5/24/02 - Countdown

By JOHN GALINSKY
Daily Progress staff writer

Last year, Chris Rotelli was a big fish in a small pool of talent for the Virginia men’s lacrosse team.
On offense, Rotelli and Conor Gill were the only real playmakers among the Cavaliers. Rotelli was the finisher, Gill was the feeder. No one else was particularly dangerous, so the strategy was simple.
“Every time we needed something to happen on offense, we put the ball in Conor’s or Chris’s stick,” said UVa coach Dom Starsia.
The result was a good statistical season for both players. Rotelli finished with 28 goals, 12 more than anyone else on the team. Gill delivered 34 assists, a team high by 19. Each ended up on the All-ACC team.
For the Cavaliers, however, the lack of depth on offense was a disaster. They scored their fewest goals (10.4 per game) since 1969 and finished with their worst record (7-7) in 14 years.
The burden of carrying the offense also wore on Rotelli and Gill. As defenses keyed on them, their jobs got more difficult.
“Last year I’d go to the goal and I’d have to get through two or three guys,” Rotelli said. “I’d press the issue and take a shot. Sometimes I’d score, sometimes I’d turn it over. But it was something I had to do.”
No longer. With an influx of offensive talent, the Cavaliers now have an array of go-to players at both attack and midfield. Because of that, Rotelli does not find the ball in his stick as often, so his stats have taken a slight dip. But he isn’t complaining. In fact, he’s thrilled.
Going into Saturday’s NCAA semifinal showdown with Syracuse at Rutgers Stadium, Rotelli has 23 goals and 10 assists for 33 points. Last year, those numbers would have put him first on the team in goals and second in points.
This season, the junior midfielder is fourth in goals and fifth in points.
“We have so many guys who can score this year, it’s great,” said Rotelli, who needs just two points to match last year’s total of 35. “It’s made our offense much more unpredictable. It’s not just two guys. It’s everybody. And everyone has been pretty unselfish. No one cares who scores.”
Starsia said both Gill and Rotelli have accepted reduced roles on offense in order to accommodate freshmen attackmen Joe Yevoli and John Christmas, who are the ACC’s top two goal-scorers. A.J. Shannon, who has thrived since moving from the attack to the midfield, is third on the team with 24 goals.
Gill has 41 assists and leads the team with 54 points.
“That’s not an easy thing for a guy to do – shooting less and trusting your teammates more – when you’re used to having the ball in your stick,” Starsia said. “But Conor and Chris have both done that. They don’t have egos that require taking every shot.”
Starsia says Rotelli, who has one of the most lethal outside shots in the college game, has turned himself into a more complete lacrosse player by improving on defense and as a passer.
Rotelli has drawn the opponent’s long-stick midfielder in every game, freeing Shannon and fellow midfielder Billy Glading (15 goals) to operate against short poles.
“He’s also established himself as our clutch guy,” Starsia said. “When we have really needed him to score for us, he’s done it.”
Rotelli scored Virginia’s only two goals in the fourth quarter of an 11-10 victory over Maryland on March 30.
In the NCAA quarterfinals last Sunday, Rotelli matched his season high with three goals. Two of them came late as the Cavaliers held off Cornell, 11-10.
“I’ve tried to be a lot smarter this year,” said Rotelli, who made the All-ACC team for the second straight year. “I won’t just attack the cage every time. Sometimes I’ll hold it up if we don’t have an advantage. I’ll get it to A.J. or Billy so they can work on a short stick. Or I’ll just keep the ball moving so we can get a better shot. But I feel like if I need to go to the goal, I will.”
Rotelli says he enjoys being on a more potent team, even if it means fewer shots for himself. The third-seeded Cavaliers are 10-3 and averaging 12.6 goals per game, 2.2 more than last year.
If he doesn’t score a goal this weekend, he says that will be fine with him, as long as Virginia wins the national championship. But Rotelli won’t be afraid to assert himself if the situation calls for it.
“I feel like I’ve had an all-right year,” he said. “All year I’ve been aware of trying not to do too much and let other guys step up and try to score goals. If we win it all, I’ll say I had a great year. If not, maybe I’ll say I should have done a little bit more.”

By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer

Shane Power, a 6-foot-5 swingman who announced his intention to transfer from Iowa State last month, will make an official visit to UVa this weekend.
Power, a sophomore who would have two years of eligibility remaining, started all 31 games for the Cyclones this past season and averaged 13.6 points and 4.5 rebounds a contest and was an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection.
Power, a native of Crown Point, Ind., made 23 of his 73 attempts from beyond the arc and, according to the Iowa State official website, he’s described as “a hustler and a scrapper and Iowa State’s top perimeter defender.”
Power’s has also visited Notre Dame, Mississippi State, New Mexico and Pittsburgh. Whichever school Power opts for he must sit out one season in accordance with NCAA regulations.
In high school in Indiana, Power was a finalist for Indiana’s Mr. Basketball Award as a senior at Merrillville Andrean High School. He averaged 26.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 7.0 assists during his senior season and finished his career with a school-record 2,110 points.
A scholarship is available for Power because of the transfer of 6-8 sophomore forward J.C. Mathis last week. Conceivably, another scholarship could also be available as junior guard Roger Mason Jr. is expected to enter June’s NBA Draft and not return to school for his senior season. That scholarship, however, will most likely be used for the 2003 class because Mason’s ultimate decision is not expected until early next month.
If Power should commit to the Cavaliers, he would become the fourth player to transfer to UVa from another Division I school under Coach Pete Gillen’s tenure. Former Notre Dame player Keith Friel was the first in 1998 and Todd Billet (Rutgers) and Nick Vander Laan (California) transferred to UVa last spring and will become eligible next spring.
Virginia already has signed two players for next season in Derrick Byars, a 6-7 forward from Memphis’ Ridgeway High School, and Devin Smith, a 6-5 swingman from Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - In his first NCAA semifinal, the precocious attackman from Baltimore scored five goals - all in a first-quarter span of 3 minutes, 8 seconds - to spark the Virginia men's lacrosse team to a 16-11 win over Johns Hopkins.

Two days later, the soft- spoken freshman burnished his growing legend. Conor Gill had one goal and three assists at Byrd Stadium to help U.Va. hold off Syracuse 12-10 and capture its first national title in 27 years. He was named the NCAA tournament's most outstanding player.

"If that had been the end of his career, you'd have looked at it and said, 'You've had a nice career, kid,'" Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia said. "I think for Conor there was perhaps a sense of, 'How do I top this? What's the rest of my career going to look like?'"

Gill's college career has entered its final days - he hopes to join a Major League Lacrosse team - and it looks impressive from every angle. In his most recent game, Sunday against Cornell, Gill set an NCAA-tourney record with nine assists. He also scored a goal in U.Va.'s 11-10 quarterfinal victory.

"I had one goal, backdooring my man, and you could see Conor feeling that before I even made the move," all-ACC midfielder Chris Rotelli said. "He knew what I was going to do."

Though not altogether comfortable in the role, Gill has become something of an icon in his sport, particularly in the Baltimore area. Lax-crazed youngsters flock to him for autographs and try to duplicate his stickhandling wizardry.

"There's a couple guys in our game who sort of have a Pied Piper value to the way they play," Starsia said, mentioning former U.Va. greats Doug Knight and Michael Watson and the legendary Powell brothers from Syracuse, Casey and Ryan. Add Gill to that list.

Because of the elegance and "dignity with which he plays," Starsia said, "I think he's left a lasting mark on the game."

Gill, who graduated Monday with a degree in sociology, has at least one game left as a Cavalier. Third-seeded Virginia (11-3) meets second seed Syracuse (13-2) tomorrow in an NCAA semifinal at Rutgers. The final is Monday. What more memorable way for Gill to exit than with bookend titles?

"I think it'd probably be more special to leave with one than come in with one," he said.

If Gill is named a first-team All-American as expected Monday, he would become the first U.Va. player to be so honored three times. He was the ACC rookie of the year in 1999.

"I'd say I'm pretty surprised with the way things have turned out," said Gill, a product of St. Paul's School, which has a pipeline to the U.Va. program. "I don't think I came in here setting goals to be an All-American. My goals coming in here were just to win championships."

Larry Bird's hand-eye coordination, court sense and basketball IQ - not raw athleticism - helped him become one of the NBA's all-time greats. Gill has followed a similar path in lacrosse.

"He doesn't win a lot of individual battles with his feet," Starsia said. "But his vision and his stickwork are different than other players."

Gill said: "I'm not particularly fast, I'm not particularly strong, I'm not going to blow by someone and go right to the goal. It's not something I was blessed with."

With 54 points, Gill leads Virginia in scoring, but his 13 goals are the fewest he's had in a season. That doesn't bother him. He's happy setting up the Cavs" exceptional first-year attackmen, Joe Yevoli (37 goals) and John Christmas (26). Each of Virginia's starting midfielders - Rotelli, A.J. Shannon and Billy Glading - has more goals than Gill, too.

"If you're going to convince everyone else to run and cut hard," Starsia said, "they need to believe you have someone who's going to get the ball back to them."

In Gill they trust.

Conor Gill would be the first to admit he is not the flashiest player.

You won't see Gill running past defenders, or dazzling with behind-the-back passes or other acrobatics. He is not the best ballhandler in traffic, and the velocity of his shots will not raise eyebrows.

But try finding somebody better at reading a defense and finding a seam to exploit with a pinpoint pass. Try finding a more low-key, unselfish force on a collegiate lacrosse field. And try imagining the Virginia Cavaliers in this weekend's NCAA tournament semifinals without the steadying hand of the 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior attackman from St. Paul's School.

"I'm not particularly quick or fast. I can't blow by a lot of defenders. Feeding is what I do best," said Gill, who will lead Virginia (11-3) into its third final four in four seasons tomorrow against Syracuse (13-2) at Rutgers Stadium. "Passing the ball is what people will remember about me. It's what I've been blessed with. It's what got me here."

Passing the ball is also what figures to make Gill the first three-time, first-team All-American in Virginia history. He ranks second in the nation in assists with 41 (2.93 per game), stands second on the school's all-time assist list with 145, and he is the prime reason why Cavaliers freshman attackmen Joe Yevoli and John Christmas made such a loud entrance on the Division I stage this spring.

Yevoli and Christmas are the team's top scorers, having combined for 63 goals. Yevoli, with a team-leading 37 goals - the most ever recorded by a Virginia freshman - is coming off a four-goal performance in last week's 11-10 quarterfinal victory over Cornell.

But that victory really belonged to Gill, who had a hand in every goal but the game-winner by Christmas and produced one of his greatest days with one goal and a tournament-record nine assists. He alone seemed to dissect the Big Red's top-ranked defense. Talk about a signature effort.

"[Gill] has got that knack. He's always got his head up looking to pass. He's always going to the cage to pass," Yevoli said. "He throws passes you don't expect. After a while, you realize you always have to have your stick up, ready. He is going to find you if you're open."

If he can lead Virginia to two more victories and its second NCAA title, Gill will have come full circle in a career that has featured its ups and downs.

It began with a stellar freshman season in 1999, when Gill joined a team loaded with talent and fueled the offense - all the way to the school's second NCAA championship. People still talk about his five-goal outburst in a 16-11, semifinal victory over Johns Hopkins at Byrd Stadium.

Gill earned his initial first-team All-America honors as a sophomore, when he scored a career-high 66 points, including 40 assists. But even his two-goal, five-assist day wasn't enough to keep the defending national champs from falling to Syracuse in the final four.

Then came the most troubling year. First, because Virginia was short on scorers, Gill was forced to give up some of his passing strength in the interest of shooting. Not only did Virginia struggle all season on offense, but Gill took a beating in the process.

There was the gash on the palm of his hand he suffered in the ACC tournament that required 20 stitches. Later in the regular-season finale, an 11-8 victory over Butler that put the 7-6 Cavs in the NCAAs, Gill overcame a shot to the chin - that one required six stitches - by having a hand in every second-half goal.

Virginia then lost a first-round game to Hofstra, and Gill went on to experience more disappointment during his summer tryout for the U.S. men's team at the University of Delaware.

"Leaving Delaware, I didn't expect to make it. It's not like I was mad about it," said Gill, who will graduate next fall with a sociology degree. "I learned a lot from the experience."

Virginia coach Dom Starsia said Gill brought a renewed focus, better health, and a senior's maturity to Charlottesville last fall. He said Gill's riding game has never been better, his practice habits have never been sharper, and his offensive skills are as good as ever. And ever since Virginia lost senior defenseman Mark Koontz to a knee injury a month ago, Gill has assumed more of a vocal leadership role.

Starsia also scoffs at the whispers that Gill, since he isn't known for scoring goals, has thrived on the reputation established with that amazing freshman finish.

"The great athletes jump out at you, but there are guys who separate themselves from the pack with lacrosse I.Q., instincts for the game and stickwork," said Starsia, who counts Gill among the greatest passers he has ever seen and will miss his toughness and consistency.

"Conor is a little bit like the sage of this team now. He sets the tone with the way he practices. He's not Einstein in the classroom, but he's very efficient. He's been no trouble off the field, he's polite to the staff and his teammates. From the first day he's been here, he's always done the right thing. He's a gentleman."