Cavs given home slot in NCAA lacrosse tournament
U.Va. enters tourney as No. 2 seed for the second year in a row
Monday, May 05, 2008 - 12:07 AM

MD.-BALTIMORE COUNTY AT VIRGINIA
NCAA men's lacrosse
Sunday:5 p.m., ESPNU

By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE - As expected, the University of Virginia men's lacrosse team will open the NCAA tournament at home.

U.Va., seeded No. 2 in the 16-team field, hosts Maryland-Baltimore County at Klockner Stadium at 5 p.m. Sunday. ESPNU will televise the first-round game.

Both teams are 12-3. They haven't met since 1996, when the Cavaliers romped 20-9. U.Va. leads the series 12-2.

UMBC rallied from nine goals down Saturday to stun Albany 14-13 in the America East championship game. The Retrievers have won 11 consecutive games.

The Virginia-UMBC winner will meet Maryland (9-5) or Denver (10-6) in the second round May 17 at Annapolis, Md.

This marks the second year in a row that U.Va. enters the NCAAs seeded No. 2. A season ago, Delaware stunned Virginia, the defending NCAA champion, 14-8 in a first-round game at Klockner Stadium.

"I could understand what happened last year in the first round with Delaware, but I think it sticks in everybody's craw a little bit, and I think the players are anxious for the opportunity," Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia said last night. "I think we've all been waiting to get back to this time of year, which is the start of getting ready for the playoffs."

Duke, which has beaten Virginia twice this season, is the NCAA tourney's No. 1 seed. The only team to beat Duke this year, Georgetown, did not make the field, which includes three representatives from the Great Western Lacrosse League: Notre Dame, Ohio State and Denver.

"I think it does speak to the growth of the game," Starsia said of the GWLL's rise.

 

Men’s Lacrosse Hosts UMBC in NCAA tournament
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 05/04/2008
Courtesy: Pete Emerson/UVa Media Relations.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—The University of Virginia has received a bid to the 2008 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship and will host UMBC in the first round Sunday (May 11) at 5 pm at Klöckner Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

The tournament’s second seed, Virginia is 12-3 this season and currently ranked third in the coaches poll.

This is Virginia’s 31st tournament appearance overall, second behind Johns Hopkins (37). Virginia won the national championship two years ago and has received a bid in 15 of the last 16 seasons.

UMBC, currently ranked seventh in the coaches poll, is one of the hottest teams in the nation. After starting 1-3, UMBC has won 11 consecutive games and is 12-3 overall. The Retrievers gained an automatic bid with a 14-13 win over Albany in the championship game of the America East Tournament. In that game they rallied from a nine-goal deficit to win the league title. This is UMBC’s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA championship and its fifth overall in the Division I tournament; the Retrievers played in seven Division II tournaments from 1974-80.

Virginia owns a 12-2 all-time record against UMBC. The Cavaliers have won the last fifth meetings vs. the Retrievers, including a 20-9 win in 1996 in the most recent match-up between the two schools.

The winner of this game faces the winner of the Denver at Maryland game in the quarterfinals at Navy on Saturday (May 17).

Fans may purchase tickets beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday in person at the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office in Bryant Hall or by calling (800) 542-8821. Tickets can also be purchased online at virginiasports.com. Reserved seat tickets offering stadium chair seating under cover are $9 each; general admission tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth 18-and-under, seniors 60-and-over and students of participating schools with a valid student ID. Parking is $5.

The Ticket Office encourages all fans to purchase and pick up their tickets in advance to avoid long ticket sales and Will Call lines on game day.

 

Young Jet finds out how time can stop
Saturday, May 03, 2008
BY DAVE HUTCHINSON
Star-Ledger Staff

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- For two minutes, University of Virginia safety Nate Lyles laid paralyzed on the turf at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. Known for his bone-rattling hits, Lyles had gotten a taste of his own medicine.

In a Nov. 12, 2005, game against Georgia Tech, Lyles took a knee to the helmet while trying to tackle running back P.J. Daniels. Lyles thought Daniels was going to go low and Lyles went low as well. But Daniels then tried to leap over Lyles and struck him in the head.

Lyles, who was worked on by paramedics for more than 10 minutes on the field, thought his career was over as he was strapped to a hard stretcher, placed on a cart and wheeled off the field. He spent the night at the hospital.

"It was scary," Lyles said yesterday on the first day of the Jets' rookie minicamp at Hofstra University. "He leaped and kicked my neck back. I fell forward and I was paralyzed.

"It was tough because I didn't know if I would play football anymore. I didn't know what was going to happen to me from the injury."

Doctors had to fuse vertebra in Lyles' neck. He wore a brace and underwent a grueling rehab from February to June. He wasn't medically cleared until shortly before Virginia's training camp that August.

Miraculously, Lyles made it through training camp and was in the starting lineup on opening day. He hasn't looked back since, playing with the same reckless abandon that was the trademark of his college career. Lyles was a three-year starter at Virginia, including his final two years after he got hurt.

"It was no hesitation," said Lyles, a rookie free agent. "The doctors told me everything was fine and I should basically keep doing exactly what I was doing before. I felt like that was their cue for it to be just like it was before.

"It definitely makes me appreciate it a lot more," Lyles said.

Lyles is one of 57 players at the Jets' rookie camp, including their six draft picks, several first-year players and 34 rookie free agents trying out.

Lyles' story didn't escape Jets coach Eric Mangini.

"(It shows) football is really important to him and he's tough," said Mangini. "He has all the (Jets') core characteristics. To go through the things he went through and to come back and be as successful as he was in college football, it's hard to do. I have a lot of respect for that."

Lyles, 6-foot, 199 pounds, does his best work in the box, close to the line of scrimmage. Last season, he had 68 tackles and no interceptions. He's the type of hard hitter the Jets need to pair with ball-hawking safety Kerry Rhodes.

The Jets have no set starter opposite Rhodes. Eric Coleman, Abram Elam and Eric Smith each started at times last season. Coleman signed with Atlanta as a free agent.

Lyles has an edge on the competition because he played in an almost identical 3-4 scheme at Virginia under former Jets coach Al Groh. The Jets didn't draft a safety.

"I like this 3-4 defense, there are a lot of calls that are similar to what I worked with in college. It's a great defense. I like it. ... Coach Groh was a great coach. I really enjoyed playing for him and I appreciate everything he did for me. I learned a lot."

Said Mangini: "Whenever you can get a Virginia player, they pretty much know the language. The nuances change."

Although he impressed NFL scouts by running a 4.5 in the 40 at the Virginia Pro Day in Charlottesville, Lyles wasn't drafted. But that was a mere blip on the screen considering what he has gone through.

"I wasn't disappointed," he said. "All I wanted was an opportunity to play on the next level. That's what I'm getting right now and I'm going to try to make the most of it."

 

A second job for former Cav Butler
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: May 3, 2008

When Brad Butler starred at right tackle for Virginia’s football team, he was dead serious about the game. However, he wasn’t a one-dimensional guy.
The big lineman caught sportswriters off guard when he talked about his interest in politics and issues outside the gridiron. Well, it wasn’t just talk.
Butler, who played right guard for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills last season, followed up on his other dream. When the Bills’ season ended on Dec. 30, he packed his bags and moved to Washington, D.C., for the next two-and-a-half months.
His destination?
Capitol Hill.
Butler went to work as an intern for former Bills quarterbacking great Jack Kemp, who went on to a successful career as a member of Congress, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and a vice presidential candidate. Now retired from political life, he directs Kemp Partners, a company that dabbles in strategic consulting, finance, real estate and more.
“No pun intended, but he’s literally a ‘Jack of all Trades,’ and is spread out everywhere,” Butler said of Kemp.
The former Cavalier tackle figured Kemp would be an ideal person to learn from and he wasn’t disappointed.
“Politics is my first passion, but finance, economy and taxes are my second,” Butler said. “That’s something Jack was familiar with on all fronts. He took me under his wing and it was a very humbling experience to have someone of his stature that could encourage someone young like myself to get involved in politics and more.”
Kemp would spend lunch with Butler, invite him over to his home to talk politics and the like, showing him the ropes.
Part of Butler’s duties as Kemp’s intern was to attend congressional hearings on issues important to Kemp Partners, take notes and report his findings.
“For instance, if we represented a widget company and there’s a hearing on the safety of widgets, I would be the one that would go to Capitol Hill and sit there and cover the hearing and file a report on things that pertained to our company,” Butler said. “I might go sit in on a meeting with different congressmen and take notes from them. I got to see how things unfold on the Hill.”
What struck Butler’s funny bone was that a lot of times around Washington, he would have to explain that his connection to Kemp was that his boss was a former AFL star, one of the top quarterbacks of his time - he played in five of the 10 AFL championship games before the league merged with the NFL and had his number 15 retired by the Bills.
“They’d ask what my connection was to Jack and I would answer that I played for the Buffalo Bills, and they still didn’t get it,” Butler said. “Finally, I had to tell them that Jack was one of the greatest of Buffalo’s players.”
While in D.C., Butler didn’t waste any opportunities. He spent time with former Redskins quarterback Heath Shuler, now a congressman from North Carolina, and hung out with “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert, a big Bills fan. Make that Buffalo Bills, not congressional ones.
With that experience behind him, Butler is gearing up for another NFL season, but is already planning ahead. He wants to spread himself out into the aforementioned areas, and might even attempt Wall Street next offseason.
“What’s great about the NFL is you have a few months off and you can follow your passion,” he said. “I’m young and single, so I can live wherever I want to learn about something. In college, you have your bowl game and then a couple of weeks later you’re back in the weight room. The NFL encourages you to take two months off and take care of your body.”
He has also attended a couple of two-week courses at Harvard and Pennsylvania that feature business schools where players can go for a short period and explore figuring out what they want to do post-football.
Butler attributes all these avenues of interest to life at the University of Virginia.
“I was able to develop strong feelings that you need to get out there and experience things from my education at UVa,” Butler said. “While I was there, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, you’re a football player.’
“You could be involved in clubs and work at internships and join fraternities. I did all those things and it helped develop me into a better person. I think it has helped my career in the NFL.”
Butler is especially grateful to Virginia professor Dr. Larry Sabato, who generously allowed him to work as an intern and follow his passion of politics.
“That really meant a lot to me,” Butler said. “He served as a mentor and had enough time to take me under his wing. In a time when so many people are negative about politics, he has tried to remain positive about it and encouraged young people to get involved, which I think is one of the most important things you can do as a citizen of this country.”
Just as important as Sabato was to Butler’s development, so were Cavaliers head coach Al Groh and line coach Ron Prince, now the head coach at Kansas State.
“One of the big recruiting points that attracted me to UVa was that coach Groh was an NFL coach,” Butler said. “Being in his system for four years, how he practiced, how he conducted meetings, how he played the games, made the learning curve from college to the NFL a lot smaller for me than a lot of other guys because I was already accustomed to the NFL characteristics of Virginia’s program. I think that will help Chris Long and Branden Albert now that they’re coming into the league.”
Butler’s entry into the NFL wasn’t quite as easy as Long’s and Albert’s. He blew out his shoulder and became somewhat frustrated during the Combine and other workouts when he had to sit idly and watch other players run 40-yard dashes for the scouts.
“It really taught me patience because I had to sit there and let teams poke and prod at me and try to figure if I would be able to play in the NFL,” he said. “It was a great learning lesson in life.”
In Buffalo, Butler has been reunited with a couple of former Cavaliers, linebacker Angelo Crowell and offensive lineman Pat Estes.
“It’s neat to play along with them,” he said. “It’s a little eerie playing against former teammates such as D’Brickashaw Ferguson [of the New York Jets]. But walking off the field with a former UVa alum and catching up with them is cool.”
Meanwhile, Butler keeps plugging along, trying to reach his goals as a pro football player and off the field.
Some day, after football, we might see him running a corporation, or sitting in Congress.
“You need to figure out what you’re going to do after football or whatever you do in life,” Butler said. “You’ve got to create side bets because you never know what’s going to happen. I mean, here in Buffalo you could slip on a patch of ice and be done. That’s why those side bets are so important.”
Our bet is on Butler. It’s not only a safe one, but a smart one.