Given a crack, Cavs squeeze out a victory
Eighth-inning error by the Tigers paves way for latest loss
By PAUL STRELOW - pstrelow@thestate.com

CLEMSON — Give Clemson’s opponents an inch lately, and they appear to stretch it a mile.

For the second consecutive night, a fielding error supplied No. 6 Virginia the small crack that it quickly expanded into what has become an unreachable divide thanks to an offense that cannot get out of the starter’s block.

Once the Tigers surrendered a run in the eighth inning, junior David Kopp’s career-best start was for naught, and No. 14 Clemson fell 3-0 Saturday night.

“We’re right there, that’s all I can say,” coach Jack Leggett said. “If we were playing lousy, that would be another story.” Instead, it was another story of an offense that comes close trumping solid pitching and defense.

Pinch hitter Tim Henry’s bloop RBI single in the eighth inning was the difference in the Cavaliers’ eighth consecutive victory against the Tigers.

Clemson (25-13, 10-7 ACC), which stayed a half-game ahead of North Carolina State for second in the Atlantic Division, produced four hits — the Tigers third lowest total in a season so far defined by their offensive failures in the clutch.

Virginia (34-8, 12-6), which moved into a tie with North Carolina for first place in the Coastal Division, produced all of the scoring it needed in the eighth off Clemson closer Stephen Clyne, who had not surrendered a run since assuming the job three weeks ago.

Senior third baseman Marquez Smith fielded a chopper by Virginia third baseman Patrick Wingfield, but his throw sailed over the head of first baseman Andy D’Alessio, allowing Wingfield to reach second.

The Tigers faced a similar predicament the inning before but could not escape unscathed this time.

Henry, the regular with the worst batting average (.259), sliced a two-strike single to left-center with one out to break the scoreless tie.

The loss wasted the effort by Kopp, who matched a career-high by throwing seven innings of two-hit ball.

The series does not get any easier for Clemson, which seeks to avoid being swept at home in an ACC series for the first time since Florida State took three in a row in 2002.

The Tigers face junior left-hander Sean Doolittle (6-2, 2.42), the reigning conference player of the year.

Clemson made plenty of contact against freshman left-hander Matt Packer — statistically the worst starter on a staff that ranks second in the nation in the ERA. But the Tigers had nothing to show for it but frustration after finishing 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Smith earned his share of frustration when his potential solo homer in the second inning was snared by a leaping Mike Mitchell in center field.

That was the closest Clemson came to avoiding the shutout until the ninth inning.

In that frame, right fielder Wilson Boyd singled with two outs off Virginia closer Casey Lambert. Freshman second baseman J.D. Burgess and junior center fielder Brad Chalk walked to load the bases. However, sophomore D.J. Mitchell, who had been hitless in four at-bats, struck out looking, enabling Lambert to tie the ACC record for career saves (41).

“It feels like things are going well halfway through our games, but then we make a mistake that haunts us,” junior shortstop Taylor Harbin said. “We’ve got to score some to take that out of play.”

 

U.Va. rallies late
Glading's goal with 1:28 left helps Cavs get past Dartmouth
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 22, 2007
LACROSSE
U.VA. 10 DARTMOUTH 9

CHARLOTTESVILLE - For the third consecutive Saturday, the University of Virginia men's lacrosse team played a game decided by one goal. The fourth-ranked Cavaliers could do without what they consider unnecessary drama.

"We need to get those loose ends tied up," senior midfielder Drew Thompson said. "We're heading to the point of the season where if you lose, you go home."

U.Va., which beat visiting North Carolina 10-9 in overtime April 7, lost 7-6 in OT at Duke a week later. Yesterday, in their regular-season finale, the Wahoos rallied for a 10-9 victory over unranked Dartmouth before 3,195 fans on a cloudless afternoon at Klockner Stadium.

The Big Green fell to 4-7. Defending NCAA champion Virginia heads to next weekend's ACC tournament with an 11-2 record.

"At this point of the season, we're thankful to get a win, certainly," U.Va. coach Dom Starsia said. "But I got a bunch of bright kids here, and they care about what we're doing, and they understand that we're going to have to play better than that if we're going to reach our goals in the end."

Virginia, which led 6-2 early in the third quarter, fell behind twice in the final period: first at 8-7, and then after a goal by Dartmouth's Ari Sussman with 4:45 left, at 9-8.

The Cavaliers pulled to 9-9 when junior midfielder Jack Riley caught a low pass from junior attackman Ben Rubeor and scored in one motion. But with 2:31 left, U.Va. defenseman Ricky Smith was assessed two penalties and sent off for 90 seconds.

After a save by senior goalie Kip Turner at the 1:55 mark, the Cavs cleared, and the ball ended up in the stick of Danny Glading. The safe move - maybe the wise move - would have been for the sophomore attackman to try to kill the rest of Smith's penalty. Instead, Glading (two goals, two assists) challenged his defender, breaking free as he came around the cage and scoring on a left-handed shot with 1:28 left.

"I think it would have been a pretty stupid shot if it hadn't gone in the goal," Glading said with a sheepish grin.

Apprised of Glading's comment, Starsia said: "He's right. What he risks is coming over to see me when the game is over if that ball doesn't go in the back of the net. But he also knows that he's got a license from me to be able to take what I'll call a calculated risk rather than a gamble."

Both teams struggled to retain possession after Glading's goal. Finally, Dartmouth called time out with 8.3 seconds left to set up a last shot. It sailed wide of the cage, allowing Starsia to mark his 55th birthday with his 169th victory as U.Va.'s coach.

"You feel like over the last couple of weeks that our play has just flattened a little bit," said Starsia, who acknowledged that such lulls are not uncommon in the course of a season.

"It's understandable," he said. "It's just not acceptable, and we have to work hard to figure it out."
 

Heels, Cavaliers reach ACC final
Top seeds playing for men's tennis title

The top two seeded teams in the ACC Men's Tennis Championship will meet in the title match for the first time since 1961 when regular-season champion Virginia and No. 2 seed North Carolina take the court at 11 a.m. today at Cary Tennis Park.
Live coverage will be available online at www.accselect.com.

In Saturday's semifinals, Virginia eliminated Wake Forest 4-0, and North Carolina pushed past Florida State 4-3.

NO. 1 VIRGINIA 4, NO. 4 WAKE FOREST 0: Wake Forest started strong when Andrew Hamar and Steven Forman defeated Virginia's Teddy Angelinos and Lee Singer, 8-3, at the No. 3 doubles position.

The Demon Deacons had opportunities to win at the Nos. 1 and 2 flights and clinch the doubles point, but the Cavaliers battled back. Virginia claimed the doubles point with 9-7 victories from its top doubles tandems of Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey, and Dominic Inglot and Houston Barrick.

In singles, Devvarman and Huey each won in straight sets to put Virginia ahead 3-0. Angelinos then clinched the match for the Cavs with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Wake Forest's Jason Morgenstern at the No. 6 spot.

Virginia advanced to title match for the fourth straight season.

This marks the third straight year that Wake Forest has lost to Virginia in the postseason tournaments. The Cavaliers eliminated the Deacons from last year's NCAA Tournament in the second round and from the 2005 ACC Tournament in the second round.

NO. 2 NORTH CAROLINA 4, NO. 6 FLORIDA STATE 3: The second match of the semifinals went down to the wire as the Tar Heels battled the Seminoles.

UNC won the doubles point for a 1-0 lead but found the singles competition to be difficult.

FSU's Ytai Abougzir and Chris Cloer picked up wins in their respective singles positions, giving the Seminoles a 2-1 lead. The teams traded points after the next two singles matches, but Stefan Hardy's 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over FSU's Maciek Sykut allowed the Tar Heels to tie the match.

UNC got its victory when ACC Freshman of the Year Chris Kearney won 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-0 over FSU's Jonathas Sucupira in the No. 2 singles position.

 

Virginia blanks Clemson, clinches series victory
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 22, 2007

CLEMSON, S.C. - Florida State and Virginia, situated in opposite divisions in the ACC, do not play baseball in the regular season.

That has not stopped the two programs from helping each other out this weekend.

Just hours after the Seminoles beat then-Coastal Division leading North Carolina, Virginia returned a similar favor, blanking Clemson, 3-0, at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in front of just over 5,000 boisterous fans.

Virginia (34-8, 13-6 ACC) used three pitchers - starter Matt Packer and relievers Michael Schwimer and Casey Lambert - to give the Tigers (25-13, 10-7) their first shutout at home in league play since 2002, and FSU now holds a five-game cushion in the Atlantic Division.

The sixth-ranked Cavaliers, who now stand alone in first place for the first time this year in the Coastal Division, scored once in the eighth and added two insurance runs in the ninth to secure their eighth win in a row in a series quickly gaining steam.

“This is turning into a big rivalry,” said Schwimer, who earned the win on the mound after pitching 2.2 innings in relief. “Their team is really, really good, and in this

environment their fans are really getting on us - and rightfully so. Their fans are supposed to do that.”

Those spectators were on the edge of their seats for seven scoreless innings until Clemson coach Jack Leggett pulled starting pitcher David Kopp (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R), in favor of reliever Stephen Klyne.

Virginia’s Patrick Wingfield, who led off in the eighth, advanced to second on a wild throw to first by Clemson third baseman Marquez Smith and scored two batters later when pinch-hitter Tim Henry slapped an 0-2 pitch into right field for a single.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play,” said Henry, who entered batting .259. “I had a tough at-bat [on Friday] so I was just trying to hit it hard.

“I saw both of his first two pitches and both were strikes, unfortunately, so I was in a bit of a hole, but he left one a little up and I was able to catch up to it.”

After Schwimer, who fanned three Clemson batters and walked just one in the contest, pitched a perfect bottom-half of the eighth, UVa struck for two more runs on run-scoring doubles from Beau Seabury and Tyler Cannon.

Leading 3-0, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor went to closer Casey Lambert in the ninth. And as he had done on Friday, the senior made things interesting.

Following two quick outs, as he had done in Friday’s 5-3 win, Lambert loaded the bases with Tigers by allowing a single and two walks.

The left-handed closer sealed the win, however, by striking out left fielder D.J. Mitchell on just four pitches.

With the save, Lambert tied the ACC record for career saves with 41, but the fireworks were not over.

Once the Cavaliers completed their game-ending handshakes, Leggett was seen holding one of his players back from what could have turned into an ugly postgame confrontation between the teams in the infield grass.

“Honestly, Casey Lambert did some things on the mound that he should not do and that was not representing our program the right way,” O’Connor said. “Clemson had every right to be upset about it and it just fuels their fire.

“Casey is a fiery guy, but there is no excuse for him showing up the other team.”

The tension helped overshadow arguably the best start of the season for Matt Packer. The left-handed rookie tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks.

“Fortunately, Packer had his best outing of the year,” O’Connor said. “He really was the story of the game.”

Virginia will attempt to become the first ACC team to sweep Clemson at its home field since Florida State pulled off the feat in 2002 when the two teams close out the series today at 1 p.m.
 

Late goal lifts Starsia's squad
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 22, 2007

After a sloppy loss to Duke a week ago, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team had a simple focus throughout practices this week. It was to get back to the basics of the game - to work on fundamentals such as passing and catching.

Following Saturday’s clash with Dartmouth, one thing was obvious - Virginia still has a lot of work to do in those departments.

Thanks to a Danny Glading goal with 1 minute, 28 seconds remaining, UVa escaped with a 10-9 win on Senior Day. However, Virginia was madly inconsistent for much of the contest.

“I never felt like we were in control of the game and had the confidence,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “It was like an egg and a spoon sometimes in terms of our stick handling and our shooting.

“I would have liked us to play better, frankly, but I’ll certainly take the win.”

No doubt, No. 4 Virginia (11-2) will have to be sharper when it plays Maryland on Friday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. The winner will take on the Duke-North Carolina winner in the title game on Sunday.

Virginia came out flat against unranked Dartmouth (4-7). The Big Green led 2-1 after one quarter.

UVa closed out the half with three straight goals - by George Huguely, Glading and Brian Carroll - to go up 4-2. When Garrett Billings scored two goals within a 48-second span early in the third quarter, Virginia seemed on the verge of blowing things open.

“I thought there was a chance we were going to bury the game right there,” Starsia said, “but credit [goes] to them for hanging around and making plays when they had to.”

With goalie Kip Turner nursing a sprained ankle on the sidelines, the Big Green pulled to 6-5 after a goal by Will Handler. After Carroll scored his second to put UVa up 7-5, Dartmouth answered with three straight to go up 8-7 at the 7:39 mark of the fourth quarter.

Less than two minutes later, Drew Thompson tied the game on a wicked outside shot that beat Big Green goalie Michael Novosel over his shoulder.

After the teams traded goals, Virginia defender Ricky Smith was whistled for slashing and holding penalties that gave Dartmouth a golden opportunity. Playing a man-up, the Big Green patiently worked the ball around the perimeter and found Brian Koch in front of the net. Turner, who had since returned to the game, stopped Koch’s point-blank shot.

Virginia took possession and Glading scored seconds later.

“To be honest, I don’t think it was that smart of a shot to take when we were a man down,” Glading said, “but I felt like the field was pretty spread and wide open and they probably wouldn’t have had a slide coming.”

On the play, Glading blew by a defender and fired a shot as he was falling to the ground.

“Once you get to a certain point, you can’t turn back,” Glading said. “You have to keep going because they probably would have collapsed on me. I just kept going and thank God the ball went in the back of the net.”

There was still plenty of time, though. After a frantic sequence in which both teams committed turnovers, Dartmouth looked to have an odd-man rush. However, Virginia defender Matt Kelly put a huge hit on midfielder Christopher Root.

“I figured it was pretty much do or die since they had a couple guys behind me,” Kelly said. “If I didn’t get him, it would have been a 3-on-1.”

After a goal by Ben Rubeor - one that would have iced the game - was waived off because he was in the crease, Dartmouth had a final chance. Following a timeout, the Big Green worked the ball to Koch, who, with Will Barrow in his face, fired a shot wide right as time expired.

“I think we came out a little flat and with a little less passion because we didn’t know Dartmouth and it wasn’t a conference game,” Turner said. “That’s a huge mistake on our part. We need to come out thinking every team is hard to beat.”

Starsia, who was celebrating his 54th birthday, tried to stay optimistic.

“I think our best lacrosse is ahead of us,” he said. “We just have to find a way to get there.”