Starsia's gamble pays off
Morrissey uses athleticism to make his mark at UVa
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
May 11, 2006

Five years ago Virginia coach Dom Starsia had never seen J.J. Morrissey play lacrosse.
When Starsia was recruiting Morrissey out of high school, all he had to go by was a video of Morrissey playing football.

In the video, Starsia saw Morrissey, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound running back, explode through holes and dance around defenders.

That was enough to convince him to save the last spot in his incoming freshman class for the Massachusetts native, despite the fact Morrissey had limited lacrosse experience.

"He'd hit the hole and scoot off," Starsia recalled. "I was watching the tape and thinking, 'He could be a middie, I mean come on.' I just liked him a lot and was intrigued with his potential."

You could say Starsia hit the jackpot.

Morrissey, a senior captain, has developed into one of the top midfielders in the country - a key cog in the undefeated UVa machine that begins its quest for a national title on Saturday against Notre Dame.

"J.J. may focus on the defensive side, but one of the keys to our success this year has been the transition opportunities we've been getting," said senior Matt Ward. "Fifty percent of those are in the middle of the field, which is J.J. territory.

"He's getting the ball from defense to offense better than anybody I've seen recently, and that creates a lot of offense for us."

Morrissey played a couple of years on his high school varsity lacrosse team, but his main sports were football and hockey. Morrissey was very good in both, but his diminutive stature was an impediment to playing at the Division I college level.

"Honestly my dream was to play college hockey, but as a kid who wasn't very tall, you lose out on that dream because the kids are so big in hockey," Morrissey said. "I did really want to play football, too, but once again size was the issue.

"I looked at lacrosse and felt like size wouldn't be an issue and I could still play at the elite level that I wanted to."

Morrissey's transformation into a Division I-caliber lacrosse player didn't happen overnight.

When he first arrived in Charlottesville, the speed of the game was much faster than he was accustomed to. And, his stick skills needed some work.

The summer after his freshman year is where Morrissey says he improved the most. Morrissey spent hours at a high school in his hometown of Winchester flinging a ball against a wall. Playing "Wall Ball" wasn't exactly a trip to Disneyland, but it paid huge dividends.

"It did get boring," Morrissey confessed, "but you've got to do what you've got to do.

"I knew that [stick skills] was the one area where I was really lacking in terms of my other teammates. I just worked really hard at it to try and get up to the same level."

What Morrissey has always had going for him is tremendous athletic ability.

"He's an unbelievable athlete," Ward said. "When we play touch football, he's the No. 1 pick every time. His speed and athleticism are pretty impressive for a kid who's not the biggest kid, but certainly one of the strongest on our team.

"With those groundballs on the wings, there's nobody stopping him when he tries to get the ball."

Turning athletes from other sports into lacrosse players has been a growing trend in the college game.

Starsia, himself a former football player at Brown University who was talked into giving lacrosse a try, has been at the forefront of it.

One of his most notable lacrosse converts was Doug Knight, who played at Virginia from 1994-97.

"When I told [Knight] that he could come to Virginia and be a great college lacrosse player, he looked at me like I had two heads," Starsia recalled. "He said, 'I'm going to Williams and I'm going to be a soccer and hockey player. Lacrosse is just what I do in the spring when they make me play something.'"

Knight wound up giving lacrosse a shot and became Virginia's all-time leading scorer (165 goals).

Starsia knows the word is out about the types of players he seeks.

"People have always said, 'Well, Starsia always looks for athletes,'" Starsia said. "I think there's some truth to that. I've always felt that if you get a good athlete who has a little niftiness, you've got a chance to find someone who could be a truly special lacrosse player."

Morrissey is certainly glad that Starsia recruits a little outside the box.

"I think Dom was looking for someone to fulfill that defensive middie role, which you really don't need to be that skilled in lacrosse, you just need to be an athlete I guess," Morrissey said. " I think what he saw on that tape was an athletic kid and just decided to give me a chance.

"The reason why I'm at such a great school and at such a great lacrosse program is because Dom decided to take a chance without really knowing who I was as a player."

Starsia is pretty glad he decided to roll the dice. In addition to becoming one of the team's top players, Morrissey - who is planning on working in the admissions office at his old high school upon graduation - has evolved into a leader. Last season, as a junior, he won the Harry Gaver Award for leadership.

"J.J. is just somebody everybody respects and admires," Starsia said.

 

'Doctor' prepares for big UNC series
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
May 11, 2006

Kids love to rag other kids. That's a given. And often times, they call each other names based on their first or last name.
As Sean Doolittle was growing up in New Jersey, interestingly enough, there was one name he was never called - "Doctor."

From the children's books authored by Hugh Lofting to the movie series starring Eddie Murphy, Dr. Dolittle is a household name.

That all changed during one phone call during Doolittle's junior season at Shawnee High.

Hot on the trail for Doolittle's services, Virginia's pitching coach Karl Kuhn called him "Doc" during his introductory phone call.

Kuhn remembers Doolittle words well: "What?"

Kuhn was just trying to be personable. Doolittle laughed hysterically.

"I had never heard it until I started talking with him," Doolittle said. "It just stuck."

The nickname will likely be buzzing around Davenport Field this weekend when the ninth-ranked Cavaliers play host to top-ranked North Carolina in a three-game series.

There were still a few times last year, however, when Doolittle heard his first name barked from coach Brian O'Connor.

"If I was in trouble or if Coach really wanted my attention," Doolittle said, "then he called me 'Sean.'"

The times were few and far between, but the Virginia coach envisioned how special Doolittle could become.

"You challenge players that you know are capable of meeting that challenge and Sean is one of those guys," O'Connor said. "Any great player often strays away from what makes them successful and when they do that, it is our coaches' responsibility to bring them back in and make them realize what they have to do to give their team the best chance to win."

Doolittle has given UVa more than a few chances to win.

Last year, he boasted a 1.64 ERA, struck out 66 batters in 49.1 innings and helped the team win 41 games and advance to the NCAA Regionals. He played first base and hit .313 with a team-best 11 homers.

But despite being named a Freshman All-American, Doolittle admitted that playing college baseball took some adjustments.

In his first pitching performance at UNC-Wilmington, Doolittle struggled, allowing two earned runs in two innings.

"I remember trying to be so perfect. I fell behind in some counts and I was trying to do too much," Doolittle said. "I wasn't attacking hitters like I was towards the end of the year. I was falling behind and it was getting me in trouble."

For almost two full months, Doolittle slowly gained the confidence he desired.

And then in a contest against North Carolina, Doolittle's upcoming enemy, something clicked.

For the first time in a league game, O'Connor handed the ball to Doolittle.

"Believe it or not, that UNC game played a major role in my performance the rest of the year," Doolittle said. "To see that Coach had enough confidence in me to put me out there on a Friday night when the game is on the line, that really showed the confidence that he had in me."

Doolittle recorded seven outs and allowed one run against the Tar Heels. He was not involved in the decision as UVa lost in the 14th inning and UNC went on to pull off a series sweep. But during the bus ride home, Doolittle said he felt like he could take on the world.

"I feel like I pitched really well against UNC and they were ranked sixth or seventh in the country," Doolittle said. "That gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year."

He proved it. Over his next 27.2 innings, which spanned his next 11 relief appearances, Doolittle did not allow a single earned run.

UVa went on to make a run in the ACC Tournament - the Cavaliers advanced to the title game - but Doolittle hit a wall. In the title game against Georgia Tech, he gave up two runs and took his first loss.

In the opening game of the NCAA Regionals, Doolittle allowed two more runs in relief and St. John's gave Doolittle another loss.

"He got worn down last year in the conference and the NCAA tournament," O'Connor said, "because we had to use him so frequently just to get into the NCAA Tournament."

Doolittle said the nature of the late-season contests took a toll.

"They were high-intensity games and a lot of the games that I was in were close games. That wears on you mentally, emotionally and physically in 60 games after only playing 30 or so in high school," Doolittle said. "That's just a huge difference. Mentally, I was in it, but I just ran out of gas."

O'Connor made the decision early in the season to move "Doc" into the starting rotation.

Thanks to his new role, Doolittle said his tank is full. His impressive stats prove it - he is 8-1 with a 1.99 ERA and has fanned 83 batters in 68 innings. Batters are hitting just .181 against the southpaw.

"Now, I know when I'm going to throw, and in between outings I can do a little better job of taking care of my body," Doolittle said. "I know what my schedule's going to be every week."

The perfectionist in Doolittle keeps him striving for more. He wants to pitch deeper into games, which means keeping his pitch count down.

"I'm getting there," Doolittle said. "I'm trying to use my whole repertoire a little more - my fastball, my slider and my changeup - rather than just challenge guys with fastballs.

"I was stressing velocity over location, and now by stressing location over velocity I can get some more groundballs and pop-ups and have some quicker innings."

That is exactly what O'Connor is after with his team one win shy of a third-straight 40-win season.

"If Sean is going to pitch into the seventh and eighth inning, he's going to have to pitch. He just can't rare back and throw fastballs all the time and he knows that," O'Connor said. "He did a great job last time out against Maryland of going at them early, but then switching his mode and mixing his pitches up. That makes him tough to hit.

"He has confidence in all his pitches and he needs to use them to have the best chance to pitch deep into a ball game."

With UNC trotting out its ace, hard-throwing lefty Andrew Miller (10-0, 1.91 ERA), against Doolittle on Friday, O'Connor is counting on Doolittle to do a lot.

"I know that he's going to be a good matchup for Andrew Miller," O'Connor said. "We believe in him, but most importantly his teammates believe in him."

 

Virginia ready for lacrosse title run
The Cavaliers enter the NCAA tournament top ranked and the only unbeaten team.
BY GARY LAMBRECHT
May 11, 2006

Virginia men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia thought April 8 might be the day his team would receive its comeuppance.

Having beaten Maryland on the road a week earlier by 10 goals, the Cavaliers had concluded an unusually flat week of practice, before traveling to Chapel Hill, N.C.

"I turned to one of my assistants and told him I didn't have a good feeling about this," Starsia said. "It was one of the formulas for disaster."

Then, poof, just like that, Virginia flipped a switch and punched out the Tar Heels, first by jumping out to a 6-1 lead after one quarter, then by rolling to a 21-13 victory.

It has been that type of spring for the 13-0 Cavaliers, who threaten to turn the NCAA tournament into Virginia's World, with 15 other participants merely playing in it. The top-ranked, top-seeded Cavaliers, the only undefeated team left in Division I, are the whole package.

Virginia has won by an average of 8.4 goals, tops in the nation. It has owned the middle of the field with its speed and hustle, has grabbed 191 more ground balls than its opponents, and has won 60 percent of its faceoffs. Junior goalie Kip Turner spends much time as a spectator, but still has a strong save percentage (.599) and has surrendered just 6.36 goals per game - fifth in the country.

Three years removed from a national title, two years removed from missing the tournament with a 5-8 record, and one year after a stunning, 9-8 loss to Johns Hopkins in the national semifinals, the seniors such as Matt Ward, Culver and midfielder Kyle Dixon have an extra sense of urgency.

Nothing has interrupted Virginia's march, as it aims to become the first team in history to win it all with a 17-0 record, beginning with Saturday's first-round date against visiting Notre Dame.

Will a broken right hand knock Ward (26, 19) out and cause a stumble? What about Virginia's extended layoff? Due mainly to Duke's canceled season, the Cavs have played just twice since April 8.

Maryland senior attackman Joe Walters, whose Terps have lost twice to the Cavs by a combined score of 26-10µ this year, sees only one way to take

down what is clearly the game's best team.

"There's no sense sugar-coating it," Walters said. "I think you've got to play a perfect game."

Arrest no ploy, DA says
Warrant served on witness in case
Samiha Khanna, Joseph Neff and Benjamin Niolet, Staff Writers

DURHAM - Durham police had no ulterior motive when they arrested an alibi witness on an old misdemeanor warrant, District Attorney Mike Nifong said Thursday.
The Wednesday arrest of Moezeldin Elmostafa -- a cab driver who says he can provide an alibi for one of two men accused of raping a woman at a party held March 13 by the Duke University men's lacrosse team -- drew fire from defense attorneys, who said the arrest of a key defense witness was equal to intimidation.

It is common practice for police to run the names of people involved in a case because they don't want any surprises when the case goes to court, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Thursday. Investigators, who took Elmostafa to jail on a 2003 warrant for misdemeanor larceny, did not ask him specific questions about the lacrosse case, she said.

There is no unit of officers at the Durham Police Department charged with clearing old warrants, which, as of last fall, exceeded 10,000. So when officers discover an unserved warrant and know where the person is, they should serve it, Nifong said.

That was the goal the two investigators, Benjamin Himan and R.D. Clayton, had when they approached Elmostafa, authorities said.

"It came up in the context of we were collecting information on potential witnesses," Nifong said.

Ernest Conner, a Greenville lawyer who represents defendant Reade Seligmann, sees the arrest differently.

"It appears to me they are trying to pressure a witness who supports our defendant's rock-solid alibi," Conner said Wednesday.

Defense lawyers say Elmostafa's statements in the Duke investigation can exonerate Seligmann, who has been indicted in the case along with lacrosse teammate Collin Finnerty.

Sworn statement

The driver signed a sworn statement in April saying he picked up Seligmann from the Duke lacrosse team party just after midnight March 14, drove him to an automated teller machine and stopped at a fast-food restaurant before dropping him off at his dorm.

Elmostafa also has given testimony to police, but the cab driver said investigators continued to probe Wednesday just before they arrested him. When he said he had no more information, officers took him to jail, he said.

That account is incorrect, officials said Thursday.

"I would be very surprised if the officers even thought about using that as an opportunity to ask him something," Nifong said.

The warrant for Elmostafa's arrest was discovered during a routine rundown of information about witnesses in the case, Nifong said. The order had been issued Sept. 2, 2003, when an employee of the Hecht's department store at Northgate Mall said one of the cab driver's customers had stolen five purses worth $250 while Elmostafa sat outside in his taxi.

Elmostafa said he was unaware of the theft until after he dropped off the woman at her house and later received a phone call from Hecht's security.

Elmostafa said he gave the woman's address and a copy of his driver's license to the security guard, who thanked him for his help.

The Hecht's employee pressed charges against both Lisa Faye Hawkins, the shopper, and Elmostafa. Hawkins was arrested a short time later and pleaded guilty, adding to a pattern of stealing and drug use dating back to 1982. She could not be reached Thursday.

The Hecht's employee who pressed charges declined to comment Thursday.

Meanwhile, Elmostafa's arrest brought an outpouring of concern and outrage from throughout the Triangle and the country.

Joel Boyd, a lawyer from Melbourne, Fla., said one of his clients was interested in helping Elmostafa with any legal fees that arose from the arrest.

"My client is a proud Duke alumnus who has a strong interest in protecting the civil liberties of all U.S. citizens/resident aliens and has no connection to the Duke lacrosse team," Boyd wrote in an e-mail message
 

Sutcliffe Gives Incoherent Interview
By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO — Rick Sutcliffe, a Cy Young award winner and ESPN baseball analyst, gave a rambling, slurred interview during the local television broadcast of the Brewers-Padres game Wednesday night.

Sutcliffe's microphone eventually was cut off. Craig Nichols, general manager of Channel 4 San Diego, on Thursday described the interview as embarrassing.

It was the second time in three weeks that comments during a broadcast at Petco Park drew attention. On April 22, Former Mets and Cardinals All-Star Keith Hernandez, now a broadcaster for New York, said that women "don't belong in the dugout" after spotting Padres massage therapist Kelly Calabrese high-fiving Mike Piazza after he hit a home run.

Sutcliffe, who used to broadcast Padres games for Channel 4 San Diego, dropped by the broadcast booth late in Wednesday night's game and was warmly welcomed by announcers Matt Vasgersian and Mark "Mud" Grant, a former big league pitcher.

The trio first talked about golf and actor Bill Murray, who was with Sutcliffe at the game. The conversation turned to Sutcliffe's daughter, who, the pitcher said, has been accepted to Harvard Medical School.

That's when Sutcliffe began to meander.

"She's on her way to Africa tomorrow," Sutcliffe said. "How about that? Over there on one of those missions, man. George Clooney — you been reading about all that, you been seeing that?"

To which Vasgersian responded with surprise: "George Clooney?"

"Yeah, he's up there with the Congress, he's trying to get everybody to go over there and solve that thing."

Sutcliffe then said: "I'm getting yelled at from Bill Murray in the back. I need to go. I'd much rather hang with you guys."

Grant thanked Sutcliffe for joining them.

"Mud, you're the best, man," Sutcliffe replied. "Anybody on Earth that doesn't like Mark Grant, they've got problems."

Sutcliffe then asked Vasgersian, "Matty, what are you still doing here in San Diego?"

Vasgersian tried to steer the conversation to baseball, but Sutcliffe persisted.

"No, no, no, Matty — everybody on Earth has been trying to steal you — the Dodgers, the Cubs, ESPN. What are you still doing here?"

Sutcliffe's microphone apparently was cut off then, because a voice in the background can be heard saying: "They turned it off."

Sutcliffe couldn't be reached for comment on Thursday, although ESPN read an apology from him on its late-night SportsCenter show.

Nichols said Sutcliffe "used remarkably poor judgment. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for the Channel 4 team, and I'm embarrassed for the viewers. They're trying to watch the latest win. This is all I'm talking about today. The focus should have been on that win."

Nichols said the station received dozens of e-mails and phone calls about the interview.

Based on Sutcliffe's background, "under any other circumstance, I think any other broadcast booth in the world would have invited him in," Nichols said. "He started talking about things that weren't of interest. It wasn't what we wanted on the air."

After Wednesday night's game, Sutcliffe and Murray visited the Padres' clubhouse.

When Sutcliffe introduced Murray to infielder Mark Bellhorn, who was seated, the actor hugged the infielder tightly and the two tumbled onto the ground.

"You were a Cub!" Murray said.

Sutcliffe won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1979 with the Dodgers and the Cy Young in 1984, the year his Cubs lost to the Padres in the NL championship series.