U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Apr 11, 2006

SPRING BREAK: The NCAA men's lacrosse tournament begins May 13. Between now and then, top-ranked Virginia will play all of two games: April 22 against Division I newcomer Bellarmine at Klockner Stadium and April 30 in the ACC tournament championship game in Baltimore.

"It is what it is, so we're going to have to deal with it as best we can," Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia said yesterday.

U.Va. (11-0) was scheduled to play host to ACC rival Duke on Saturday night. That game, of course, won't be played. Duke officials last week shut down the school's lacrosse team in the wake of an alleged sexual assault at a party.

Duke's decision also affects the ACC tournament, which now will be a three-team affair late this month. On April 28, Maryland and North Carolina will meet at 8 p.m. The winner will face top-seeded Virginia two days later at 3:30 p.m.

Before the incident at Duke, Virginia planned on playing at least three, and perhaps as many as four, games between its April 8 visit to UNC and the start of the NCAA tourney. Now Starsia must try to figure out the best way to keep his team sharp as it heads into postseason. Final exams are May 4-12 at U.Va.

"Anybody that thinks they can have the perfect solution can feel free to call me," Starsia said.

The extended breaks should benefit two Cavaliers who are dealing with injuries; midfielders Jared Little (broken bone in foot) and Foster Gilbert (sports hernia).

AND THE WINNERS ARE . . . Over the weekend, U.Va. announced the recipients of its annual football awards.

Defensive end Brennan Schmidt (McLean) earned the Frank McCue Award as the Cavaliers' outstanding interior lineman.

Quarterback Marques Hagans (Hampton) received the Ben Wilson Award as U.Va.'s outstanding offensive player and the Joe Palumbo Award for self-sacrifice and enthusiasm.

Linebacker Kai Parham (Virginia Beach) earned the Ned McDonald Award as the team's top defensive player.

Offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Freeport, N.Y.) received the John Polzer Award for ability, sportsmanship and character.

Kicker Connor Hughes (Williamsburg) garnered the George Welsh Award as Virginia's outstanding special-teams player.

Wide receiver Deyon Williams (Upper Marlboro, Md.) got the Speed Elliott Award as U.Va.'s most improved player.

Linebacker Clint Sintim (Woodbridge) received the Bill Dudley Award as the team's top first-year player.

Schmidt, Hagans, Ferguson and Hughes were seniors in 2005. Parham and Williams were juniors, and Sintim was a redshirt freshman. Parham is passing up his final season of eligibility at U.Va. to enter the NFL draft pool.

MEN IN THE MIDDLE: U.Va. used three players at nose tackle last season - Kwakou Robinson, Ron Darden and Keenan Carter - and might go with a three-man rotation again this year. The candidates are rising juniors Carter and Allen Billyk and freshman Kevin Crawford, who redshirted last season and is coming off shoulder injury.

The 6-4, 285-pound Billyk came to U.Va. as a defensive end but started working at nose tackle in December in preparation for the Music City Bowl. He's expected to play both spots in Virginia's 3-4 defense this season.

"I almost feel like I'm better suited [to play nose]," Billyk said Saturday. "I thought it would have taken a lot more to get adjusted. It really only took me two practices, just tweaking the stance a little bit and learning what blocks you get out of certain formations, and things like that. After that, it's still playing two-gap football."

Billyk, a reserve last season, has embraced the opportunity to expand his role this spring.

"It makes my stock a lot higher to be that guy that, I can step in at nose or I can step in at end," he said. "I've always been a guy that'll do anything or play wherever you ask me to play."

ON THE DIAMOND: Virginia plays its next five baseball games at home, which should bode well for third-year coach Brian O'Connor's club. The Cavaliers are 19-2 at Davenport Field this season.

U.Va. (8-7, 27-9) plays host to state rival Longwood tomorrow at 7 p.m. and then takes on ACC foe Boston College in a three-game series (7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday). The Cavs entertain Virginia Military Institute next Tuesday night.

Virginia relies heavily on freshmen and sophomores. The team's young standouts include freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson and freshman shortstop Greg Miclat.

Thompson, who's from Danville, is 6-1 with a 2.64 earned-run average. Opponents are batting .198 against him.

Miclat, who's from Concord, N.C., hit .538 last week as U.Va. went 3-1. In Virginia's three games at Duke, Miclat went 6 for 9 (.667). He's hitting .331 for the season. - Jeff White
 

Monroe's status uncertain for UVA
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
April 6, 2006

Virginia's coaches are taking a wait-and-see - and, presumably, a hold-your-breath - approach with left tackle Eugene Monroe. The heir apparent to All-American D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Monroe dislocated his left knee in Sunday's spring football practice.

Cavaliers coach Al Groh expected Monroe, a rising sophomore, to miss Wednesday's practice. As of Wednesday morning, Groh hadn't seen the results of a MRI conducted Tuesday. Monroe sat out Monday's practice, and the Cavs didn't practice Tuesday.

Groh said Monroe told him he didn't feel discomfort Sunday and felt better Monday. The coach said he's seen some dislocated knees that require surgery, while others don't. Though Groh said the injury didn't appear to be as serious as a torn anterior cruciate ligament, he reserved a prognosis until he got a full report from trainers Wednesday night or Thursday.

"I literally have made no assumptions on his circumstance," Groh said.

Monroe, a 6-foot-6, 318-pounder, was scheduled to replace Ferguson, a likely high pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, as the protector of the U.Va. quarterback's blind side. Before last season, many recruiting services ranked Monroe as the nation's top offensive lineman - and a top-five overall player. Virginia's offensive line - which lost Ferguson, right tackle Brad Butler and center Brian Barthelmes from last season - already took a hit before spring practices when Groh announced that sophomore left guard Branden Albert (6-7, 306) would sit out the spring to focus on academics.

Now practicing at left tackle is sophomore Zak Stair (6-6, 294). Senior Gordie Sammis (6-4, 290) is at left guard. In the mix at right tackle are redshirt freshman Will Barker (6-7, 265) and junior Eddie Pinigis (6-7, 292). At center, junior Ian-Yates Cunningham (6-3, 291) has the edge so far over junior Jordy Lipsey (6-3, 268).

OTHER INJURIES

Sophomore cornerback Mike Brown injured his knee on Saturday, and while Groh thought Brown would sit out Wednesday, the coach said the injury didn't appear serious.

Brown is practicing despite being charged March 27 with breaking and entering with intent to commit assault and entering the property of another with the intent of damaging property. The charges stem from a March 3 fraternity-house incident. Groh said he makes decisions like letting Brown practice on a case-by-case basis.

Senior tailback Michael Johnson, a Heritage High graduate, is playing through right ankle and foot injuries, both carryovers from last season, Groh said. Senior Jason Snelling, meanwhile, has emerged as the No. 1 tailback, though Groh said he'd like a rotation at the position.

Sophomore cornerback Chris Cook is progressing well this week, Groh said. Cook suffered a season-ending broken right leg Oct. 8 at Boston College.

Junior safety Nate Lyles, whose 2005 season ended with a neck injury Nov. 12 against Georgia Tech, is jogging on the sidelines during practice. Groh ruled him out for the spring, but said he's increasing his weight-room training.

BAD BOYS?

Brown's arrest was the latest in a string of discipline issues for the Cavs.

Safety Tony Franklin on Feb. 21 received one year of pre-conviction probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor marijuana possession. Franklin, a co-captain last season, was one of three projected defensive starters - along with inside linebacker Ahmad Brooks and end Vince Redd - whom Groh dismissed before the spring. Earlier in February, Groh booted walk-on running back Bryan Lescanec for conduct detrimental to the program.

"There are choices that people make," senior cornerback Marcus Hamilton said. "They have to live with those choices. ... If a person feels the need to do these certain things off the field, then that's their decision. I can't sit here and say whether we need to be more disciplined off the field. It's a personal decision for each person.

"You can always talk to somebody about lifestyle adjustments and what you think they should do, but it's always just your opinion. It's whether or not the person wants to acknowledge what you have said and take it to heart."

ELSEWHERE

Junior Allen Billyk is emerging early as the No. 1 nose tackle. Junior Keenan Carter was the Cavs' only returning nose, while Billyk played defensive end last season. ... Groh said junior walk-on Josh Zidenberg, a Poquoson High graduate, is his only true fullback, though redshirt freshman walk-ons Cain Ringstaff and Hall Simmons also are practicing at fullback.

Virginia learns from past experience
After hard season two years ago, close loss to John's Hopkins last year, Cavaliers have learned to work through adversity
Ben Gibson, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

"It's not always what happens in a situation but how you react to it," senior defender Michael Culver said.

Those words rang true for Culver and his teammates two years ago when the University of Virginia men's lacrosse team had one of its worst seasons in recent memory. After winning the national championship in 2003, the Cavaliers stumbled to a 5-8 season. It was Virginia's first losing record in 17 years.

"My first year here taught me an important lesson -- nothing is guaranteed," junior Ricky Smith said. "Coming in, I thought we were going to get into the Final Four. Winds up we have a losing season, I tear up my ACL and ruin my summer."

That disappointment has made the Cavaliers a stronger and wiser team.

"We realized what could happen if you don't put the pedal to the metal every single day," Culver said.

Last year, the Cavaliers rebounded from the previous year's struggle and found the form that has made them one of the nation's elite teams by going 11-4. Their close call against Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Semifinals has only fueled their desire to win.

This year, Virginia (11-0) has begun to rewrite the history books and make their own mark on the tradition of men's lacrosse. While the high-powered offense continues to get most of the attention, it is the defense that deserves credit for keeping the opponents out of contention.

While offensive players pick up points for scoring a goal or recording an assists, the work of the defenders usually cannot be seen with statistics. To the Virginia defense, the only number that really matters is how many goals they allowed.

Against third-ranked Maryland, Culver shadowed attacker Joe Walters to perfection, shutting out the Terrapins leading scorer, who had scored five goals earlier that week. It is performances like that which has made Culver a candidate for the Tewaaraton trophy, awarded to the best lacrosse player in the nation.

"He's intense in everything he does," Smith said. "That's what gets me to follow him."

Intensity also perfectly describes Smith's game. His speed and athleticism have made him a versatile player. He has made the transition from pole defender to short-stick defender smoothly, and his experience has led to a breakout season. Smith is third on the team in ground balls picked up, and against rival Syracuse, he picked up the second goal of his career.

"I'm not always the smartest player on the field but I feel like this year has been my smartest year," Smith said. "I think that's why I've been successful and the whole team. We're beginning to trust one another."

Successful goes without saying. The Cavaliers have broken the school-record for consecutive home wins and are off to its best start in school history. They are only two wins away from tying the longest winning streak in Virginia history with 13 games. Virginia also leads the nation in offense, margin of victory and is the only defeated team left in the nation.

Despite all of this, the Cavaliers are not ready to celebrate anything.

"Where we are right now, maybe we could win a national championship tomorrow," Culver said. "But we need the experience of these games before we can achieve something like the importance of a national championship."

He should know.

 

DNA clears players, lawyers say; DA vows to continue inquiry
Attorneys for Duke lacrosse players say the tests show they did not assault woman
Benjamin Niolet, Anne Blythe and Michael Biesecker, Staff Writers

Defense lawyers said Monday that DNA tests prove Duke University lacrosse players did not rape a woman hired to strip at a team party, but the district attorney said he remains intent on building his case.
The developments, played out in and around the Durham courthouse late in the afternoon, set the stage for a standoff between District Attorney Mike Nifong, who goes before voters in a primary in 22 days, and a dozen lawyers who have argued in the news media that their clients did not assault anyone at the party last month.

The state crime lab sent the DNA test results to Durham by fax about 4 p.m., and about two hours later, lawyers representing the 46 team members ordered to provide cheek swabs for testing gathered on the courthouse steps.

"There is no evidence other than the word of this one complaining person that any rape or sexual assault took place," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, a Raleigh attorney who represents one of the four team captains.

Cheshire said that no DNA from any players was found on or in the woman, who said she was strangled, sodomized and raped during a drunken party at a house across from campus on a spring break Monday night.

A judge last month ordered the testing. The only player not tested was the team's only black member; the accuser, who is black, said her three attackers were white.

Lawyer Wade Smith said Monday evening that the results should end the investigation. "There was no sex assault," Smith said.

Nifong said the DNA results do not end anything.

"I'm not saying it's over. If that's what they expect, they will be sadly disappointed," Nifong said Monday night. "They can say anything they want, but I'm still in the middle of my investigation. ... I believe a sexual assault took place."

Neither Nifong nor the players' attorneys would release results.

Nifong said he remains confident in the woman's story: that she was hired to dance at the party, which began March 13, and was sexually assaulted in a bathroom. Police later found four of her red fingernails in the house. A nurse and doctor examined the woman, according to a police affidavit used to obtain a search warrant. Medical records and interviews revealed "signs, symptoms and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assaulted vaginally and anally," the affidavit said.

The players' attorneys, at their news conference Monday, said the DNA evidence supports the players' story: that two women hired to dance at the party took $800 and left after a few minutes.

The tests, performed by State Bureau of Investigation experts, compared the players' DNA with material collected from the accuser and from towels and rugs seized by police March 16.

The results, the lawyers said, show that investigators collected no genetic material of any kind from the woman. "There was no DNA found in or on her that would indicate that she recently had any sex," Cheshire said.

Investigators found no DNA under the woman's remaining fingernails, or on those taken during the search of the rental house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., which Duke recently bought in an attempt to quell student parties.

They also found no DNA on the woman's clothing or belongings, players' attorneys said. The tests found DNA matches to two players, from a towel outside the bathroom and on another object, Cheshire said.

One sample was from a player's semen and another was a different type of DNA, Cheshire said. He said that was to be expected in a bathroom shared by the three men who lived in the house.

Nifong has said that any assailants might have used condoms. But Cheshire said the woman's body still would have borne traces of an attack. "Our experts tell us that gang rape by three men would leave material to be examined," he said.

The woman has remained hidden with friends to avoid reporters. It is The News & Observer's policy not to identify people who report they have been sexually assaulted.

The woman's father said in a telephone interview that he and other relatives learned of the test results through news reports. "It hasn't really sank in," he said.

He said that he believes his daughter, who is a student at N.C. Central University, and that he does not believe the test results will end the case. "I do still think there's a chance," he said.

The story of a black woman who said she was raped by white men attracted national attention and deepened the gulf between affluent Duke and the surrounding city. When news of the investigation broke, protests and vigils began on and off campus.

E-mail groups sprang up. Protesters banged pots, pans and drums outside the house. People passed out fliers bearing photographs of team members and demanded that they come forward.

"This has been an absolute nightmare for these young men, as well as their families," said Bill Thomas, a lawyer who represents one of the captains.

"It has been used to hurt their lives forever, and to tear this community apart," Cheshire said. "I would hope the community would embrace this report and understand why we've been talking about presumption of innocence and a rush to judgment."

Many may have judged the lacrosse players by the team's reputation of partying to excess. One third of the current players have been charged with misdemeanors related to drunken and disruptive activity. Court records show that such charges have been occurring for at least seven years.

The run of misbehavior reached a crescendo with the spring break party and the resulting rape allegations.

On Monday, about 20 minutes after the lawyers' press conference, Nifong walked into a downtown auditorium for a candidate forum. "There are two words that are no longer allowed in my office -- Duke and lacrosse," he told an acquaintance.

Asked whether the DNA tests hurt his case, Nifong said that cases are often won on eyewitness and victim testimony.

"The absence of DNA doesn't prove anything," Nifong said.

But the test results, the lawyers said, were clear.

"This report is a very dramatic report," Cheshire said. "This report shows that they're innocent."

 

News doesn't end investigation or heal wounds

THE CASE SO FAR March 14: A woman claims three members of the Duke lacrosse team raped her after she was hired to dance at a party.

March 16: Investigators execute a search warrant on the site of the party, a house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.

March 23: Police take DNA samples from 46 players.

March 27: Court documents say the accuser's injuries and demeanor are consistent with those of an assault victim.

March 28: Team captains deny the rape accusation.

March 29: District Attorney Mike Nifong says that even if DNA doesn't match any players, no one is necessarily exonerated.

April 5: Team member Ryan McFadyen is suspended from Duke after an e-mail surfaces in which he talks about hiring strippers and killing them. Lacrosse Coach Mike Pressler resigns; Duke President Richard Brodhead cancels the season.

April 10: Players' attorneys say DNA tests show that the accuser was not sexually assaulted.

COMPILED BY NEWS RESEARCHER LAMARA WILLIAMS-HACKETT

Jane Stancill, Lorenzo Perez and Eric Ferreri, Staff Writers

The investigation that has gripped Duke University and Durham took another turn Monday, and people across the city were trying to make sense of it.
Defense attorneys announced there had been no DNA match between Duke lacrosse players and a woman who reported that she was raped and beaten at a team party that began March 13.

It was another important development in a story that has put Durham in the national news for two weeks. The investigation has scarred Duke's reputation and strained its relationship with the community.

But no one was ready Monday to declare the ugly event over. District Attorney Mike Nifong said he will proceed with the investigation.

"The nightmare continues," said Eugene Brown, a Durham City Council member who lives on Buchanan Boulevard, where the lacrosse party occurred. "And the national press we're getting is certainly not helpful to us."

At Duke, where the lacrosse coach quit and the season was canceled, officials said they won't change any decisions they have made. Last week, Duke President Richard Brodhead announced the appointment of five groups that will look into issues surrounding the incident, including the lacrosse program, campus culture, student disciplinary procedures and the university's handling of the situation.

"As both President Brodhead and I have said repeatedly over the past few weeks, we have to have confidence that the police investigation will ultimately reveal the truth," Duke Senior Vice President John Burness said in a statement Monday. "While the allegations in this case are extremely serious, it is important to remember that no one has been charged and that in our system of law, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Durham Mayor Bill Bell urged residents to be patient with the police and judicial processes.

"There's been allegations, and we need to make sure the investigation has been completed," Bell said. "We haven't heard from the DA's office, and we're waiting on that."

In Trinity Park, the near-campus neighborhood where the party occurred and where residents held protests and vigils, residents Monday expressed dismay about the entire episode. Neighbors have had a difficult relationship for years with Duke students who rent houses there.

"I still blame the lacrosse students for creating an atmosphere where this was so believable," said Francis Conlin, a Trinity Park resident for nine years. "I'm not surprised, really, at the DNA. I think something probably did happen very wrong at that house."

On Duke's campus, newspaper and television reporters swarmed students crisscrossing the central quad. Many students declined to comment, some saying they were tired of the constant attention.

Several who had heard the news, however, said the DNA news was no surprise.

Sam Levy, a freshman from Great Neck, N.Y., said he was convinced of the team's innocence when its captains issued a statement two weeks ago denying the sexual assault.

"It was pretty bold," Levy said. "It told me right there that they knew the DNA wouldn't show anything."

At N.C. Central University, Mike Jones, a sophomore from Durham, said he expects an outcome in favor of lacrosse players, who are white, over the accuser, an NCCU student, who is black.

"It's racial," Jones said. "I figured they were going to get away with it because they were white and it is at Duke. They're going to protect Duke and those players, plus they have the money to do so. If this was at this campus, we would've been locked up."

Lacrosse players were silent when news of the case first surfaced, but their attorneys strongly denied the allegations. The lawyers said they had photos that showed the woman had cuts and bruises when she arrived at the house the night of the party.

For the most part, the players' families weren't ready to comment Monday.

A woman who answered the phone at the Sea Cliff, N.Y., home of lacrosse player Breck Archer said, "Obviously we were very happy. We knew they were innocent."

George K. Jennison of Richmond, Va., father of Duke player Jay Jennison, said: "I know most of the boys. I've been confident in the boys. ... It was what I expected. I guess I'd also add that I hope the community can now begin the healing process, because it's obvious this case has created a tremendous uproar."

He added, "If District Attorney Nifong looks at it and he believes a false accusation has been made, I hope that he pursues that as vigorously as he pursued the rape accusation."

Robinson "Rob" Bordley, lacrosse coach at Landon School, a private boys' school in Bethesda, Md., said the lack of a DNA match was not a shock to him. Five players on the current Duke lacrosse team, including co-captain David Evans, are Landon grads.

Bordley said he worries about lasting damage to Duke University, the lacrosse program, the players and former Duke coach Mike Pressler, who resigned last week.

"I don't know how in the world all the damage can be undone now," he said, "because all the western world has been reading about this for days."