Virginia wins NCAA men's lacrosse

RANDY PENNELL

PHILADELPHIA - For more than two months, college lacrosse has dominated the headlines - but not because of what has happened on the field.

With the rape allegations against three members of the Duke men's lacrosse team casting a long shadow, Virginia coach Dom Starsia hopes his Cavaliers have emerged as a positive story for a sport badly in need of one with their dominating victory over Massachusetts in the NCAA men's championship Monday.

Virginia completed an undefeated season with its fourth NCAA title, beating unseeded UMass 15-7 behind five goals each from Matt Poskay and Matt Ward.

"We are not angels in any regard," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "And we're not preaching to anybody, but I'd like to think we do it the right way. We get nice kids and they stumble along the way as they grow up, but in general we have respectful kids, considerate young men."

"I think you can hold this group up as a little bit of an ideal and say here's what the sport is capable of."

In late March, Duke officials suspended the school's highly ranked team amid allegations that a woman hired as a stripper was raped at a party hosted by team members. Three team members have been charged.

Virginia (17-0) proved to be very capable this season, becoming the second consecutive undefeated champion and the 13th to post a perfect season. Johns Hopkins went 16-0 last year.

"The whole undefeated thing snuck up on us, but to come in here as expected and do this is a very special moment for our program," Starsia said. "I'm very proud of our guys."

Before a record crowd of 47,062, Massachusetts (13-5) made a game of it for the first half but ultimately could not contain the top-seeded Cavaliers. Virginia spent much of the first half watching its shots sail high and wide.

"I think we were uncharacteristically tight late in the second quarter," Starsia said. "It was just a question of tightening things down a little bit."

But with the Cavaliers holding a 7-6 lead, UMass defenseman Jack Reid was called for a costly slashing penalty on a faceoff. Poskay capitalized on the man advantage with his third goal of the day. That proved to be a turning point as Virginia reeled off five more goals to take control.

"I'm sure it hurt us," Reid said. "If I could take it back, I would."

UMass rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game early in the third quarter, but the Minutemen just couldn't keep pace with Virginia's overwhelming offensive attack.

"They get an extra guy out there and they can really sling the ball around," UMass coach Greg Cannella said.

UMass tied it 5-5 early in the third quarter and pulled to 7-6, but the Cavaliers scored six straight goals to make it 13-6 with 9:37 left.

"It's tough to stay with them for that long a stretch," Reid said

Sean Morris, who entered the game as UMass' leading scorer with 33 goals, was held without one. UMass freshman Doc Schneider played well in goal but stood little chance against a Cavaliers offense that featured four players with at least 30 goals this year.

The Cavaliers dominated the first quarter, pinning UMass in its defensive end for several minutes at a time. Poskay scored twice and Ward made it 4-1 on an empty-net goal after Schneider came out to help defensively.

"It's hard for any goalie to keep pace when you're getting shots like that," said Ward, who earned Most Outstanding Player honors and finished the tournament with an NCAA-record 16 goals in four games.

Virginia outshot UMass 55-31 and went 3-for-3 on extra-man opportunities.

But the Minutemen cut the deficit to 5-4 at the half, sparked by a goal from Rory Pedrick with 9:39 left and another 10 seconds later when Jake Deane won the faceoff and hustled to beat Virginia's Kip Turner. And even though UMass would eventually tie it up, Virginia would prove to be too much.

Starsia hopes a great performance before a record crowd can boost the image of a sport that as suffered so publicly.

"I just think that this was a fitting end to a little bit of a tumultuous regular season and hopefully people can walk away form this weekend thinking, 'There's college lacrosse,'" Starsia said.

Virginia Too Good for WordsBy Shannon Ryan
Inquirer Staff Writer

The pressure was on, but Virginia coach Dom Starsia would not bend. At a lacrosse graduation party last week, some players' parents unsuccessfully asked him to admit that this year's Cavaliers were the most special team he had coached.

He did not say it yesterday, either, but he had a much harder time denying it.

The Cavaliers won the NCAA Division I national championship with a 15-7 victory over unseeded underdog Massachusetts, becoming the first team to finish with a 17-0 record.

"I hesitate to use the word perfect with anything I'm involved in, but it's pretty darn good and probably pretty darn close," said Starsia, who has led the Cavaliers to three of their four titles. "I hate to use the word special, but this is a very special moment. This is a group of thoughtful, respectful, hardworking young men. [They] accomplished something quite memorable."

Virginia brought the No. 1 seed and the top offense in the country into sunny and warm Lincoln Financial Field, where the Cavaliers played in front of a record crowd of 47,062 fans. Those fans were part of a Memorial Day weekend attendance record of 144,688 over three days.

Virginia lived up to the heavy expectations and got five goals each from seniors Matt Poskay and Matt Ward.

"Don't think I was making it up when I said the whole thing kind of snuck up on us," Starsia said. "For us to come into the tournament and win out the way we were expected to is a special moment for our program."

Despite the score, the Cavaliers did not coast to this victory, fighting off a first-half challenge by the scrappy Minutemen (13-5).

The Cavaliers know what the UMass players are feeling. It was just last season that they lost to Duke in the semifinals.

Virginia's seniors were happy to end their story the same way they started it - with a national title. It was the in-between years, including a 5-8 sophomore season, they buried with yesterday's victory.

"It set a bar of where we don't want to be and where we can be," Poskay said. "On the field, someone asked me, Is this one of the greatest teams? I said I don't know if that's true, but it's definitely the hardest-working team I've been on."

Virginia was forced to labor after UMass tied the game, 5-5, early in the third quarter. The Minutemen had fallen behind by 4-1 in the first quarter.

"It looks like it's going to cave in on us, and our guys fought back," UMass coach Greg Cannella said. "We have a lot to be proud of."

The Minutemen, who were playing in their first title game, challenged the Cavaliers, trailing by 7-6 midway through the third quarter. That was Virginia's cue to start its engines.

Virginia went on an 8-1 run through the rest of the game, including three goals by Poskay and two more by Ward.

"When you match their run with one of your own, it kind of takes [away] any momentum they had," said Ward, who was voted the tournament's most outstanding player.

The Cavaliers realized they needed to take control of the face-offs, a part of the game that UMass had dominated lately. Virginia used three players to work against face-off standout Jake Deane and won 16 of 26.

"They are so strong that you kind of needed to hold the face-offs down," Cannella said. "We weren't able to do that."

The Cavaliers' defense also excelled in shutting down UMass' leading scorer, Sean Morris, who was held without a goal. Offensively, the Cavs kept the pressure on Minutemen freshman goalkeeper Doc Schneider, who managed 17 saves against 55 shots.

As the clock expired, the Cavaliers rushed into the middle of the field, throwing their lacrosse sticks into the air to celebrate.

As much as this lacrosse season was dominated by the rape accusations against three Duke players, Starsia hopes his team's season will remain the lasting memory.

"Hopefully, [the team] created the kind of impression here in the spring of 2006 that we all walk away from this lacrosse season with," Starsia said. "That might be the greatest accomplishment of all."

 

Follow the leaders: Seniors demonstrate how to be the best.By Jim Salisbury
Inquirer Columnist

Matt Poskay took nine shots yesterday. His sweetest one came from the sideline.

With just seconds left in Virginia's 15-7 victory over Massachusetts in the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship game at Lincoln Financial Field, Poskay lifted a cooler high above his head and doused coach Dom Starsia with the icy contents.

On a day when summer seemed to arrive in Philadelphia, the ice shower felt good.

But not as good as Virginia's fourth national title in lacrosse, three of them under Starsia.

"This is a special group of players," Starsia said. "They've taken their lead from the older guys."

This game - win No. 17 in an undefeated season - was a case in point.

Poskay, Matt Ward and Kyle Dixon, all seniors, all members of the team that won the NCAA title in 2003, combined for 12 of the Cavaliers' 15 goals.

Poskay and Ward each had five, Dixon two.

"They're a great shooting team," UMass coach Greg Cannella said of the Cavaliers, who enjoyed a 55-31 advantage in shots.

In the final four for the first time, pesky UMass made it a game for more than a half. The score was tied at 5-5 a little over a minute into the third quarter. The talented Cavaliers, however, wore the Minutemen down.

"The seniors on this team have an unspoken bond," Ward said. "When it was 5-5, we knew we needed to go on a run."

The cream began to rise late in the third quarter when Poskay, Dixon and Ward scored four straight goals to put Virginia up by 11-6, with Poskay scoring twice. Poskay and Ward scored early in the fourth quarter to make it all academic.

Ward was named the tournament's most outstanding player. Poskay and Dixon were on the all-tournament team.

Poskay hails from Clark, N.J., just up the Garden State Parkway a piece. In a sense, he had been gearing up for a game like this - in which he had a career-high goal explosion on college lacrosse's biggest stage - his whole lax-playing life. After all, he holds the national high school record for goals, having scored 362 in his time at A.L. Johnson High School.

Needless to say, Poskay arrived at Virginia with a big reputation.

"I just tried to ignore that and play hard," he said.

Cannella, the UMass coach, knew all about that reputation.

Poskay had attended Cannella's camp at UMass, and the coach tried to recruit Poskay.

"He's a great shooter," Cannella said. "He's a major concern from eight to 10 yards. He's very successful at putting it away."

And what about UMass' recruiting pitch to Poskay?

"I thought about it," said Poskay, a powerful, 6-foot, 205-pound midfielder. "But once I made my trip to Virginia, I knew that's where I wanted to go."

He paused and smiled.

"But it was a great camp," he said.

A crowd of 47,062 - including NFL coaches Bill Belichick and Andy Reid - came out for the final. About 30 of those fans came to see Poskay's final college game.

Poskay finished his senior season with 41 goals, the most ever by a Virginia midfielder. His 88 career goals are the second-most ever by a Virginia midfielder.

Ward's five goals gave the attacker from Oakton, Va., 42 for the season and 139 for his career, ranking him third all-time among Virginia players.

What will Virginia do for offense with Poskay and Ward graduating? Don't look now, but sophomore Ben Rubeor scored a couple of beauties, so the offense looks covered.

After the game, the well-spoken Ward commented that the Cavaliers were products of their past.

The team followed its 2003 title by going 5-8 in 2004. It was a big disappointment but a good learning experience and a good reminder of the hard work needed to be a champion.

Last year, the Cavaliers lost to John Hopkins in the national semifinals.

Little by little, the Cavaliers climbed back toward the top. They arrived there yesterday, right down on the corner of Broad and Pattison. They did it with strong second-half defense and 15 goals.

Starsia, of course, was asked if this was his best team ever, and if this was his best group of seniors ever. Those are difficult questions to answer right after the final game, when all you really want to do is celebrate one season's great accomplishment.

Poskay wasn't ready to answer those types of questions, either, but had a nice compliment for his teammates.

"This is the most hardworking team I've ever been on," he said.

The hard work is over. Virginia is the champion of the NCAA lacrosse world again.

 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Cavs cap perfect season with title
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
May 29, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - For four years Virginia’s Matt Poskay has been the victim of light-hearted ribbing from his teammates and coaches about his lack of assists. Last season the senior didn’t have any yet managed to score 29 goals.

With the final seconds ticking down in Monday’s NCAA championship game against Massachusetts at Lincoln Financial Field, Poskay prepared for a final solo effort.

Only, this one involved a Gatorade bucket.

Poskay, a 6-foot, 204-pounder from New Jersey wasn’t about to pass. He crept behind Virginia coach Dom Starsia and drenched him.

“I sensed we had [the win], so I grabbed it real quick and dumped it on,” said Poskay, sporting a sheepish grin. “I got him at a great time. He wasn’t expecting it at all.”

Poskay’s antics, in front of a finals-record crowd of 47,062, provided the exclamation mark on a 15-7 victory that capped the best season in Virginia lacrosse history. Top-seeded UVa finished 17-0 to earn the fourth NCAA title in school history.

“For us to come into this tournament and win out the way we were expected to is a very special moment for our program and all the young men involved with Virginia lacrosse,” Starsia said.

Poskay and fellow senior Matt Ward each scored five goals to lead UVa. Ben Rubeor and Kyle Dixon scored two apiece.

Ward finished the NCAA Tournament with 16 goals in four games, a new record, and was named Most Outstanding Player. Poskay finished the season with 41 goals, the most ever by a Virginia midfielder.

This win didn’t come easy. In fact, it was probably the toughest game Virginia has had in more than two months.

UMass (13-5) played a methodical, gritty style that took UVa out of its game for some stretches. The Minutemen trailed Virginia by just a goal at the half and actually tied the game at 5-5 about a minute into the third quarter. That was the first time Virginia had been tied or trailing in the second half of a game since its win over Princeton on March 12.

“There was no panic at halftime,” Starsia said. “I felt like we had only given up four goals and maybe been a little careless in our defensive end. It was just a mater of tightening things down a little bit.

“I thought we wasted some opportunities offensively. I thought we were a little stubborn shooting the ball - a little addicted to the top pipe.”

After Virginia took a 7-6 lead, a major turning point occurred when UMass senior defenseman Jack Reid was called for a slashing penalty on Drew Thompson during a faceoff.

“He tomahawk-chopped my elbow,” Thompson said.

Virginia went on to score six unanswered goals, the first of which came on the man-up opportunity. Poskay beat UMass goalie Doc Schneider with a wicked outside shot from the wing.

Dixon followed with a running rocket of his own. Poskay and Ward then scored two goals each within a 3:57 span to take a 13-6 lead.

“I asked the referee if I was allowed to stick check while [Thompson] was engaged and he said I was,” Reid said, “but they called the penalty anyway. If I could take it back I would, but I thought I was in the green to go.”

UMass stopped the bleeding at the 9:25 mark of the fourth quarter when junior Pat Larmon scored to make it 13-7, but Rubeor answered with a pair of goals that put the game out of reach.

“We just got a little smarter shooting in the third quarter,” Starsia said, “and I thought the big boys -Dixon, Poskay, Ward - stepped up and made plays in the third quarter when it had to happen and that’s what pulled it together for us.”

Virginia goalie Kip Turner played another solid game, making a couple of nice saves.

One of the keys to the win was UVa’s ability to control the center of the field.

J.J. Morrissey, Will Barrow, Matt Kelly, Michael Culver and Ricky Smith helped Virginia win the ground ball battle, 37-23.

“They really dominated the middle of the field for us and got us a couple of transition goals,” Ward said. “It really got us going.

“I think guys like that who are doing the grunt work sometimes get overlooked. They certainly enabled us to get on a run there in the second half.”

Following the game, several Virginia players were asked to try and put the team’s performance into historical perspective.

“I don’t know if it’s the [greatest] team of all time, but it’s definitely the hardest working team I’ve ever been on,” Poskay said. “From Day 1 we’ve put the work in - from the first guy on the field to the last guy on the bench. We all worked hard and it was well worth it.”

Turner said it was hardly a surprise that Poskay wound up with the Gatorade bucket at the end of the day.

“He’s the jokester around the field; he deserved to do that,” Turner said. “Coach rips on him daily, so he finally got back at him a little bit.”

 

Perfection puts these Cavs on a pedestal
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
May 30, 2006

PHILADELPHIA

Perfection.

Everyone who has ever laced it up has strived for perfection but seldom attained the goal.

Monday, under a burning Pennyslvania sun, and on the sport’s largest stage, Virginia’s senior-laden lacrosse team finished off the perfect ending to a perfect season.

Seventeen and Oh.

After a 4-1 start in an attempt to bury Cinderella-like UMass early, the underdog Minutemen showed their grit and knotted the game at 5-all early in the second half.

But the Cavaliers don’t have a glass jaw. They took UMass’ best shot then played lights-out lacrosse, unleashing an 8-1 run to march to their second national title in four years. Twice is nice, but this one was special.

Among the best ever?

How special is debatable. Where Virginia’s 17-0 achievement fits in the perspective of lacrosse history is something that will be talked about for weeks to come.

There have been some great teams from Princeton, North Carolina and Johns Hopkins. Then there are the Syracuse teams that won three straight titles from 1988 to 1990 featuring the Gaits - Paul and Gary.

But no squad has ever gone 17-0 in Division I history.

Nobody.

Utter dominance

The Cavaliers have led the nation in scoring with 15-plus goals a game. With the exception of a 7-6 win over Princeton in March, no other opponent has come within four goals of them this season.

When UVa eliminated Syracuse in Saturday’s semifinals by a 17-10 count, it was the first time the Cavaliers had trailed in a game since mid-March. My gosh, they have trailed for only about 52 minutes out of 1,020 minutes all season long.

If that’s not perfection, then what is?

“I hesitate to use the word ‘perfect’ to describe anything that I’m involved in,” chuckled Virginia coach Dom Starsia in a self-deprecating manner. “But it’s pretty darned good and probably pretty darned close.

“This is a special moment. This is a group of thoughtful, respectful, hard-working young men who I think accomplished something quite memorable this spring and hopefully created the kind of impression that we all walk away from this lacrosse season with ... and that might be the greatest accomplishment of all.”

Leave it to the experts

Perhaps it was just too overwhelming for the coach to try to put this in historical perspective. He’s been involved in the sport as a Division I head coach for more than 20 years and is a fan of a sport in which he owns three national titles.

Bombarded with all the statistical data that accompanied 17 victories without a blemish, even Starsia was impressed.

“For us to come into the tournament and win out the way we were expected to it was a very special moment for our program,” Starsia said. “I’ve been asked a number of times where this team ranks and I’m not prepared to do that right now, but certainly it’s on a very short list of probably the top teams in Virginia lacrosse history.”

But what about all of lacrosse history?

Starsia wasn’t about to go there. That’s some pretty heavy analysis to throw on someone even of Starsia’s stature in the sport.

Massachusetts coach Greg Cannell, who has been around the block, didn’t hesitate to offer up his opinion on the matter. But then again, Starsia would prefer that others talk about his team’s deeds, taking the modest way out of the argument.

“I don’t know how many teams have gone undefeated, but you can rank [Virginia] up with anybody you’d like,” Cannell said.

The Wahoos were just the 12th team in Division I history to go undefeated in a season, but none of their predecessors ever went 17-0. Who knows, that might have even been 19-0 except UVa was shortchanged a regular-season home game against Duke and an ACC Tournament game as a result of the Blue Devils’ forfeiting their season due to off-the-field issues.

Doug Tarring, a member of Virginia’s 1970 (USILA) and 1972 (NCAA) championship teams, has been around the game long enough to be qualified to put things in perspective.

“It’s the most dominant Virginia team,” said Tarring, who serves as the analyst for Cavalier lacrosse radio broadcasts. “It’s the most balanced of any Virginia team.”

Matt Ward, who was voted this tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and National Player of the Year, said that no one on the team started out the season thinking about and undefeated campaign. But once things began to wind down, things changed.

“Once the ACC Tournament ended, Matt Poskay said, ‘I guess we’ll just have to go undefeated now,’ and that sounded weird at the time, but then I realized that’s what we would have to do in order to win the national title,” Ward said.

Whether Virginia is the best team ever is something these Wahoos just aren’t going to concern themselves with. Winning the national championship twice in four years is what they’ll hang their helmets on.

“We’re more concerned as a team with what we think of each other than the way people view us,” Ward said. “If people view us as one of the best teams ever, then great. But I can look at any one of the guys on this team and know that we played as well as we could and gave it our all on the field. That’s what matters.”

Starsia couldn’t be more in agreement.

“Mostly it’s about relationships,” said the veteran coach. “We’ve created a memory for ourselves that nobody will ever be able to take away from us and that’s invaluable.”

Perfect.

 

Ward saves his best for last
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
May 29, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Matt Ward confessed that he felt some butterflies in his stomach on the bus ride to Lincoln Financial Field on Monday morning, nervous anticipation of playing in the National Championship game.

Once the title game started, the Minutemen of Massachusetts were the nervous ones, and with good reason.

Ward scored five goals against UMass, adding to his NCAA Tournament record of 16 goals in four games, to spark Virginia’s 15-7 title-clinching victory.

For the tournament, the Cavalier senior attackman accumulated 22 points en route to being named the event’s Most Outstanding Player.

“Today, I didn’t necessarily shoot the ball well, but I was getting my opportunities because my teammates were dodging, creating space, and I kind of just found the seams,” said a humble Ward, who took 19 of UVa’s 55 shots (11 of 32 shots on goal). “Maybe if I had shot a little bit better I could have gotten my team some more points.”

He credited UMass goalie Doc Schneider (17 saves) for holding down his goal count.

“[Schneider] didn’t play like a freshman,” Ward said. “He made some amazing saves in the first half.”

Keeping in tune with his modest nature, Ward passed along props to his teammates for his success.

“I thought I played pretty well throughout the tournament and that is certainly a compliment to my teammates,” said Ward, who’s played the last four games with a hairline fracture in his right hand. “I kind of let the game come to me and didn’t try to push the issue too much. Playing with a great bunch of guys that don’t allow teams to focus on just one player allowed me to excel in the tournament.”

It was all part of a special weekend for the Landon High School product and Oakton native.

A second national title in four years, three appearances in the Final Four and MVP of the tournament would be enough. But he was also named USILA Player of the Year during Sunday’s banquet. He will likely add yet another national player of the year award on Thursday, the day after the Major League Lacrosse draft.

Nothing, however, was sweeter than the jubilant moments just after winning, when he and teammates began pulling on the national championship tee shirts and caps supplied by the NCAA as part of the celebration.

“That kind of makes you realize the moment you’re in,” Ward said. “When you put those on, it’s just an unbelievable feeling and something I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Three of his goals came after UMass had knotted the game at 5-all early in the second half as he led the Cavaliers to their fourth NCAA lacrosse championship (the school had two USILA titles prior to the creation of the NCAA Tournament). With those scores, Ward finished the season with 42 goals and 139 for his career, which places him third on UVa’s all-time list.

More importantly, it reserved him a special spot in Coach Dom Starsia’s heart.

“I can’t talk enough about Matt Ward,” Starsia said. “Since the day he stepped on campus he’s been a leader in our program. The fact that he’s been a starter since the first day is probably the least important part of it. He’s been a kid that everybody has looked up to since the beginning.

“He’s a great student. He was picked as a scholastic All-American at the banquet this weekend. He does everything right. He’s just one of those guys who gravitates to the center of the battle all the time.”

While Virginia’s 8-1 run after the 5-5 tie firmly secured things for the Cavaliers down the homestretch, had Starsia needed something special at the end, there’s no doubt he would have called upon No. 14.

“If there was a play that needed to be made to win the game, [Ward] certainly would have expected us to put the ball in his hands,” Starsia said. “Today, he stepped up and made those plays even though it wasn’t a one-goal game. That game was decided midway through the third quarter and he was certainly right in the middle of that fray.”

For all the plaudits that came his way and all the credit given by coaches and teammates, the most important thing to Ward about the weekend was sharing the experience with his team.

“It’s memorable, special,” Ward said. “I’d do anything to be with these guys. Having graduated already from college, this was the last hurrah, and to spend as much time with these guys who I have been with for four years was certainly something I wanted to do.

“It’s a surreal feeling to be National Champions. This team deserved this because we worked so hard and we are happy to do this for the Virginia fans and Charlottesville.”

What a way to walk away from a collegiate career - scoring records, MVP trophies, Player of the Year honors and more.

Forgive Ward if you see him wearing two national championship rings on his fingers in the weeks ahead. He’s earned it.

 

Virginia caps 17-0 year with 4th championship
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 30, 2006
NCAA LACROSSE
VIRGINIA 15 UMASS 7

PHILADELPHIA -- The coronation took place as expected yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field. With a record crowd looking on, the top-seeded University of Virginia men's lacrosse team ascended to the throne on a sun-baked afternoon. whipping Massachusetts 15-7 in the NCAA championship game.

The Cavaliers also captured NCAA titles in 1972, 1999 and 2003. Each of the first three championship teams, however, lost at least two games.

These Wahoos finished 17-0 to set an NCAA record for the most victories in a season by an undefeated team. In four NCAA tourney games, U.Va.'s average margin of victory was 7.8 goals.

"It's a little overwhelming to hear some of those statistics about our team," said Dom Starsia, U.Va.'s coach for the past 14 seasons.

"I don't think I was making it up as I said to you over the past two weeks that the whole thing kind of snuck up on us a little bit. But for us to come into this tournament and win out, the way we were sort of expected to, is a very special moment for our program and all the young men involved with Virginia lacrosse."

Virginia, momentarily rattled when the unseeded Minutemen (13-5) pulled to 5-5 early in the third quarter, responded with one of its trademark barrages.

"We just had the confidence to look each other in the eyes," senior attackman Matt Ward said, "and know that when a team was making a run on us, we needed to stop that and go on a run of our own."

After UMass closed to 7-6 with 7:59 left in the third quarter, the Cavaliers ran off six straight goals to end the suspense for the 47,062 fans, the most to witness an NCAA championship game in lacrosse.

The Class of 2006, not surprisingly, played a leading role in U.Va.'s victory. When Starsia's current seniors were freshmen, they helped Virginia win the NCAA title. Three years later, they're leaving college with another crown. In the Cavs' second-half spree, midfielder Matt Poskay scored three of the six goals. Ward had two, and midfielder Kyle Dixon supplied the other one. All are seniors.

Poskay finished with a career-high five goals yesterday, giving him 41 for the season, a record for a U.Va. midfielder. Ward, the NCAA tournament's most outstanding player, also had five goals against the Minutemen. Playing with a broken bone in his right hand, Ward scored 16 goals in four tourney games, an NCAA record.

Dixon contributed two goals and one assist. Yet another Virginia senior, defenseman Michael Culver, limited UMass' leading scorer, All-America attackman Sean Morris, to two assists.

Also pivotal was U.Va.'s dominance on faceoffs. UMass' Jake Deane, one of the nation's premier faceoff men, suffered through a long afternoon. Deane went 4-8 against Drew Thompson, 6-7 against Charlie Glazer and 0-1 against Adam Fassnacht.

 

Coach proud of players
Richmond Times-Dispatch May 30, 2006

PHILADELPHIA -- Virginia coach Dom Starsia never told his players they had to be ambassadors for their sport. But college lacrosse has received unprecedented scrutiny from the national media this spring, resulting in unwanted notoriety, and Starsia knew his top-ranked team was in the spotlight.

Yesterday marked the end of a season in which the criminal allegations against players at Duke kept lacrosse in the headlines, for all the wrong reasons. In the NCAA title game, before a record crowd of 47,062, top-seeded U.Va. whipped Massachusetts 15-7 at Lincoln Financial Field to cap an unbeaten season. Afterward, the Cavaliers' longtime coach spoke with pride about his players.

"We are not angels in any regard, and we are not preaching to anybody," Starsia said, "but I like to think that we try to do it the right way, that we get nice kids. They stumble along the way as they grow up, but in general we have respectful kids, considerate young men.

"And this year in particular . . . the people who got to know our team, I think, can appreciate those qualities about us. And so I think you can hold this up as a little bit of an ideal and say, 'This is what the sport is capable of,' and feel pretty good about the end of the season." -- Jeff White
 

Perfect score
Virginia takes control in the second half and wins its fourth Division I men's lacrosse national title.
Doug Doughty

PHILADELPHIA -- To those who were attempting to rank Virginia men's lacrosse championship teams, comparisons should have come easily Monday.

This was the one that went undefeated.

Top-ranked UVa remained dominant until the end, polishing off unseeded Massachusetts 15-7 in the Division I title game at Lincoln Financial Field.

Virginia, which completed its first-ever undefeated season, beat its four NCAA tournament opponents by a combined 31 goals and was severely tested just once, a 7-6 win at Princeton in March.

If that isn't perfection, what is?

"I hesitate to use the word 'perfect' to describe anything I'm involved in," said UVa coach Dom Starsia after the Cavs' third championship in eight years, "but, it's pretty darn good and pretty darn close."

UVa's championship came two years after a 5-8 season that was the Cavaliers' worst in the last 40 years.

"We're a product of our past, from that 2004 season to losing to [Johns] Hopkins in that amazing game last year," said senior attackman Matt Ward, referring to a 9-8 overtime loss to the Blue Jays in the 2005 semifinals.

Despite breaking his right (shooting) hand April 30 in the ACC championship game, Ward had 16 goals in four NCAA tournament contests, including five Monday, when he was covered by first-team All-American Jack Reid.

Ward, who finished the tournament with an NCAA-record 16 goals in four games, was named most outstanding player in the NCAA tournament. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Matt Poskay, Danny Glading and Michael Culver.

Poskay, a senior midfielder, had five goals Monday and his 41 goals for the season set a record for a UVa midfielder.

Poskay's biggest goal Monday came with 7:29 remaining in the third quarter, after the Minutemen (13-5) had closed to 7-6.

Jamie Yaman had scored for the Minutemen with 7:59 left, but, on the ensuing faceoff, Reid was called for slashing. The Cavaliers (17-0) were shooting 51.6 percent on man-up opportunities even before they went 3-for-3 Monday.

"I asked the ref in the second quarter if I was allowed to stick-check the faceoff guy while he was still engaged and he said 'yes,' " Reid said. "Then, I went in there and put one on his wrist. They said I hit him on the hip and gave me a flag.'"

UVa faceoff specialist Drew Thompson confirmed that Reid hit him on the arm, "but, I had overheard the conversation he had with the ref," Thompson said. "I thought he was asking if he could check my stick. The ref didn't say that he could slash me."

The Minutemen entered the game with one of the most successful faceoff operations in Division I lacrosse, but the Cavaliers won 16 of 26 faceoffs. Thompson was 8-for-12 and senior Charlie Glazer was 7-of-13.
 

Virginia's domination a rarity in the game (IL.com)
May 29, 2006
John Jiloty

The likes of Virginia's dominance may not be seen again soon.

It seemed like everyone’s fear before and during championship weekend was Virginia walking away with the Division I title and preventing any intrigue at Lincoln Financial Field.

The top seed came into the NCAA Semifinals with an average margin of victory of more than eight goals a game and had played in just one game (a 7-6 win over Princeton) closer than four goals all year.

Maryland was the No. 2 seed but the Terps had lost by 10 and six goals to the Cavaliers during the regular season. No. 5-seeded Syracuse was supposed to have the best shot, but UVa. blitzed the Orange with an 8-2 first quarter in an eventual 17-10 win. No one gave UMass a shot on Monday, though the Minutmen hung around for nearly three quarters before Virginia pulled away for a 15-7 win.

It made sense for lacrosse fans to prefer close games during the sport’s biggest weekend. But rather than fearing Virginia’s dominance, enjoying it might have been wiser.

Because we’re not going to see a team this good, and this much better than everyone else, for a while.

Outside of the talk about the Duke case, and for the last fourth of the season how good Virginia was, parity was the sport’s buzz word this spring. Bucknell taking down Maryland. Colgate upsetting Navy. Hobart beating Syracuse. Albany beating UMass. Binghamton beating Towson – and then losing to Bellarmine.

It’s something that’s been building for a while, and it’s only going to grow stronger and affect the game more in the years to come.

“I think it’s going to be hard to run a table like this,” said Virginia assistant Marc Van Arsdale. “Kevin Corrigan said to me recently that he thought we had the most dominant regular season that he could remember and that goes back 12-15 years. I would probably concur on that. It’s going to be harder to separate yourself from the pack.”

In looking at the NCAA’s all-time margin of victory stats, Virginia’s 8.24 goals a game ranks 14th. Syracuse’s 11.31 during 1990’s undefeated run to the national title tops the list and makes that Orange squad most everyone’s pick for the NCAA’s greatest lacrosse team ever. But among the top 20 teams on the list, just one (the 1996 Princeton championship squad) has come since 1991.

Correspondingly, Virginia becomes the NCAA’s 12th undefeated national champ, but just its third since 1991. Princeton in 1997 and Hopkins in 2005 are the others. (Hopkins had to win five one-goal games last year to emerge as national champs and doesn’t often pop up among discussions of the sport’s historically great teams.)

The Cavaliers outscored their playoff opponents this year by an average of 7.75 goals, and haven’t trailed during a game since March 14.

“The whole thing was a shock,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “I never went into the season thinking we were that much better than most of the teams around us.”

And no one was talking about how much better the Cavaliers were than everyone around them until late April. Part of that was the clouds of the Duke case. But part of it was the makeup of this Virginia team.

When asked about the Cavaliers on Monday, Princeton coach Bill Tierney said it was the most dominant team since the 1990 Orangemen. Yet there are no Gary or Paul Gaits on this Virginia team.

Matt Ward actually broke Gary Gait’s all-time NCAA Tournament goals record with 16 this year, but his pursuit of that mark wasn’t the talk of the press box or the stands. Few people even really realized he did it. Ward had a great season, and he most likely won the Tewaaraton Trophy on Monday, but he’s not the kind of player who can be mentioned with guys like the Gaits. This is the only time he’s been a first-team All-America in his career.

Matt Poskay broke Virginia’s all-time midfield goals record this year with 41 but he wasn’t even a first-team All-America. Even Mike Culver, the NCAA Defenseman of the Year, isn’t a player that draws much attention. He’s a position defenseman who quietly erases his men, not a flashy takeaway guy.

“Teams like this come along once every 10-15 years where you have a team this put-together with the right mix of seniors and leadership and all that stuff,” said Albany coach Scott Marr, a member of the NCAA Tournament Committee. “

One thing that will pen in any other teams from running away from the rest of the field is the increased talent at the high school level. Look at the Under Armour All-America selections. For the first time ever, we have a true high school All-America team, and the 46 players honored will go to 18 different colleges this fall. Anyone who thinks the players from California and Texas were token picks and don’t belong in the game don’t know high school lacrosse.

Tierney said Monday that he doesn’t think parity is going to affect who wins the national championship. He’s probably right. Hopkins, Syracuse, Virginia and Princeton are still going to be sharing most of the national titles. They are still going to get many of the top recruits. But none of them are going to be that much better than everyone else for a long time.

Injuries crippled Syracuse and Hopkins this year, and many are picking them to be early favorites for the 2007 NCAA title. Princeton was extremely young, and should be right back in the mix next year after bowing out in the quarters.

Even Van Arsdale acknowledged that if Duke had played the second half of this season, the Cavaliers might not have been on an island as the NCAA’s sure-fire favorite heading into May.

That’s not to take anything away from Virginia, though. This was a great team – and at the very least one of the most complete in a long time. It has to go down as one of the Top 5 ever. How it stacks up in terms of THE best ever is a discussion for another day.

But it’s obvious that there isn’t going to be another team this good for a long time – if ever.
 

Starsia isn't shy about winning
Mike Preston
May 30, 2006

Philadelphia -- Somehow, someway, Virginia men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia always seems to slip under the radar. Princeton's Bill Tierney is the defensive genius. Maryland's Dave Cottle is the offensive innovator. Syracuse's John Desko has all those championship rings.
And Starsia?

He could be just another car salesman. Maybe he likes it that way.

While his players were being interviewed after yesterday's 15-7 win over Massachusetts in the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship game, Starsia slipped away for a few minutes.

The man doesn't like the lights and cameras, only on-the-field action.

"Without him, we're nothing," said Virginia midfielder Kyle Dixon. "He is the centerfold of this program. He is the guy we get our energy from."

Starsia, 54, couldn't escape the spotlight yesterday. His Cavaliers put the exclamation point on a 17-0 season that included so many offensive shows that fans started comparing the Cavaliers to the great Syracuse teams of the late 1980s led by midfielders Paul and Gary Gait.

Showtime came to Charlottesville, Va.

But instead of talking about lacrosse, Starsia is just as content talking about his family, the weather or the stock market. He is extremely modest, though lacrosse insiders know he is one of the best teachers, motivators and tacticians in the game.

Isn't this national championship No. 3? Wasn't this tournament appearance No. 18 overall? Isn't Starsia one of only three coaches to win 100 games at two schools?

He has built this Virginia team in his image. The Cavaliers have a flamboyant offense, but all they talk about is the team concept and a strong work ethic, the same things that Starsia, a father of four, constantly preaches.

"He has a special approach," Dixon said. "He can scream, but he's not the yelling and screaming type. He's down to earth, very calm. All season long, he has kept us on an even keel. Whenever a team has gone on a run on us during the season, he has remained calm and kept us calm. Usually, we stop them and then go on a run of our own."

Virginia had one of those moments yesterday. The Cavaliers took a 4-1 first-quarter lead, but the Minutemen outscored them 3-1 in the second quarter to trail only 5-4 at the half. Virginia wasn't used to being in that situation. A year ago, the Cavaliers fell here, 9-8, to Johns Hopkins in overtime in the semifinals.

Halftime could have turned into chaos. The Cavaliers were tight and tentative.

"Guys were yelling and screaming about blowing the lead. You could feel a little panic," Dixon said. "Coach steps in, gets everybody quiet, tells them to refocus and how we're still up by a goal. He keeps us balanced."

Said Starsia: "We've sort of stumbled in the second quarter lately, so there was no need for a big halftime speech. I thought that we got a little careless on defense and a bit stubborn shooting the ball. But I thought our big guys like Dixon, [Matt] Ward and [Matt] Poskay came through and got good shots."

Of course, Starsia wouldn't take credit for redirecting the offense in the third quarter and getting more shots from the top of the crease. That's not his style. Nor will he talk much about coordinating his defense, which is one of the best in the nation.

But Virginia owes a lot to Starsia.

When he came to the campus from Brown in 1993, the Cavaliers had a reputation for being soft and chokers. Starsia started out imitating the playing style of predecessor Ace Adams with a deliberate offense.

A few years later, though, after a chat with then-Syracuse coach Roy Simmons Jr., Starsia started to change. He began recruiting athletes instead of just lacrosse players. Instead of slowing it down, he started letting his players run the field.

Instead of hiding in a zone or playing a tight man-to-man, he allowed his defensemen to exert pressure all over the field. He also allowed them to lead fast breaks.

Yesterday, defenseman Ricky Smith took an outlet pass from goalie Kip Turner with 3:22 left in the third quarter. Smith split two defenders near the restraining line and passed to attackman Ward, who scored on a 12-yard shot to give Virginia an 11-6 lead.

Starsia's heart pumped harder with each stride Smith took.

"It's one of those things where you're going, 'No, no, no ... yeah,'" Starsia said. "That's some good coaching right there."

Minutes later in the fourth quarter, Smith and another defenseman, freshman Matt Kelly, were leading a fast break.

"Ricky is the kind of guy who makes you pull your hair out a little bit," Starsia said. "But he epitomizes who we are. We like to take chances and push the ball. People criticize him because he makes mistakes, but I weigh the opportunities he creates for us going from offense to defense, especially in the transition.

"So many coaches are afraid of that part of the game right now. For us, you tolerate a little of that because it pays off for us in the long run."

Starsia's recruiting philosophy has produced 75 All-Americans at Virginia. In an era of parity, the Cavaliers were unbeaten and performed at a high level every time they took the field.

Starsia kept them focused on the next opponent, whether it was North Carolina, Maryland or Bellarmine. It was the perfect season for a team that had no weaknesses.

"Perfect, I hate using that word with anything I'm connected with," Starsia said, laughing.

Said Dixon: "Yeah, he's like that, but he's the guy who keeps it all together around here."

 

Devvarman falls in final
Virginia senior loses in straight sets to No. 1 seed
From Staff & Wire Reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
May 30, 2006

STANFORD, Calif. - Virginia’s Somdev Devvarman finally met his match Monday, falling to UCLA’s Benjamin Kohlloeffel in the NCAA Singles Championship, 6-1, 6-4.

Kohlloeffel became UCLA’s first men’s NCAA Singles Champion in 31 years.

“This is an incredible feeling,” said Kohlloeffel, also the fourth straight German winner. “Seeded No. 1, I could imagine winning it, but you can never plan it. I was really nervous but a good start helped me feel better.”

Kohlloeffel, who has been ranked first in the nation since April 4, also became just the second player ever to win the ITA National Indoor Championship and the NCAA title in the same year.

Utilizing a powerful ground stroke, Kohlloeffel (47-4) overwhelmed Devvarman in the first set, but then began making unforced errors up 4-1 in the second. He eventually rediscovered his stroke and put the match away.

“He got off to a great start,” said Devvarman of Kohlloeffel. “He wasn’t really missing, and he was really making me move a lot. Also, I made a few uncharacteristic errors, which a guy at a good level will definitely take advantage of. He did that today. Perfectly.”

Devvarman joined Brian Vahaly as the second NCAA finalist in Virginia’s school history. Vahaly reached the 2001 final before falling to Georgia’s Matias Boeker.

Devvarman, who finished the season 31-13, had lost six of his last 10 matches entering the singles tournament.

“He kept control for most of the match,” Devvarman said. “There’s not much I could have done today. I tried to come out and stay aggressive right from the start. He came out a little better than me today, and that’s why he won the match. He was better than me today and didn’t give me much of a chance.”

 

Cavs open vs. Lehigh
South Carolina, Evansville round out field
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
May 30, 2006

Leave it to a starting pitcher to get a little help from a reliever.

As the three teams were unveiled for this weekend’s Charlottesville Regional on Monday, Virginia pitcher Sean Doolittle correctly named their mascots. Well, almost.

After getting South Carolina’s (Gamecocks) and Lehigh’s (Mountain Hawks) correct, the mascot expert, looked for relief on Evansville.

Shooter Hunt came to the rescue to get that one, as Doolittle was reminded that Evansville’s mascot was the Purple Aces.

All three unranked teams will join No. 7 Virginia in Charlottesville on Friday to open one of 16 regional sites. The winner of the double-elimination tournament will advance to face the victor of the Athens Regional, which features host Georgia and second-seeded Florida State, in a two-team, best-of-three super regional.

On Friday, Virginia (46-13) opens with fourth-seeded Lehigh (28-26) at 3 p.m. at Davenport Field. South Carolina, the No. 2 seed and owner of a 37-22 record, and third-seeded Evansville(40-20) will play in the nightcap (7 p.m.). The winners and losers will play on Saturday in an event that could last until Monday night, if necessary.

“The No. 1 excitement is to be selected as a host site,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “It is such an advantage to be able to play at home and dress in your own locker room and sleep in your own bed. We are excited about that, and, No. 2, for the field in the Charlottesville Regional.

“We have a perennial power from the SEC coming here in South Carolina, and it should be very exciting for the fans.”

UVa and South Carolina earned at-large bids into the tournament, while Evansville (Missouri Valley) and Lehigh (Patriot League) earned automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. The Gamecocks have lost 19 of their last 28 games and dropped out of the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 College Coaches’ Poll on Monday.

O’Connor knows that South Carolina does have tradition - the Gamecocks have advanced to the NCAAs seven straight years, the longest streak in the baseball-rich SEC. The skipper also knows Evansville’s head coach Dave Schrage very well. Both are graduates of Creighton University.

What about Lehigh, UVa’s first opponent?

“I don’t know much,” O’Connor said. “But they are in the tournament for a reason. They won their league, and any team that wins their league has got a good team. They will come here ready to play.”

O’Connor and his veteran players know that firsthand. In each of the Cavaliers’ previous two trips to the NCAA Tournament, they lost games to fourth-seeded teams (Princeton in ’04 and Ohio State in ’05).

“You have to come out strong,” said senior Tom Hagan. “You can’t take for granted who you are playing. We have a good regional and we have a good road ahead of us as well, but it doesn’t matter. We just have to come out ready to play and give it our best.”

Unlike Hagan, a number of Virginia’s players will be playing in their first home regional. For many of them, the last 48 hours have been a blur.

“Certainly, I want to pinch myself, but I’m not going to. I am enjoying this while I can,” said right fielder Brandon Marsh. “It’s something that you come here and hope for, and now it is a realization that we are going to be playing in a regional at home.”

Home and wins seem to go hand-in-hand at Davenport Field, where UVa is 31-3 this year.

“It is very realistic to see us going deep into the postseason here,” Marsh said.

O’Connor said he plans to set his rotation for the regional today. The options? O’Connor has two lefties - senior Mike Ballard and Doolittle - and right-handed throwing freshman Jacob Thompson.

Against southpaws, Lehigh hit .329. That was 42 points higher than what they hit against right-handers.

“Any one of the three could be a possibility,” O’Connor said.

What is known is that tickets were selling like hotcakes on Monday. O’Connor said the final capacity will be 3,200, which includes bleacher seats in left field for the first time. A company out of Richmond will construct the bleachers today.

Given South Carolina’s fan following, O’Connor expects the remaining general admission tickets to sell out today or Wednesday. The reserved seats sold out before the announcement thanks to a pre-sale.

“I hope our fans buy up the rest of the tickets,” O’Connor said, “because if they don’t, South Carolina fans will.”


 

Stephen A. Smith | Duke free-falling from graceBy Stephen A. Smith
Inquirer Columnist

I never believed the day would come when we'd see an educational institution so flagrantly stupid, so selfish, so conspicuously aloof. Evidently it's Duke, supposedly one of America's more honorable institutions of higher learning.

A few days before losing in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse semifinals on Friday, members of the Blue Devils team told the world they would wear wristbands with the word innocent emblazoned on them during the game, in support of three Duke men's lacrosse players indicted on rape charges stemming from a March 13 team party.

These 18-, 19- and 20-year-old women evidently were either ignorant or insensitive to the fact that there were 94,635 rapes in the country in 2004, according to the FBI. Or they weren't aware that rape is one of the most underreported crimes, which one would think should heighten any female's sensitivity radar.

Let us, instead, focus on Duke University, a renowned institution of learning, the same institution presently giving Jim Carrey's depiction of Dumb & Dumber a serious run for its money.

The word innocent was going to be sprayed on wristbands, and Duke said it planned to do nothing about it. It planned to do nothing even though that declaration was going to be made public, in an NCAA-sanctioned venue, by representatives of the institution, and Duke practically condoned it with no regard as to how this may look.

To think, once upon a time, academic institutions were held in high regard, a transitional haven for those moving from their teenage years to adulthood. What are we to think now when it's clear that even at places such as Duke there's an absence of common sense?

It's worth repeating that the three men who have been accused - Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans - are innocent until proven guilty.

The rape accusation by a 27-year-old, African American female student at North Carolina Central University, moonlighting as a stripper, hardly proves their guilt, which will be decided by the courts. But it also doesn't let anyone off the hook, regardless of the "No Excuse-No Regrets" motto or the "45, 13, 6" jersey numbers of the accused men that the Duke women's lacrosse players decided to wear.

After learning about the wristbands, John Burness, Duke's vice president of public affairs, said: "They don't clear those things with us ever. We're not sitting here looking over people's shoulders quite that much."

That is not only negligent, it's hypocritical.

The same university that begged the nation to avoid rushing to judgment, that during the Final Four had employees intercept questions directed at the Duke women's basketball players - seven of whom are black, by the way - turns a blind eye and deaf ear away from 31 female lacrosse players - 30 of whom are white - clearly trying to swing the national pendulum in favor of the accused.

Perhaps, at some point, it would be wise to inform these ladies about the FBI's rape statistics. If they sat down and talked with law enforcement officials, two things would be learned:

The numbers are much worse than what's actually reported.

Females ignorant to that fact can't possibly assist in alleviating this problem.

What we're sure about is that Duke should not be oblivious to any of this. Certainly not when it was found, over the last 51/2 years, to have had 52 disciplinary incidents at a rate that was accelerating, according to the New York Times.

There were strippers, alcohol and disorderly conduct at the men's lacrosse team's party. How anyone who wasn't there could possibly think they know anything is beyond me. But that's why we call them kids.

The adults at Duke are an entirely different matter.

"Any attention we got for the wristbands paled in comparison to having the media staked outside of our practice and the girls' dorms," Duke women's lacrosse coach Kerstin Kimel told reporters after the team's loss Friday. "Of watching your friends be arrested; watching your fellow students not support fellow students; watching professors not support students."

She left out a few other possibilities, but we don't need to go there.

Then again, she's working for an institution that allowed a bunch of kids to nearly run amok in a public venue with Duke's name on their jerseys, bringing more unwanted attention to the deficiencies of a university deemed nearly perfect before a woman huffed and puffed and blew its house down by screaming "rape."

Considering these latest signs of negligence, who knows what else is possible?


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