Orange in spoiler roll
Top-ranked Virginia is two wins from winning another title, but the Cavs must deal with an old teammate first.
Doug Doughty

Virginia knows something about the history of teams that have taken a No. 1 ranking and an undefeated record into the Division I men's lacrosse final four.

The Cavaliers almost derailed one of those teams in the 2005 semifinals, only to see Johns Hopkins score with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation, then prevail 9-8 in overtime.

Those memories could provide a haunting effect as No. 1 Virginia (15-0) returns to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where it will meet seventh-ranked Syracuse (10-4) in the semifinals at 2 p.m. today.

"I don't know that we've ever felt haunted by that loss," said UVa defenseman Michael Culver, one of the Cavaliers' co-captains. "I like to think of it as motivating."

Culver is among a group of six Virginia seniors who were on the field in 2003 when the Cavaliers won their last NCAA title. What's more, two members of that team will be playing for Syracuse, attackman Joe Yevoli and defensive midfielder Nathan Kenney.

Yevoli, a second-team All-American for the Cavaliers in 2003, graduated from UVa last May but had a redshirt year at his disposal.

Because Virginia had completed most of its recruiting by the time Yevoli decided to sit out the 2005 season and rest a back injury, UVa coach Dom Starsia did not have the scholarship money to reward Yevoli at his previous levels.

Yevoli then transferred to Syracuse with instant eligibility and has contributed 23 goals and 16 assists. Three of those goals came in the first quarter of the Oranges' game with UVa at Charlottesville on March 3. The Cavs won that game 20-15.

"There actually was quite a bit of hype leading up to that game and discussion of Joe and his transfer," Culver said. "I think there may have been comments made to the press that we won't get into. [They came from] that end but they were all quickly diffused."

In a story that ran on LaxPower.com, Yevoli said he felt isolated by cliques on Virginia's team. A member of the Syracuse sports information staff said this week that Yevoli would not be participating in interviews with Virginia media.

When the teams played in early March, Culver was responsible for Mike Leveille, who had three goals and two assists. He doesn't think that assignment will change, but most of the Cavalier defensemen are familiar with Yevoli.

"I was actually talking to one of the Harvard coaches about him," said Culver, referring to Syracuse's 11-4 victim in a first-round NCAA game. "He asked for my synopsis on Joe, but he's like any other talented player. You can scout him all you want, but it's not going to give you that much of an advantage."

More than anything, Culver and his fellow defensemen benefit from weekly scrimmages against a UVa offense that leads the country in scoring, and vice versa.

Culver routinely has held down the best attackmen in the country -- not bad for a player who was cut from the varsity lacrosse team at Ridgewood (N.J.) High School.

"It's a funny story," said Culver, who, at 6 feet and 190 pounds, is relatively slight for an elite college defenseman. "I was coming off a really good football season as a sophomore in high school and was thinking about playing college football, but I had played lacrosse my whole life.

"I tried out for the varsity team as a midfielder and I think I was the last guy cut, which was a big setback emotionally. One of my coaches at the time had seen me play football and gave me a long stick and suggested I play defense. By the state championship game that year, I was back on the varsity."

Culver, a middle linebacker and running back in football, is one of a number of ex-football players who play lacrosse for UVa. In fact, touch-football games are a regular part of the Cavaliers' fall-conditioning program.

With All-American midfielder Matt Poskay at quarterback, Culver is happy to report, the seniors went undefeated in touch football this year. It may have been an omen for the lacrosse season as Culver and company go for a second ring this weekend.

"You do actually get rings," Culver said. "We got ours in a cool ceremony at the 2004 UVa-Florida State football game. Mine's with my family in Nashville, where we moved after I went away to college."

If he got a second one, he might actually wear it.
 

UVa getting positive vibes about Tat
No cause for alarm for Hokies
Doug Doughty

Before speaking to Gene Cross earlier this week, I was not aware that McDonald’s All-American Scotty Reynolds from Herndon had made an oral commitment to Villanova.

Reynolds, remember, was the combination guard and shooter par excellence who had signed with Oklahoma in the fall, only to seek and receive a release from his scholarship when coach Kelvin Sampson resigned to go to Indiana.

Herndon coach Gary Hall said earlier this month that Virginia and Virginia Tech had inquired about Reynolds and, while that was at a preliminary stage of Reynolds’ re-recruiting, my perception was that UVa, for one, could become a player.

Clearly, neither Tech nor UVa was able to get involved, but the word of Reynolds’ commitment to Villanova was a surprise, given the speculation that he would wind up at LSU. Reynolds wants to play point guard, however, and he’ll have that chance at Villanova with underclassman Kyle Lowry’s likely jump to the NBA.

Reynolds’ decision and a commitment from walk-on candidate Calvin Baker has made it easier for the Cavaliers to focus their attention on Solomon Tat. After making an early commitment to Virginia, Tat, a 6-foot-5 wing guard, did not sign with UVa during the fall or the recently completed spring signing period.

The biggest hold-up with Tat is his ongoing effort to gain a visa extension from the Nigerian government. I’m told, however, that the prospects of Tat obtaining that visa are more promising now than they have been in months.

“The rubber’s about to meet the road,” a knowledgeable source told me.

I don’t know where UVa’s recruiting class would rank with the addition of Tat, but consider the infusion of new talent: scholarship players Will Harris, Jamil Tucker, Jerome Meyinsse and possibly Tat for 2005-2006; transfer Ryan Pettinella and walk-on Andy Burns for 2005-2006; and Sam Zeglinski, Johnnie Lett and Baker for 2006-2007.

IF YOU’RE A VIRGINIA TECH fan, are you concerned about the proliferation of Virginia football recruits that found the Cavaliers with nine commitments as of May 24 and the Hokies with none?

Probably.

Should you be concerned?

Not really.

This is the second time in three years that the Cavaliers have had an early recruiting blitz. In 2004, they had 13 commitments by the end of May and 18 by the end of June. That was also the year that Virginia recruits Lamont Robinson and Darryl Greshman and Matt Lowry decommitted and signed with Oklahoma, Florida and Penn State, respectively.

That is not to say that any of the nine UVa commitments is shaky. However, Virginia under Groh has had a history of jumping to an early lead over Tech in the numbers department and it hasn’t made a big difference in the overall quality of the class.

The cornerstone of Virginia’s class is West Springfield quarterback Peter Lalich, who plays for a Tech graduate in coach Bill Renner, but the Hokies weren’t going to get Lalich. And, what if they had? It would have seriously hurt their chances with Hampton quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

Likewise, Virginia tried to maintain a presence with Taylor, but the Cavaliers calculated – accurately – that their chances were better with Lalich. Hampton High School coach Mike Smith has not been able to “deliver” all the players that a favored school might be desire over the years, but he has been able to gum up the process for schools he doesn’t favor.

That would be Virginia at the present time, just as it was Virginia Tech for about 15 years up till 2005. Smith is likely to look more favorably on Tech now that his buddy, Curt Newsome, has joined the Hokies’ staff, but Taylor’s visits to the University of Florida and other locales would suggest he’s not quite a lock.

Most people would say Tech is the team to beat for Taylor, but some nervousness on that front is understandable.

OF THE OTHER PLAYERS who have committed to Virginia, my sense is that Tech was most interested in linebacker Terence Fells-Danzer from Culpeper and safety J’Courtney Williams from Christchurch.

Tech offered Williams, I’ve been told, but the Hokies weren’t sure if he’s a safety or a linebacker. The Cavaliers have told Williams he’ll get a first look at safety, but if he proves to be a better linebacker, that won’t be a bad thing for UVa. The Cavs need linebackers.

As for Fells-Danzer, he does live 45 minutes from Charlottesville, which hasn’t made a big difference to past Culpeper products like Kent Hicks, but might influence some players. And, of course, it’s always possible that UVa did a good job of recruiting him.

When Aaron Taliaferro from Gloucester said he picked UVa over Tech and Maryland, he did not say what the other schools had actually offered him. Regardless, the Cavaliers have seriously upgraded their linebacker pool with Fells-Danzer, Taliaferro, Woodside’s Jared Detrick and possibly Williams.

State College, Pa., linebacker Nathan Stupar would have been a nice acquisition, but Stupar, younger brother of UVa tight end Jon Stupar, wasn’t the only linebacker on UVa’s board.
 

U.Va. has chance to prove strength
Virginia's men's lacrosse team rolls into this weekend's Final Four with an opportunity to become one of the most dominant teams in recent memory.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
May 27, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Halfway through his undefeated team's 15th game of the season, Virginia men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia walked into the locker room and ripped his players. Told them they hadn't played a complete game all year, and certainly weren't playing one now, as they led Georgetown 8-5 in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

He felt a little arrogant saying it, especially since the Cavaliers, to that point, had outscored opponents by eight goals a game. Yet the thought of that first half still irks Starsia. "We pissed away some opportunities, and we were a little chafed at halftime," he said Tuesday.

That was two days after the Cavaliers outscored Georgetown 12-3 in the second half on their way to a 20-8 victory and a trip to this weekend's Final Four at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field. At 15-0, the Cavaliers remain the nation's lone undefeated team. They're trying to become just the fifth team since 1990 to run the table. Before they can, they must beat longtime rival Syracuse at 2 p.m. today in the semifinals.

Virginia's players insist they've yet to peak. Still, some within the college lacrosse community already are asking: Could the 2006 Cavaliers be one of the best teams ever? "They're certainly one of the most dominant teams I've seen," said 19-year Princeton coach Bill Tierney, who has six national titles and led the Tigers to a 16-0 record in 1997.

Consider: Though Duke, preseason national No. 1, canceled its season because of a rape scandal, parity has brought more contending teams to the national scene. Massachusetts is in the Final Four for the first time. Denver, geographically far from traditional lacrosse hotbeds of Maryland and Long Island, N.Y., went 12-5 and was ranked 12th nationally in Inside Lacrosse magazine's top 25 before the NCAA tourney.

Pretty impressive, then, that just two opponents have come within four or fewer goals of U.Va. The Cavaliers' scoring margin (8.33 goals per game) would tie for 11th all-time and fourth since 1990, when Syracuse walloped opponents by a record 11.31 goals per game. An astounding 69.6 percent of Virginia's goals have been assisted - a testament to the Cavaliers' ball movement and precision. U.Va. averages 11 assists - something just nine teams have ever done.

Don't bet on any U.Va. player reciting those digits. "I try not to think about it as much as possible," junior goalkeeper Kip Turner said of the dominance.

If the Cavaliers act like they've been here before, it's because they have. Virginia has won three national titles, two under Starsia (1999 and 2003). But U.Va. went 5-8 and missed the tournament in 2004. Last year, Johns Hopkins tied Virginia in an NCAA semifinal with 1.4 seconds left in regulation and won 9-8 in overtime.

Perhaps that explains the urgency with which Virginia's seniors are playing. Attackman Matt Ward, the Cavs' leading scorer, broke his right hand during the first half of the Atlantic Coast Conference final against Maryland. Before the second half, Ward turned to freshman Danny Glading.

"I cannot move my hand," Glading remembers Ward saying. "I think it's broken."

"Can you play through it?" Glading asked.

"I'm gonna try."

Ward had a goal and an assist in the second half, as U.Va. won 11-5. In the next game, the NCAA opener against Notre Dame, he had four goals and an assist. Against Georgetown: three goals and five assists.

"The team's gonna be measured on our success at the end of the year," Ward said, "not really what we've accomplished to this date."

Virginia beat Syracuse 20-15 earlier this season, but the Cavs know they'll face a different Syracuse team today. The Orange - in the Final Four for the 23rd time in 24 years - started the season 2-0, lost to U.Va., then lost its next three games. That final loss came against Hobart, the first time Syracuse fell to the Statesmen since 1986. The Orange responded by winning its next nine games.

Tierney, the Princeton coach, expects Syracuse to play a ball-control offense today, a change from past run-and-gun SU teams. "I don't think they feel like they can run up and down with Virginia," he said. "I don't think anybody feels that way at this point."

Cavs finally expect a test versus Orange
Undefeated Virginia looks to continue on road to fourth NCAA title
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
May 27, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - The mantra of the Virginia men’s lacrosse team has always been “No big games.” In a record-setting season in which UVa has obliterated all challengers, the phrase has served players well.

It’s instilled a one-game-at-a-time mindset. It’s kept egos in check. It’s prevented team goals from becoming blurred.

Perhaps, most importantly, it’s kept pressure to a minimum.

But now the games are getting big. Really big.

Two games now stand between Virginia and its fourth NCAA championship.

Today, UVa (15-0) plays Syracuse (10-4) in the NCAA semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field at 2 p.m. The winner faces the Maryland-Massachusetts winner for the title on Monday.

With an expected crowd of at least 40,000 and a national television audience tuning in on ESPN2, it may not be humanly possible for UVa players to stick to their mantra.

On Friday, the Cavaliers had a walk-through at the 68,532-seat home of the Philadelphia Eagles, then practiced at nearby Drexel University.

“I thought we had a little nervousness, edginess,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “My guys tend to get a little giddy at practice, but usually that means we’re ready to get after it.”

They better be. Virginia, which posted the first undefeated regular season in school history, will be facing the second-hottest team in the country.

Syracuse, which has the most NCAA Championships of any school (nine), has won nine straight games.

“I don’t think you have to work hard to convince a Virginia lacrosse player that it’s going to take our best effort to beat Syracuse,” Starsia said. “I think we understand that fully. I don’t think we’re in any danger of taking anything for granted. We understand that we’re playing a great team and a great program. We expect them to play their best.”

On March 4, Virginia defeated Syracuse, 20-15, at Klockner Stadium. The Orange proceeded to lose their next three games (to Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Hobart). They dropped to 1-4. They looked done.

But just as soon as you could think it, they started to find their groove.

Syracuse coach John Desko said injuries had a lot to do with his team’s early season struggles.

“Every week we were missing somebody,” Desko said. “You were kind of shaking your head wondering who it was going to be next, but then, fortunately, it stopped.

“After the Hobart game, the guys really dug in and the younger players got better every week. As a result, we’re here this weekend.”

Starsia said he sees a completely different team than he saw back in March.

“You look at them and there are clearly areas where they have improved,” he said. “They’ve had younger players who have stepped into their roles and been much more comfortable in their own skin than they were earlier.”

Starsia said Syracuse goalie Peter Coluccini has looked “more comfortable” in goal. He believes the nascent Orange midfielders are doing a better job of deferring to the team’s more experienced attackmen.

“I just think they’re all more comfortable in their own skin,” Starsia said.

Virginia players sounded more excited than nervous about the challenge awaiting them.

“It’s going to be a great game with a great atmosphere,” said freshman Danny Glading. “It’s a team we’ve gotten to watch on television a lot over the course of the year, so I think we’re pretty familiar with their personnel and match-up well. It should be a fun game.”

Virginia goalie Kip Turner said the memory of losing in the final seconds of last year’s semifinals is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Turner sounded like a guy who can’t wait to get on the field in front of all those people.

“I’ve been thinking about this all year, ever since we lost to Hopkins and ever since I decided to come to Virginia,” said Turner, a junior. “It’s what I’ve always wanted. It doesn’t matter who we have to face to get [to the final]. It’s what we do that makes a difference. If we play our game, we have a great shot at winning this.”

Starsia, despite his team’s dominance this season, doesn’t expect anything to come easy.

“If we’re going to beat this Syracuse team,” he said, “we’re going to have to knock them to the ground and keep them down.”

GROUND BALLS: For the last couple of games, Virginia senior co-captain Matt Ward has been wearing the initials of David Evans - one of the Duke lacrosse players accused of raping an exotic dancer - on his helmet. Ward and Evans were high school classmates. “These boys are college students,” Starsia said. “They have a responsibility to their institution and a responsibility as Virginia lacrosse players, but they also have a responsibility to their friends and their families. Matt is a thoughtful young man, and I don’t have a problem with it.” … One storyline sure to be rehashed by the ESPN folks will be the fact that Virginia players will be facing former teammates Joe Yevoli and Nathan Kenney. “It would be silly to say it doesn’t make any difference … but I’d say it’s less of a factor than it was earlier in the year,” Starsia said. Yevoli, who had three goals and an assist in the first meeting, has had a rough go of things off the field. His father has been ill. … The silliest question of Friday’s media session came when a reporter asked Desko if he expected Virginia to change its entire gameplan. “I don’t see any reason why they would change anything they’re doing,” Desko said. “They’ve been having great success with [their gameplan] and the numbers they’re putting up.”

Without title, UVa. not in Syracuse's league
Mike Preston

The accolades and the comparisons are starting to come because Virginia's lacrosse team is on the verge of greatness. The best compliment is putting the Cavaliers in the same class with the great Syracuse teams that won three straight national championships from 1988 through 1990.

But before anyone goes any further, there seems to be one tiny problem: Where's the championship trophy? Before Virginia gets compared to Syracuse, the Cavaliers have to win the national championship Monday in Philadelphia. If not, then all the comparisons are chucked in the trash like an old TV guide.

"Time will tell," Syracuse coach John Desko said.

The comparisons are understandable.

A lot of lacrosse fans are bored with today's game because there is too much specialization and too many substitutions. The game, once billed as "the fastest game on two feet," has come to a near crawl (see Maryland). But Virginia gives us a running offense and a relentless pace. The Cavaliers pressure the ball all over the field. Their defensemen are athletic, and handle long poles like some attackmen handle the short ones.

They conjure up the days when Paul and Gary Gait were running midfield for Syracuse, and dumping nifty over-the-shoulder passes to attackmen such as John Zulberti and Tom Marechek. Like Syracuse before them, the Cavaliers like to run and gun.

And then run some more.

"They play the game the way it should be played," said Towson coach Tony Seaman. Amen.

But it's not all about the similarities on offense. Syracuse's defenses were always underrated, but the Orangemen turned out one of the game's best shutdown defensemen in Pat McCabe. Syracuse had physically tough guys in the back such as Jim McNamara, John Winship and Mark Stopher, who would gobble up ground balls.

Michael Culver is Virginia's shutdown guy, and Ricky Smith is the big gambler who runs around and tries to make plays. Mike Timms can match up defensively with any midfielder.

With Virginia, as it was with Syracuse, you can feel comfortable on defense, but there is a major difference.

"When I coached at Penn and we played Syracuse in the late '80s, I had some success against Syracuse because we could slow them down with a zone," Seaman said. "I don't know if a zone will work against Virginia because they attack the ball. They come out to get you because they just don't give a [care] about giving up a goal or two because it won't change their playing style."

Offensively, Virginia is too high-powered for the opposition, as was Syracuse. The Cavaliers work the ball much better than the Orangemen did. Few teams can match Virginia six-on-six. Five times this season the Cavaliers have scored 20 or more goals, and all came against pretty good competition including North Carolina, Syracuse and Georgetown. Attackmen Matt Ward, Ben Rubeor and Dan Glading have had excellent seasons along with midfielder Matt Poskay, but the best player on the offense is midfielder Kyle Dixon.

"They are so unselfish," said Maryland coach Dave Cottle. "If we're all lucky, maybe one day they'll start caring more for the names on the back of their jerseys than the one on the front."

Syracuse could pass just as well, but the Orangemen didn't have to. Midfielder Paul Gait had one of the best and hardest shots in the game, lethal from just about anywhere. Syracuse coach Roy Simmons Jr. would often invert Gary Gait, allowing him to work one-on-one from behind the goal.

The Gaits were ahead of their time: bigger, stronger, and faster than any other players on the field. Zulberti and Marechek also were fantastic players, and the Orangemen also had other complementary players such as attackmen Jim Egan, Greg Burns and midfielder Rodney Dumpson. In the final three seasons with the Gaits, Syracuse averaged a little more than 18 goals a game and scored 20 or more goals in 18 games.

"What you see are two teams that have a lot of balance," said Desko, who was the Orangemen's top assistant in the late 1980s. "Not only are they unselfish, but you see some really great shooting."

Matt Palumb was the goalie for all three years during the Syracuse championship run. Palumb was far from spectacular, just solid throughout the regular season. He always came up big in big games. There are some who believe Virginia goalie Kip Turner, a junior from Severna Park, is the Cavaliers' weak link.

That might have been true earlier in the season, but not lately. He keeps coming up big in big games, too.

"He's the guy that doesn't get much credit and often gets overlooked, but he has played extremely well in the second half of the season," said Dave Pietramala, the Johns Hopkins' coach who played against the Gaits.

It's fitting that Syracuse faces Virginia in the semifinals today, and stands in the way of possibly linking the two to greatness. It's more than just a game, it's two teams with great athletes who take lacrosse fans back to yesteryear.

Only one team can win, but only Virginia can claim a spot alongside one of the sport's greatest teams.

"I understand the comparisons," Desko said. "They're having an undefeated season and our styles are similar. We're both teams that like to go out and put the ball in the back of the net. Virginia is extremely athletic and sound across the board. But we had two Hall of Famers on that Syracuse team, two of the greatest players to ever play the game. We won some championships. Does Virginia have that? Only time will tell."

 

O'Connor's club fails to bounce back
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
May 27, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Having arrived at the ACC Baseball Tournament with a No. 3 seed and as many wins as any team in the country, Virginia’s surprising plunge within a 24-hour period left the Cavaliers with a lot to think about on their long bus ride home today.

After dropping a hard-fought, 4-3 decision to N.C. State in a storm-delayed game on Thursday night, it looked like Virginia’s “B Team” showed up for its rematch against Florida State on Saturday.

It wasn’t the same team that easily handled the Seminoles, 6-2, in Wednesday’s opener, a game that prompted veteran FSU coach Mike Martin to comment that Virginia was the epitome of a team that doesn’t beat itself.

Stop the bleeding

Instead, UVa coach Brian O’Connor was probably thankful that the Mercy Rule was invoked in this 11-0 thumping of his Cavaliers. Otherwise, it might have become 20-something to zippo.

At times, it looked like Virginia couldn’t get anyone out, especially in the back-breaking third inning when the Seminoles turned the game into a slugfest. FSU scored seven runs off seven hits for a 7-0 lead, the most the Seminoles had scored in a single inning since April 15 when they sent eight across the plate against rival Miami.

Pouring it on

The worst part of that inning was that State’s Tony Thomas laid down a bunt between home plate and the pitcher’s mound that Virginia couldn’t get to in time, leaving runners at first and second, no outs.

Adding insult to injury, FSU catcher Danny Diaz, only a .177 hitter, slapped a two-run double to center, opening the floodgates on UVa pitcher Mike Ballard.

The Seminoles took a 4-0 lead before third baseman Ryne Malone slugged a three-run home run to right, his 12th roundtripper of the year, giving the Noles a 7-0 lead and knocking Ballard out of the game.

“That was the ball game, that third inning,” said O’Connor, who had expected his players to bounce back strong from Thursday night’s narrow loss to the Wolfpack. “We didn’t get outs when we had an opportunity to (the Thomas bunt was a perfect example) and the inning got away from us.”

A whole new ball game

It changed the whole way Florida State approached the rest of the game, while adding to the confidence of starting pitcher Michael Hyde. Running his record to 8-1, it was Hyde’s first complete game and first shutout of the season.

“The seven in the third kind of just set it all up,” said FSU’s Martin. “[Hyde] then goes out there and knows exactly what he has to do to get his team in the dugout. Our guys know there’s not going to be a lot of bunting and stealing, so they can play deeper. You don’t hold a runner on first base, you play him back to cover ground.

“You’re basically counting outs at that time,” Martin said.

Virginia, which essentially mounted its strongest threats in the first two innings when it left five of its 12 baserunners stranded, didn’t really do much the rest of the way. The Cavs loaded the bases in the sixth, but that came with two outs and soon, a third.

Brandon Marsh, who went 5 for 5 against the Wolfpack the night before, extended his hitting streak to six games early in the contest, then came up again with bases loaded in the second only to pop out.

“I feel that if I had come through and possibly made it seven [straight hits], that it would have changed the game,” said Marsh, who went 2 for 4 in the game. “It would have given Ballard a lead to pitch with.”

O’Connor was somewhat surprised and disappointed that his team didn’t show its usual bounce-back spirit after the N.C. State loss. Moments after that setback, he talked about his team’s character and how it had come back from tough losses.

“Today we didn’t,” the UVa boss said after his team dropped to 46-13. “It was one of those rare situations that I haven’t seen out of this team this year.”

The difference in baseball and a lot of other sports is that it’s good to have a short memory. Virginia gets a chance to redeem itself next Friday when the NCAA Tournament begins. The Cavs hope to be one of four, or possibly five, ACC teams to host a regional.

So, when O’Connor got with his team on the field of The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville shortly after the game, he encouraged them to move onward.

“I told the team in our meeting on the field after the game that it’s over with, that they had to turn the page,” O’Connor said.

Apparently they listened.

The coach was more than pleased to see that his team leaders challenged the rest of the players to collectively run off the field, showing a renewed spirit, rather than moping off with a defeated attitude.

“[The NCAAs are] what we’ve worked so hard for all year,” O’Connor said. “The opportunity to play next weekend. That’s our reward.”

While he and the Cavaliers would rather be playing this afternoon in Jacksonville as opposed to going through a grueling 12-hour bus ride up I-95, there could be a positive in the ACC’s early exit ... at least in terms of NCAA play.

Virginia gets to rest for nearly a full week before playing again. The Cavs didn’t put too much strain on their pitching staff while in Jacksonville and they should be well rested when they play again, perhaps motivated after stewing about the way things went in the ACCs.

“This tournament [the ACC] is very, very taxing on a team,” O’Connor said afterward. “It can drain you out for next weekend, or you can use it as momentum working into next weekend.”

He’s anxious to see the difference. Last year, his Cavaliers advanced to the ACC Tournament’s championship game before losing out. Then, they bused home from Jacksonville to Charlottesville, before they were sent to Oregon State for the first round of NCAA play.

“We came out at Oregon State looking like a tired group,” O’Connor said.

They played like a tired group, too, and took an early exit.

“Hopefully we’ll be rejuvenated next weekend, be full of energy and ready to play,” the coach said. “Lose a second game next weekend and it’s over, so there’s a lot to play for.”

It’s also unlikely that the NCAA Regional will boast as quality a field as the ACC Tournament, which featured eight of the top 20 RPIs in the country.

Anything less could seem like a picnic.

 

FSU exacts its revenge
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
May 27, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Florida State pitcher Michael Hyde said his main goal coming into Friday’s ACC Tournament game against Virginia was just to hold off the Cavalier bats as long as he could.

How about for seven innings?

Hyde, who hadn’t pitched a complete game or a shutout all season long, raised his record to 8-1 and frustrated third-seeded Virginia in a surprising 11-0 Seminole uprising that ousted the Cavaliers from the tournament.

Meanwhile, Florida State, now 41-18, advances to play N.C. State this morning as the Seminoles attempt to bounce back from an opening-round loss to UVa and make it to Sunday’s championship.

While Virginia was shut out for only the second time this season, the Cavaliers had some chances early to make things happen offensively.

Instead, FSU used some strong defense and Hyde’s pitching to keep the Virginians at bay.

The most notable opportunity came in the top of the second when UVa’s Tom Hagan and Patrick Wingfield both reached on back-to-back singles and advanced on catcher Beau Seabury’s 16th sacrifice bunt of the season. What followed seemed to stymie Virginia’s offense for the rest of the game.

Center fielder Mike Mitchell slapped a sharp line drive up the middle, only to be snared by FSU second baseman Tony Thomas, whose diving catch was the defensive gem of the day. With two outs, UVa went on to load the bases when Hyde hit Greg Miclat with a pitch before teammate Brandon Marsh popped out to end the inning.

Virginia stranded five runners on base the first two innings, perhaps an omen of things to come as 12 Wahoo baserunners never reached the plate against the Seminoles.

An inning later, Florida State blew the game open with a seven-hit, seven-run barrage that left the Cavaliers stunned and knocked starting pitcher Mike Ballard out of the game.

“The key to this ball game was Michael getting out of the first two innings when he left five runners on base,” said FSU coach Mike Martin. “I thought that was pivotal toward keeping us energized. Sometimes if you give up four of those runs it puts you behind the 8-ball for six or seven innings.”

Hyde said that Thomas’ catch of the line drive was a big lift for him and the Seminoles.

“That was huge,” Hyde said. “That ball came off the bat and I thought it was hit a lot harder than it was. It shocked me a little bit and it hit off the top of my glove. I thought for sure it was going to hit the ground, but Tony came out of nowhere and made the play.”

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor was in total agreement with that assessment.

“What a great play,” O’Connor said. “If he doesn’t make that snag, we get two runs there and maybe Ballard handles the third-inning situation a little differently.”

Instead, Thomas made yet another game-changing play in the third after FSU designated hitter Travis Anderson doubled to right to lead off the bottom half of the inning.

Thomas then laid down a bunt between home plate and the mound that Virginia couldn’t convert into an out, leaving runners at first and third.

Seminoles catcher Danny Diaz, who carried the lowest batting average of all the FSU starters, followed with a two-run double to center to really get things started. From there, Florida State went on a tear, scoring seven runs, highlighted by Ryne Malone’s three-run shot to right, his 12th home run of the year.

Virginia never found the answers on this day. The Cavs did load the bases in the sixth when Hagan and Wingfield singled and Mitchell walked, but Miclat then popped out to end the threat.

The game was stopped after the seventh as the ACC Tournament “mercy rule” was invoked.

FSU’s 11 runs were the most scored against Virginia (46-13) this season.

“Obviously, this was a ball game that got away from us in that third inning,” said O’Connor. “Early in the game we had opportunities, offensively, to step up and get a clutch hit, and we didn’t do that. That’s a credit to Hyde.”

Virginia had beaten Florida State, 6-2, in Wednesday’s opening game, but the Cavaliers made those clutch hits early in that game, allowing pitcher Sean Doolittle to dominate the Seminoles’ lineup. He struck out 15.

After Ballard was knocked out of the box, the Seminoles dined on a steady parade of Wahoo relievers.

“This was a difficult loss going into the NCAA Tournament,” O’Connor said. “We’ve had such a great year. Our 46 wins are as many as anybody in the country. I know our guys will be ready to come back next Friday to play good winning Virginia baseball.”

Virginia will easily qualify for NCAA Tournament play and is hoping to host one of the regionals.

But the Cavaliers will have to put behind them this whitewashing that came on the heels of a dramatic 4-3 loss to N.C. State on Thursday - a game that may have had a draining effect on their efforts.

 

Duke women show lack of sensitivity
By Jeff Schultz | Friday, May 26, 2006, 08:52 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

I wasn’t in the room. I don’t know what happened any more than you do, any more than the Duke women’s lacrosse team does. But unless they’re in possession of some secret video tape, the Duke women shouldn’t proclaim it’s going to write, “Innocent!” on its wristbands for an NCAA tournament game any more than I should write a story about rape allegations with a headline that screams, “Guilty!”

I wasn’t there. You weren’t there. They weren’t there.

If you missed it, the Duke women’s lacrosse players stretched the bounds of free speech past the stupidity dividing line. They said they would wear sweatbands with the word, “innocent,” on their arms and legs for Friday night’s national semifinal against Northwestern. It would be a show of support for the men’s lacrosse team, specifically the three players who have been indicted for rape.

Somebody must have been scorched by the backdraft. When the players walked out for warm-ups at Boston University, players had motivational words, “No excuses, no regrets,” written on the bands. But several wrote the numbers 6, 13 and 45 on bands around their lower legs, obvious references to David Evans (6), Collin Finnerty (13) and Reade Seligmann (45), who have been indicted for rape.

“The damage already has been done,” said Kathy Redmond, anticipating the women’s team might back off its threat. “They made a knee-jerk decisions that probably caused more reaction than they thought. These are stupid, spoiled little girls. It smacks of high school. Maybe one day when they’ll read about one of their friends who was raped. Then they’ll rethink this.”

Maybe you’ve heard of Redmond. She wasn’t in the room either. But she’s closer to an expert on this case than the rest of us. She founded the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes in 1997. She became high profile in 1995 after alleging former Nebraska defensive lineman Christian Peter raped her. The case never went to trial and a subsequent civil lawsuit against Peter and the school was settled out of court.

Redmond also is a lacrosse player. She competed at Nebraska. She still plays today. She understands the culture of lacrosse athletes, and believes the public stance of the women’s team stems primarily from a we’re-all-in-this together mentality.

“More than any other sport, there’s this mentality with women lacrosse players of, ‘We’re as tough as the men,’” Redmond said. “It’s almost like a competition. It’s like they try to carry themselves with a masculine edge. They want to be looked at as being just as good as the men, yet they still look to the men for validation. It’s a very weird dynamic that you don’t see in women’s basketball or any other sport. It all goes back to the elitist class issue in this case. It’s like, ‘We all come from the same place.’ Lacrosse is still very much a niche sport, and there are cliques involved.”

Redmond believes that if it were Duke basketball players who were being accused of rape, “The women’s basketball team wouldn’t think of taking this public stance.”

Neither Duke nor the NCAA objected to the threatened wristbands. Kerri Fagan, the NCAA’s associate director of championships, said Friday there is no bylaw that prohibits the message. She actually put it in the same category as players wearing a number as a way to honor a deceased teammate. “It’s an institutional decisional,” Fagan said.

That institution, Duke, even allowed women’s coach Kerstin Kimel to invite fired men’s coach Mike Pressler to address the team this week.

“I’m surprised [the women players] didn’t fear any reprisals from Duke,” Redmond said. “It tells me that the school is still taking this less seriously than it should.”

She was not surprised by the NCAA’s stance, saying: “The NCAA is a nice figurehead organization that collects a lot of money. But they’re basically worthless. They could do a lot about the culture and violence that exists in college athletics. But they’re making a lot of money, so they don’t.”

A 27-year-old African American stripper says she was raped by three white lacrosse players from one of the nation’s most prestigious universities. That’s going to incite emotions on several levels.

But for college athletes to take their opinion of rape allegations onto the field of an NCAA championship event crosses a line. This isn’t an on-campus war protest. It’s rape. And I would imagine that if the women believed something illegal had occurred at that men’s lacrosse party, nobody would write, “Guilty!” on their jersey.

 

Defense: Lacrosse accuser failed to ID defendant in early lineup
AARON BEARD
Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. - The woman who has accused three Duke University men's lacrosse players of raping her failed to identify at least one of them in a photo array eight days after the reported attack, then selected him as an attacker more than two weeks later, according to a motion filed Friday by defense lawyers.

The motion filed on behalf of Dave Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., asks a judge handling the case to force prosecutors to provide narrative reports on a photo lineup conducted with the accuser on March 21, as well as an earlier lineup done March 16. The woman said the players hired her as a stripper for a March 13 party at Evans' off-campus house and then raped her.

According to the motion, the accuser met with investigators on April 4 to again view photos, which is when she identified Evans. Durham police videotaped that session. Prosecutors provided a copy of the tape to defense lawyers last week, along with nearly 1,300 pages of evidence.

"He looks like one of the guys who assaulted me, sort of," the accuser tells police officers in pointing out Evans, according to the motion. She then says she would be 90 percent sure of the identification if the man had a mustache, the motion said.

Evans' lawyer, Joseph Cheshire, has said repeatedly that his client has never worn a mustache.

Accounts of the earlier photo lineups are among several pieces of information that Cheshire and co-counsel Brad Bannon, say are missing from files given to the defense. Their motion also states that they were not given a report by the Durham police officers who heard the woman's initial claim that she was raped, or complete documents relating to a sexual assault exam report by a nurse examiner.

According to the motion, the woman may have wavered during her initial meeting with police about whether or not she was assaulted.

A handwritten narrative report by Sgt. J.C. Shelton that is attached to the motion says the accuser first reported being raped after officers had decided to involuntary commit her. She then reportedly told officers that she was groped by some of the men who pulled her from a car, but was not forced to have sex.

According to Shelton, the accuser then told a doctor examining her for evidence of rape that she had been raped.

Since District Attorney Mike Nifong provided defense attorneys with what he said was the state's entire file to date, lawyers for the three players charged in the case have filed three motions claiming that information is being withheld.

Also indicted in the case are Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J.

Nifong's office has declined to comment on this week's filings and his legal assistant was not available Friday afternoon.

Also Friday, a lawyer who said he represents a lacrosse player not charged in the case said he wants the Durham Police Department to conduct an internal investigation into a poster and flyers that he says unfairly implied all 46 members of the lacrosse team were guilty of rape.

Alex Charns said material distributed around Durham by the CrimeStoppers organization suggested that the entire lacrosse team was guilty of raping the accuser.

CrimeStoppers is an organization that acts independent of the police department, offering rewards for information about crimes.

A police spokeswoman, Kammie Michael, said Friday that the department's only connection to CrimeStoppers is through a corporal who serves as a liaison officer and that the department had no control over the group's press releases and flyers.

Michael said no investigation is planned.