a sour note when Fresno State rallied for a 37-34 overtime win in the MPC Computers Bowl on a blue turf field in Boise, Idaho.
The loss did not sit well with everyone involved, from quarterback Marques Hagans to placekicker Connor Hughes, who gave the Cavaliers a brief three-point lead in overtime with a field goal.
“There’s nothing worse than being out on the field for an overtime kick and later seeing that it didn’t even matter,” Hughes said. “It was a devastating loss.”
Hagans agreed and said he was unable to fight off tears after the end result.
“It hurt,” Hagans said. “You go all the way out [to Boise] and lose to them, not to take anything away from them, but to lose the last game and know you have to wait almost 200 days again before you can play another game. It really hurt.”
Hagans was so upset he did not shower after the game. That was a first in a three-year career for the Hampton native and he left his change of clothing at the stadium.
“I didn’t even care. I just put on a pair of shorts. I walked out in my socks,” Hagans said, “and my undershirt that I played in. That’s how I walked out of the locker room. I hate to lose, but I really felt we should have won that game.”
Entering their third of 15 practices in spring football today at 2:45 p.m. (session is open to the public), several of the Cavaliers have made it a point to say that they were going to use the loss to Fresno State as inspiration.
“I definitely see it as a positive thing, because it leaves this bitter taste in your mouth,” said veteran defensive lineman Brennan Schmidt. “I think it’s easy when you end on a good note and with a win. You can sometimes forget the fact that you got where you were that season because you worked for it and earned it.”

Center of attention. With the departure of center Zac Yarbrough, Hagans knows he will be taking snaps from a new face next season. Who that center will be remains a mystery, although Ian Yates-Cunningham and Jordy Lipsey are two of the top candidates.
Regardless of the position winner, Hagans is confident that it will not be a tough transition.
“It is something that you have to get used to, but it is nothing that is detrimental to the offense,” Hagans said on Thursday. “Since I have been here, I have never really been with one center the whole time. [Former UVa QB Matt] Schaub was always the first-string and I was with different centers as opposed to Zac anyway. ... It shouldn’t take too long to get used to.”

Nip it in the Bud. A quick glance at Virginia’s roster and something appears to be missing - wideout Bud Davis. Not to worry. After his freshman campaign, Davis is still with the team. He has elected to use his first name by birth - Theirrien.

Extra points. Jonathan Stupar is the only tight end practicing this spring for UVa. A pair of players - Heath Miller (early entry to the NFL Draft) and Patrick Estes (expired eligibility) - are both gone. Tom Santi, a rising sophomore, is sidelined with a shoulder injury, but is expected back at full speed in August. There are also five players among the 2005 recruiting class that have played tight end in high school. … Tyrus Gardner, a Wytheville native, has assumed the responsibilities as the long snapper for placement kicks. Last year, Gardner was the long snapper for punts. …
One of the most noticeable sights in the first two practice sessions was defensive coordinator Al Golden barking pointers at members of the secondary. After coaching inside linebackers since arriving at UVa with Groh, Golden has assumed the duties as the secondary coach.

Duke knocks off UVa
By Bart Isley / Daily Progress correspondent
April 3, 2005

The No. 2 Virginia women’s lacrosse team’s five-game win streak came to a halt against conference foe Duke, 16-12, on an overcast Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.

The Blue Devils dominated the first half with a nine-goal run that lasted most of the half. Freshman Carolina Cryer and sophomores Kristen Waagbo and Leigh Jester all had two goals each during the run.

By halftime, fifth-ranked Duke led 11-3 and held off two major runs in the second half by the Cavaliers by burning time off the clock with a women’s lacrosse version of the ‘four corners.’ The Devils did the same thing against the Cavs in the regular season last year, gaining an early lead before settling into a slow motion offense that left limited time for a comeback.

“We got a lead so we felt like we had to [run the delay game],” Duke coach Keirsten Kimel said. “If the game was closer we would’ve moved at a much faster pace, but we felt like it was smart for us to take a little time off the clock and then get into our offense.”

The most threatening of the Cavaliers’ two second-half runs came in the first few minutes after intermission when they put together three straight goals in less than one minute. Nikki Lieb scored the first on a fast break, then fellow junior Kim Connors found the back of the net after the ensuing faceoff.

Tyler Leachmen finished the minute off with her third goal of the game that brought the Cavaliers to within four.

Each time UVa made a run, however, Duke’s Katie Chrest, a third-team All-American who leads the Blue Devils in points, seemed to have an answer. Chrest ended the first major second-half burst by Virginia, stretching the lead back to five. Just a few minutes later, she ended a two-goal Cavalier spurt with yet another score. The junior finished with five goals, the second highest output of her career.

“Duke did a good job of just getting that one goal to keep us that much farther away,” Leachman said.

The Cavaliers’ 22 turnovers also didn’t help the comeback effort. Leachman performed well offensively despite the Cavs’ struggles and finished with four goals.

Virginia scoring leader Amy Appelt struggled early on, and because of Duke’s effective delay game didn’t get enough chances late to put the Cavaliers over the top. Appelt finished with two goals and three assists, but the senior had trouble scoring at the beginning of the game.

“Where she was shooting from were just poor choices [early on],” Virginia coach Julie Myers said. “I think three of those shots turned into goals on the other end, so those were pretty critical misses for us.”

Appelt’s frustrations led to the coaches pulling her from the game early, and though she seemed to settle down somewhat after re-entering the match, Appelt never got into her usual unstoppable groove.

“[The early misses] made Amy mad, and when Amy’s frustrated, she either rises to the occasion or she just stays in that frustrated mode,” Myers said. “I think she stayed in that frustrated mode today.”

The Cavs attempt to regroup in an out-of-conference game at Old Dominion Wednesday.

Note. Former STAB standout Danielle Freedman, now a Duke junior, suited up for the Blue Devils but did not play.