UVa passes first test
Cavs overcome tough Notre Dame squad, advance to 2nd round
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
May 14, 2006

It wasn't the most dominating performance of the season. It wasn't the most consistent. It certainly wasn't the most savvy.
But when all was said and done at Klockner Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the Virginia men's lacrosse team may have got what it needed most - a relatively close game.

UVa, which has steamrolled its competition this season, was tested by a feisty Notre Dame squad. But behind four goals from senior captain Matt Ward, the Cavaliers defeated the Fighting Irish, 14-10.

With the victory, Virginia (14-0) advanced into the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. The top-seeded Cavs will play the winner of today's Georgetown-Navy game next Sunday at Towson.

"That was a heckuva win for us," said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. "That was a real battle out there. We were very pleased to get the win and still be playing at this time of the year."

Notre Dame certainly wasn't a typical first-round opponent for a No. 1 seed.

"Thanks to the [NCAA selection] committee for that one," Starsia joked. "That was a heck of an effort by Notre Dame. I was really pleased with our kids. They battled. I don't think things were ever easy for us, but I thought we battled throughout the game."

Senior Kyle Dixon added three goals and an assist for Virginia. Freshman Danny Glading had two goals and three assists. Drew Thompson, Matt Poskay, Steve Giannone, Garrett Billings and J.J. Morrissey scored a goal each.

Notre Dame (10-5) was led by Ryan Hoff's three goals.

A good sign for Virginia came early on. Ward, who played with a small cast underneath his glove to protect a hairline fracture in his right hand, gave UVa a 1-0 lead just 4:02 into the match.

"Game-time adrenaline was great," Ward said. "It was a little sore in warmups, but once the game got going it started feeling better and better. [The goal] gave me a lot of confidence and I didn't even think about it the rest of the game."

A little more than four minutes later, Ward scored again on an outside shot. When Giannone scored on a wicked bounce shot 1:07 later to put Virginia up 3-0, it looked like another typical UVa demolition was about to take place.

However, an illegal body check call against Virginia defender Matt Kelly gave Notre Dame a man-up opportunity. The Irish capitalized when 6-foot-5 senior Brian Hubschmann scored with just 54 seconds left in the first quarter.

Dixon responded with a goal 28 seconds into the second quarter, but Notre Dame scored the next three goals to tie the game at 4-4.

The Fighting Irish sideline was pumped, as was the sizable contingent of Notre Dame fans in the stands. But not for long.

Thompson, Billings and Poskay scored during the last 2:40 of the quarter to give Virginia a 7-4 halftime lead.

"We knew we just needed to step up and play our game," Dixon said. "We got a little hectic out there. We tried to push some things and force some things but knew, if we just settled down and played our game, we'd be fine."

Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan liked where his team was sitting at intermission.

"All we talked about the whole game and all week was that we wanted to be within two or three [goals] at the start of the fourth," Corrigan said, "because if we can put them in a situation they haven't been in, they'll start to play a little differently."

Unfortunately for Corrigan, the son of former Virginia coach Gene Corrigan, Dixon and Ward scored to make it 9-4 early in the third quarter. Notre Dame's Hoff reeled off a pair of goals to make it 9-6 at the 8:52 mark, but Virginia scored three unanswered goals of its own to put the game out of reach. The Cavs led 12-7 at the end of the third.

"When they tied the score early in the game and then made the push again in the third quarter, I thought to myself, excuse my French, 'Damn the committee,'" said Starsia, smiling. "But this is definitely a situation where you look back at the result. ? I think a game like this does help us in the end. I think we needed to be pushed and we certainly got pushed today."

Corrigan, like many coaches Virginia has gone up against this season, came away in semi-awe.

"They play so well together," Corrigan said. "They're so unselfish with the ball. Defensively they play within themselves. They're so athletic and can pressure you. They're well coached and obviously play very hard. They have all the ingredients of a great team."

 

Last year's heartbreaker pushing Cavs
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
May 14, 2006

Kyle Dixon still hasn't seen film of last year's painful Virginia loss to Johns Hopkins in the semifinals of the NCAA lacrosse championships in Philadelphia.
"I just can't watch it," said the senior Wahoo midfielder. "It's just too heartbreaking."

It took Matt Ward the entire summer to put that deflating loss behind him, but it wasn't easy. The fact that Ward kept bumping into the Hopkins kid who scored the devastating goal all summer long didn't help either. Both live in Oakton and both attended Landon High.

"I'd see him out all the time," Ward said. "You can't look at him angrily, but it's still a bitter moment."

More than redemption

So, if you think Virginia's No. 1-ranked and undefeated lacrosse team has erased last year's heartbreaking semis from its collective memory, you'd be dead wrong.

If you think that getting back to the Final Four, also at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, is a motivational tool for the Cavaliers, you'd be correct.

If you believe that's all that the Wahoos are thinking about, you don't know UVa coach Dom Starsia.

Looking past no one

While he wants to get back to Philly as much as anybody, the veteran coach knows that nothing can be taken for granted, including Saturday's 14-10 home victory over a tough Notre Dame team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The win pushed the Cavaliers' record to 14-0 and moved them into the quarterfinals against the winner of today's Navy-Georgetown game. It also spoiled the homecoming of Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan, who played for Virginia and was a former assistant to former long-time UVa coach Jim Adams.

"From my perspective, it's really important that we take this just a little bit at a time," Starsia said in his best coach-speak after disposing of the Irish.

But he was dead serious. After watching what happened in last year's semis, you can't blame him for taking the one-game-at-a-time philosophy.

A definite bummer

In that semifinal loss to Hopkins, Virginia took an 8-7 lead on Ward's fourth goal of the game with only 12.7 seconds remaining. The Jays' Greg Peyser won the ensuing face-off, darted upfield and passed off to Jake Byrne, who scored with 1.4 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Hopkins went on to win, 9-8, delivering a stunning blow to Virginia. Two days later, the Blue Jays won the national title.

So, every Cavalier who remembers that moment has a burning desire to get back to Philly, where Dixon said the Wahoos would carry a chip on their collective shoulders should they get another shot.

"It's there and it hangs over everything that we do," Starsia said about a potential opportunity to get back to the City of Brotherly Love.

"But we have to be very careful not to assume anything. We're not getting back to Philadelphia unless we earn our way there."

Certainly, the Cavs did just that Saturday with a stern test from the Irish, a physical team that made Virginia earn its first-round win. Starsia chuckled tongue-in-cheek as he "thanked" the NCAA selection committee for giving his top-seeded squad such an "easy" opener.

"I'm not trying to be trite, because I believe this strongly ... in a game like today, we could have been tripped up if we weren't willing to do the work," the UVa coach said.

But that was fine with the Cavaliers. Led by a mature group of seniors, this team is not about to look ahead. Still, they're not shy about mixing it up and doing the dirty work to reach their goal either.

"I'd rather have a game like this where we have to fight back," Dixon said of the Irish. "A physical game like that will get us ready for either Navy or Georgetown, both physical teams."

But Dixon and Ward, who combined to score half of UVa's 14 goals against Notre Dame, realize that their coach speaks the truth, and they have listened. They've already learned what can happen during the beat of a heart.

"It's do-or-die now," said Dixon, who scored three times against the visitors from South Bend. "We either go undefeated or we break out the golf clubs. We don't like the second option."

Ward, who led UVa with four goals Saturday, said that the only way to advance is for the Cavs to play as hard as they can every game. Only then will all the work they've put in since last year's abrupt ending be worth the sweat.

"To go out that way in a semifinal game when you think you almost have the game locked up, that was just heartbreaking," Ward said. "We're trying to get rid of the taste from last year's game. But we know we can't lose focus."

Should these seasoned Wahoos keep that focus for another week, they'll return to the game's greatest stage, the Final Four, with 45,000 lacrosse fans looking on.

"Playing in front of that many fans, playing in the stadium where the Philadelphia Eagles play, that's something that most kids playing lacrosse don't ever imagine they'll experience," Ward said. "I remember walking in there last year, and it was probably the first time I've ever been nervous in a game."

But the two seniors are keenly aware of Starsia's wisdom.

Golf can wait.

 

Virginia hoping for a repeat
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
May 14, 2006

Virginia women's lacrosse coach Julie Myers wouldn't mind seeing a repeat of March 25 when her team takes the field in its first-round NCAA Tournament game against Princeton this afternoon. In fact, she'd love it.
On that day in March, UVa players were in the zone.

The Cavaliers thrashed the Tigers on their own home field, 16-3. By game's end, Virginia players were just shrugging their shoulders, kind of like Michael Jordan did in the NBA Finals some years back.

"Literally, everything we did worked - every pattern we ran, every play we set up," Myers said. "It was almost too easy to the point that we were like, 'It's not going to happen that easy a second time around.'"

That's precisely the message that Myers has been trying to convey to her team heading into today's rematch.

"You can't look past Princeton," Myers said. "They have so much history. We had our way with them at the beginning of the season, but even during that game and after that game we all said, 'Wow, that was pretty unusual for Princeton.'

"I think we all take confidence from what we were able to do, but we also acknowledge that Princeton was having an off-day."

Virginia (15-3) only led the Tigers 6-3 at the half before scoring 10 unanswered goals. Nine UVa players scored at least once. Tyler Leachman and Blair Weymouth led the way for four goals apiece.

"We've played them so many times and know how good of a team they are," said Leachman, a senior. "We realize that even though the score was 16-3, they're definitely a better team than that. We're not taking them lightly at all.

"I think it was the beginning of the season and they had a lot of new people, and we had played a few more games at that point. I think they just had an off-day. I definitely don't think they're 13 goals worse than our team."

Virginia and Princeton meeting in the tournament this early is an oddity. Either Princeton or Virginia, or both teams, have been in the NCAA Championship game seven times in the last eight years.

The Cavaliers beat the Tigers, 10-4, to win the 2004 title. In the 2003 final, Virginia lost, 8-7, to Princeton.

Since getting walloped by UVa in March, Princeton (11-5) has been on a roll, winning nine out of its last 10 games, including three straight.

The Tigers' Kathleen Miller, a junior attacker, has 54 points (34 goals and 20 assists).

"She's really separated herself," Myers said. "We need to make sure we do a good job on her. It needs to be total-team awareness. It won't be one player matching up with her specifically. We just want our whole team to be aware of her.

"They like to use picks and set screens, and attack the crease. It will take an entire team effort."

Myers said she would like to see her team come out strong and try and put Princeton away early.

"I think the longer Princeton stays in the game, the more dangerous they'll be," she said. "Hopefully if we start with some defensive stops, that certainly takes a lot of pressure off our attackers. That's when they're at their best - when they feel like they can take their time and get some good looks and generate some great offense together."

GROUND BALLS: Princeton and Virginia have met six times in the NCAA Tournament. Each team has won three games. ? Princeton ranks first all-time in tournament wins with 27. Virginia is third with 25. ? Myers said there are some similarities between Princeton's style and the school's famed basketball motion offense. "They'll be a little more deliberate on the attack, just like the men's lacrosse program is," Myers said. "They're going to really try and get good looks instead of just [shooting] the ball at every opportunity they get."

 

Cavs get a taste of their own medicine
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
May 14, 2006

If you wanted to, you could blame it on the television cameras.
For the first time in 63 games and for the second straight time during a televised home game, Virginia was shut out at Davenport Field.

Brian O'Connor had a better reason for his team's 5-0 loss to North Carolina on Saturday in front of a stadium-record crowd of 2,624.

The answer? He stands 6-foot-2, weighs in around 175 pounds and throws an array of pitches for strikes.

North Carolina starting pitcher Robert Woodard kept UVa off-balance from the first pitch he threw, a change-up for a strike, to the end of a complete-game performance.

"The story of the game was Woodard. We knew it coming into the game," O'Connor said. "The guy has pitched really well against us for three years, and he mixes and matches as good as anybody.

"He buckled down when he needed to and made big pitches."

With the win, top-ranked UNC (41-10, 19-7 ACC) pulled two games ahead of No. 9 Virginia (40-11, 17-9) in the ACC standings.

UVa freshman Jacob Thompson (9-2) matched his Tar Heel counterpart for five innings and would have taken an early lead if not for a questionable call at home in the fourth inning.

David Adams led off the inning for UVa with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brandon Guyer. Tom Hagan followed with an infield single up the middle that took UNC second baseman Kyle Shelton 10 steps into the outfield grass.

UVa's third base coach Kevin McMullan saw the ball slip away and waved Adams home. Orton recovered and fired the ball to catcher Tim Federowicz before the runner arrived, but Adams slid foot-first into the plate to the left of the catcher.

The crowd thought Adams was safe and so did O'Connor, who sprinted out to discuss the call with home plate umpire David Pritchett.

"They don't allow me to comment at all," said O'Connor, citing a league rule. "I didn't think he made the tag, but that is here nor there."

Television replays proved O'Connor had reason to be upset, but the third-year skipper's main concern was the wasted chance against UNC's No. 2 starter.

"I think that play could have been a big turning point," O'Connor said. "You get a run off Woodard and things would maybe be a little different."

UNC opened the scoring off Thompson (9-2) in the sixth.

With a 1-1 count on Benji Johnson, Thompson said he "hung a slider." Johnson slapped the offering into the gap in right-center for a double that easily scored Josh Horton from first base.

"I knew as soon as I threw it that it wasn't going to be good," said Thompson, who allowed six hits and four walks in seven innings. "The guy did a great job of staying back, and he just drove it to right field."

Shortly after the play, Virginia third baseman Jeremy Farrell said he heard somebody in stands yell out that Horton had missed third base. UVa did not appeal, but television replays proved they should have - Horton appeared to miss the bag.

UNC clung to its one-run lead until the ninth, when the Tar Heels finally pulled away.

O'Connor used four relievers as North Carolina took advantage of four hits and a costly error by UVa first baseman Sean Doolittle to push four runs across.

"It was still a 1-0 game and Sean didn't make that clutch play at first base and it opened up the floodgates," O'Connor said. "I just tried to manage the damage as much as we could."

Woodard, who threw 68 of his 94 pitches for strikes, gave up a single and hit a batter in the ninth but stranded both runners by getting Farrell to ground out to the mound.

UNC coach Mike Fox raved about Woodard, a winner in 17 of his last 18 decisions.

"He made some quality pitches when he needed to and pitched in when he needed to," Fox said. "He was throwing 83, 84 - nothing spectacular. He just doesn't let the hitters get comfortable in there. They had no idea what was coming in any count and that's a huge advantage for him."

Hagan, who registered one of UVa's six hits, said Woodard did two important things - he threw strikes and mixed his pitches as well as any pitcher the team has faced this season.

"That's the sign of a good pitcher," Hagan said. "He wasn't throwing 95 like Andrew Miller did last night, but he threw hard enough to make his pitches effective.

"We got into trouble a little bit and we couldn't really string anything together all day."

Despite losing for just the third time all year at home, O'Connor said he was confident his team would bounce back today at 1 p.m. in the rubber match of the three-game series.

"They weren't over-excited about Friday night's win over any other win. I think that's really important," O'Connor said. "You have to treat them all the same. When you treat them all the same, you don't have letdowns when maybe you're not playing as high-profile of an opponent."

With bad weather in the forecast today, O'Connor said officials from the ACC and the university discussed playing a doubleheader on Saturday, before electing to try to play the finale today.

"The ACC office and our administrators didn't feel like there was enough chance of rain," O'Connor said. "If there's a 60-percent chance of rain, you have to try and play on Sunday."

O'Connor said the two teams could start as late as 6 p.m., if needed, but with both teams fighting for an ACC title and the chance to host an NCAA Regional he hopes Mother Nature cooperates.

Even though school is out at both universities, league rules state that the two teams cannot play on Monday.

"We'll be in touch with the ACC office and see what the best thing to do is," O'Connor said. "I'm hoping that the weather will be fine, because you hate to cost one of us the league championship because of a rainout."

EXTRA BASES: Virginia senior Mike Ballard will start on the mound today for the Cavaliers. Ballard threw a no-hitter on Easter. Today he goes on Mother's Day. "Mike's pitched some really, really good baseball at times," O'Connor said. "There has been times when he has given three or four runs up in the first five innings. This is a big ball game for him. If you go anywhere in the tournament, you obviously need three strong starters. I think we have got those guys." ?

UNC will counter with Josh Bard (6-2, 3.69 ERA). ? UNC stranded nine runners on base on Saturday. UVa left seven runners on the base paths. ? The Cavaliers turned two double plays. ? Brandon Marsh, UVa's right fielder, went 0 for 4 and had a six-game hitting streak snapped.

 

UVa breezes past Army; Wake Forest up next
By Jerry Miller / Daily Progress staff writer
May 14, 2006

The last time Virginia and Army squared off in men's tennis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was still in office.
The Black Knights put up a good fight that afternoon, clipping the Cavs 5-4 in the 1936-37 season.

Needless to say, times have changed.

Virginia cruised to a 4-0 win over Army, sealing the match in 1 hour, 50 minutes, the quickest packaging of the season.

"The first few games of the match you have to show them they have no chance," said Treat Huey, who disposed of Michael Good, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 4 singles. "We came out really strong and set the tone from start to finish."

In the race to see who could finish their singles match first - the match is called once a team reaches four points - Rylan Rizza dropped John Houghon, 6-4, 6-0, while Doug Stewart earned a 6-2, 6-2, victory over Phil Muhawi.

Somdev Devvarmen (6-0, 4-3 over Carl Fisher), Marko Miklo (6-0, 3-1 over Eddie Kang) and Darrin Cohen (7-6 [5], 0-0 over Kevin Harris) did not finish their respective matches before UVa locked up the win.

"I don't think we've ever been as comfortable as we are now," said Brian Boland, whose seventh-ranked Cavs have a 6-2 record in three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. "Across the board, I feel the guys are really comfortable. They're confident."

Virginia (22-8) will play 28th-ranked Wake Forest (16-10) today at noon at Snyder Tennis Center, pending weather cooperation.

The Demon Deacons dispatched Kentucky, 4-0.

"The doubles point will be big against [Virginia]," said Wake All-America candidate Todd Paul, a junior who is 27-12 on the season and ranked 18th in the nation. "That's going to be the biggest point of the match. I don't think we've won a match this year without winning the doubles point and we've lost a lot of 4-3 matches."

A Stamford, Conn., native, Paul, an athletic player with excellent lateral and baseline-to-net quickness, features a powerful, free-swinging forehand and a compact backhand that stays in play.

He also charged the net before his match - Paul held a 6-4, 3-4 advantage over No. 37 Alex Hume - was called after the Deacons reached the four-point quota.

"Singles-wise I think we match-up pretty well with them. We know these guys. It's just a matter of taking care of business," said Todd, who's defeated eight nationally ranked opponents.

On March 24, the Cavs shelled Wake, 6-1, in a home match with Paul recording the lone point, a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Stewart at No. 1 singles.

The Demon Deacons finished 6-5 in the ACC to earn their sixth straight NCAA appearance and seventh in 10 years under coach Jeff Zinn. Virginia registered a 9-2 ACC record and tied for first place in the regular season.

Wake took advantage of two late scratches by UK coach Dennis Emery in its win.

Senior Nate Emge, the Wildcats' No. 3 singles player and a member of their No. 2 doubles team, and freshman Kenny Hodge, No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles, were each scratched before the match, surprising Wake officials.

"It was due to disciplinary reasons," said Emery, whose team closed its season at 16-10.

Three sources indicated the scratches were due to poor grades - Kentucky's second semester is over.

"I thought we played really well," Emery said. "We were under the impression they were just a really good indoor team, but they were a solid outdoor team that just beat us."

Virginia's celebrated senior class - Cohen, Meythaler, Rizza, Stewart, Stephen Rozek and Mike Downing - will play its last collegiate match in Charlottesville today.

Rizza admitted the last match was on his mind.

"It's hard. It's nerve-racking knowing it's the last match I'll ever play here in Charlottesville," Rizza said. "But when push comes to shove, you have to play the game and control what you can control. Play the best tennis you can for that day."

The Virginia/Wake Forest winner will advance to the round of 16 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

Cohen, Rizza, Stewart and sophomore Eric Riley are each from California.

"We want to get to Stanford more than anything," Rizza said. "There's a little pressure [today] but I think pressure is good for all of us."

MORE BEEF: Cohen tied a pair of school doubles records with his 8-1 win along with Stewart at No. 3 doubles. The Lafayette, Calif., native tied Huntley Montgomery's school mark of 102 wins and also tied Montgomery's single-season record of 34 set in 2001. "It's something I knew I was close to this season," Cohen said, "so it was kind of an inspiration to match the record." ?

The weather forecast Saturday evening called for an 80-percent chance of thunderstorms today. In the event of inclement weather, check www.virginiasports.com for updates. Because the NCAA Tournament is an outdoor tourney, NCAA officials will be patient with the weather with the intention of keeping the tournament outside.

 

No. 1 Cavaliers overcome pluck of the Irish
16th seed gives U.Va. all it wants in NCAA opening-round match
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 14, 2006
NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT
U.VA. 14 N. DAME 10
QUARTERFINALS:
Virginia vs. Navy or Georgetown, Sunday, May 21, in Towson, Md.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - For the unbeaten University of Virginia men's lacrosse team, its reward for earning the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament was a first-round date with Notre Dame.

Some reward. The Fighting Irish entered with a 10-4 record and "clearly weren't the No. 16 team in the tournament," U.Va. coach Dom Starsia noted. But the NCAA selection committee took geography into consideration when setting its opening-round matchups, and so Notre Dame was sent to Klockner Stadium.

Starsia's Cavaliers are headed to the NCAA quarterfinals as expected, but their 14-10 victory didn't come easily yesterday. A crowd of 3,876 saw Notre Dame run off three straight goals to pull to 4-4 in the second quarter, and Virginia (14-0) didn't take control until late in the third period.

"When they tied the score early in the game, and then when they pushed again in the third quarter, I thought to myself, excuse my French, 'Damn the committee,'" Starsia said with a smile.

"But this was definitely a situation where you're looking back at the result, and the fact that we won and played through a game like this does help us in the end. I really think we needed to be pushed, and we certainly got pushed today."

U.Va. probably would have won in a rout if not for Joey Kemp and Taylor Clagett. Kemp, a sophomore goalie, made 20 saves, several of them spectacular, and Clagett, a sophomore midfielder, won 16 of 28 faceoffs for Notre Dame.

The crowd, as well as Virginia's players, kept waiting for the Cavs to manufacture one of their trademark scoring sprees, but "when you don't win faceoffs consistently, it's hard to go on a run," Starsia said.

Virginia will meet Georgetown or Navy in the quarterfinals next Sunday at Towson University. The Hoyas play host to the Midshipmen today. U.Va. eliminated Navy in last year's NCAA quarterfinals.

In his final appearance at Klockner Stadium, senior attackman Matt Ward played brilliantly, scoring a game-high four goals and adding an assist. Impressive stuff from a guy playing with a broken bone in his right hand.

Ward, who suffered the injury April 30 against Maryland, went the entire way yesterday, wearing a light cast on his hand. His final goal - with 8:16 left - gave Virginia a 14-8 lead.

"It was a little sore sometimes," said Ward, who scored two goals on left-handed shots. "If I was ready to pass the ball, I was all right, but the times I had to pick it up quick and move it on, I noticed it. But game-time adrenaline really seemed to help."

Senior midfielder Kyle Dixon contributed three goals and one assist, and ACC freshman of the year Danny Glading had two goals and three assists for U.Va. In all, six players had at least one assist for Virginia.

"You rarely see a team that has as many good offensive players who are as unselfish as they are, and that's what makes them so hard to defend," said Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan, a former U.Va. player and assistant.