White: Q&A With Craig Littlepage
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 09/15/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The 2008-09 academic year was a memorable one for UVa athletics, and not only because the baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first time.
It would take much more space to list the programs that fared well in 2008-09 than those that struggled. Virginia won six ACC titles -- in men's cross country, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, men's tennis, men's outdoor track and field, and baseball -- and placed eighth in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup competition for Division I, matching the University's best finish in the program's 16 years.
With a new academic year under way, VirginiaSports.com's Jeff White sat down with UVa's director of athletics at the McCue Center to get Craig Littlepage's thoughts on the strengths of his department and the challenges facing it.
JW: As well as 2008-09 went for the 'Hoos, it's over. How have you addressed that within the department?
CL: Everybody was happy with the season-long results of the program, and certainly with the kind of finish that we had with the spring sports. It was a perfect exclamation point to a year when we had season-long success, although with men's basketball and football, we didn't have as much success as we wanted.
But the idea was: We've taken the time to celebrate all the successes and everything. Now it's time to ramp up again, and it's a new year. We all, in terms of 25 teams, have to remake those teams. There are going to be some new faces, some new contributors, etc., and it's now about the moving forward and the tough business of trying to exceed what we did a year ago, and in some cases the challenge of doing more than we did with less, relative to resources, etc.
JW: Football is a hot topic these days, obviously. What's your message for fans who are frustrated with the 0-2 start and the state of the program under Al Groh?
CL: I would say that certainly we have established goals for our program, in all 25 of our sports, and it's my strong desire to make sure that we have a chance in every one of our sports to be able to accomplish the goals that have been established.
I understand that there is a lot of concern from people from different areas, and believe me that there's no one that's more concerned than I am about making sure that the program is on track and does perform. Certainly the coaching staff, and Al in particular, is concerned, and our players are concerned, but everybody is committed to continuing the hard work to get things to the point that we can see positive results.
Two games into a season [is not a long time], particularly given the number of new things that have been incorporated into the program, everything from new staff to new techniques and schemes, relative to the Xs and Os, and I think that the players and coaches deserve the opportunity to show that these changes can be successful. It's very important that in order for our team to be successful, the support of everybody is needed. I know how difficult that is at times, but again, to look at the situation after two games certainly is not, in my opinion, a barometer for what kind of team this can be in the 2009 season.
JW: At what point will you have a good read on this team?
CL: I don't know that there's a specific point, but I want to make sure that these guys are supported.
JW: Fans booed UVa's coaches and, in some cases, players during each of the two games at Scott Stadium. What's your reaction to that?
CL: The players and the coaches, we're all part of the team. So I can understand where the players might be impacted by that as far as hearing it. But this is a group of young guys that are focused and are going to continue to work as hard as they possibly can to bring about the results that they want and all the fans want.
JW: Do you have a sense of whether UVa athletics can be as strong in 2009-10 as in 2008-09?
CL: A lot of it is just on the basis of who's returning and the quality of kids that are coming in, and the competitive success of all of our teams is going to be impacted also by how much better our opponents, particularly those in the ACC, might be. But I feel that this year can be a year that we do even better than we did last year, because I think that we are going to be better in a sport like wrestling, which has come in the last two years so close to winning an ACC championship. I think women's basketball is poised to continue to advance even further in the tournament.
In [men's basketball coach Tony Bennett's] first year, it's hard to predict what kind of impact he's going to be able to make in terms of postseason play, but obviously the hope is that football will do a little bit better. We have some other sports, such as women's lacrosse, that we think can improve in. We think field hockey may be able to advance more. A number of sports -- rowing, for example, which missed out on an ACC championship last year for the first time -- we feel as though can do even better. I feel like, as well as we did, there's room for improvement.
JW: You mentioned Tony Bennett. What do you think of the job he's done so far here?
CL: My early impressions have been that he is, before coaching his first game, more than I expected him to be in terms of a coach, educator and a colleague. He seems to be the complete package. He has a very good understanding of how to be successful in this sort of environment, and not only successful in terms of what I think that we'll see him and his teams achieve competitively, but from the standpoint of academic achievement, and in terms of character.
He's shown an understanding of how to put a staff together, and certainly the early results seem to be that this staff does understand how to leverage the assets of this university and the program to get good kids in the program. So I think there's been nothing but pluses, as I view it, relative to what Tony has brought to the program in just six or seven months.
JW: How has the economy affected UVa athletics?
CL: There's been nipping and tucking, if you will, to address some of the things, from an operational-budget standpoint, that give us a balanced budget. We've made some adjustments to sport program budgets with the review and input of the head coaches, and with them taking an active part in adjusting competitive schedules, adjusting maybe their recruiting philosophy and adjusting other components of their program to be able to meet the budget that our senior administration came back to them with.
I think that these adjustments should not have an impact on the competitiveness of the teams. And our goal over the past couple of years, when we had to make these adjustments, was to do so in ways and in areas that were not going to have a visible and immediate impact on the experience of the student-athletes. In other words, in areas like sports medicine and student services, academic affairs, dining, etc., we want to make sure that we are providing the same level of service as we had previously.
But it could [affect] how many recruiting trips a coaching staff makes or how many days they are away on a team trip, or the quality or level or scale of a hotel or the scale of a pregame meal, things like that. We made some cuts in our operational budget, which is going to be a little less this year. We did not fill positions in, for example, some marketing areas. There may be positions that weren't filled in what we would consider to be non-critical areas.
JW: Not every UVa fan cares passionately about the Directors' Cup competition. Do you find it frustrating that the struggles in football and men's basketball often overshadow the accomplishments in Olympic sports?
CL: Frustrating wouldn't be the right word. It bothers me from the standpoint that these coaches and student-athletes across the board are doing so much and doing so well. They're working equally as hard as the coaches and student-athletes in [football and basketball]. And one of the statements that I think I've made on a couple of occasions is, if there's one thing I would hope could come out of a review of what our department does on an ongoing basis, it's an apprecation for just how difficult coaching is. Whether it's coaching at Virginia or Texas or Notre Dame or anywhere. It's a tough, tough profession, and I think that we have a group of women and men that do so well in all facets of their coaching responsibilites and their leadership responsibilities.
I understand the focus and attention that's given to football and basketball, and we're certainly committed to making sure that we do what needs to be done in our programs, all 25 sports, to be successful. But [there should be an] appreciation for what all these coaches do and how well they do it. They make it look easy.
JW: What's the biggest challenge facing the athletics department?
CL: I would say it would be the revenue-generating component. It ties back to football and basketball, the economy. I think there are a number of different elements that can impact our ability to sustain our operations and how we provide what student-athletes and teams need to be successful.
JW: Given the state of the economy, this is probably not be an ideal time for UVa to upgrade existing athletic facilities or build new ones. But are any such projects being discussed?
CL: Some people would suggest that the time to at least brainstorm on some of these things is at a point when, for example, the economy might be slowing down a little bit, so that on the other side of that, in the mode of recovery, you're ready to move. If you're not talking about things, then you're behind the curve, so to speak.
We are talking about a couple things. We're talking about some things that we would like to be able to do for track and field. We're also talking about the field house, the concept of either a bubble or an inside facility where we could take the lacrosse, football, baseball teams in January if it's snowing or there's inclement weather or it's particularly cold. So those are probably two things that we're going to continue to keep in mind as we go through the next, maybe, 12 months or so. I want to emphasize that it doesn't mean that we have a project, but in a down economy, you're better off talking about what you want to do, so when things start to improve, you're ready to mobilize, you're ready to go, you know what you need, and you have an idea as to put what the plan is to put the necessary pieces together.
JW: Have you been able to gauge to impact of UVa's appearance in the College World Series?
CL: The feeling is that it has certainly built up a level of interest in baseball in this community. I think that's probably the most obvious thing. And when I say community, not the generic Charlottesville/Albemarle County, but the University community. So there's a much greater awareness of who Brian O'Connor is and what he has done in the six years that he has been our head coach, much more than ever before. Greater acknowledgement of that.
Brian is a very much sought-after speaker and representative of our program, and I think the way in which he talks about, not only the baseball program and the athletics department, but the way that he talks about the University and the respect that the players have in wearing the University of Virginia uniform, does indeed build the goodwill for the University overall that I think is particularly important.
So whereas I think that with a basketball Final Four or with a football major bowl game or a particularly successful postseason event of some type, it may have impact in terms of increasing numbers of applications and maybe a bump in terms of fund-raising. I think the baseball College World Series has built more on the goodwill, the publicity and the exposure and has built the anticipation for the coming season. I think what we're going to see is increasing numbers of people that are coming out to the ball games and taking advantage of a great facility and a top-performing team.
JW: How important is continued success in the Directors' Cup competition to the athletics department?
CL: I would say that it's important as well to the University. In fact, in 2001, in the months following the aftershock of the task-force report [that recommended dividing sports into tiers], when the Board of Visitors was making its decisions and statements about the future of Virginia athletics, the idea was to be excellent in everything that you do, and to generate and provide the necessary resources to be good across the board in all 24 sports, soon to be 25 sports. We added women's golf shortly thereafter.
So I think we've been able to do that, to make our program one that has been competitive virtually across the board. What we have been trying to accomplish is the consistency in both football and basketball, and that's the immediate challenge, to make sure that we are in a position to not just have a top-10 program, but a top-10 program that includes consistent success for the marquee sports.
JW: In this economy, the Virginia Athletics Foundation's job is that much more difficult. How important is the VAF to the University's mission in athletics?
CL: They have done such a good job in recent years of, A, allowing us to fully fund scholarships and, B, helping us to realize the goals of building the kind of facilities that we have and the kind of facilities that we're going to need in the future. The nuts-and-bolts work of generating the funding through private philanthropy is something that has to be a part of everything that they do. Certainly going into this year, and looking at the increases we have seen from the University in tuition and everything else, every time there's an increase in the cost of education, it hits the bottom line of our budget and the VAF fund-raising goal. They do a great job. They are truly one of the top fund-raising organizations in Division I athletics, and we will have a championship-level challenge in that regard in this academic year, 2009-10.
 

Keeping Up With Jones A Pleasure For Groh
Sept. 14, 2009
9:55 a.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- His lack of size scared off some college recruiters, but Perry Jones might well have been the best high school football player in this state last season.

Jones, a 5-8, 185-pound tailback, has impressed in pracctice at UVa since arriving this summer, and he made his college debut Saturday against Texas Christian.

The fifth true freshman Virginia has used this season, Jones was in for 10 special-teams plays against TCU, Al Groh said Monday. He fielded two short kickoffs, the second of which he returned 25 yards.

"You know, every day, out there in practice, he's lively," Groh said. "He's energetic. He's a very positive kid. He expects to do well at whatever he does.

"He's kind of one of those little light bulbs that light things up wherever he goes and has a high expectation of success and did a nice job. He does every play in practice that way."

Jones is likely to play mostly on special teams this season, Groh said, and "we can certainly see the possibilities where that role might expand."

As a senior at Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake, Jones was The Associated Press' choice as Group AAA player of the year in 2008. He starred at linebacker and running back for a team that won the Group AAA, Division 6 title.

Jones rushed for 1,831 yards and 30 touchdowns, and he made 119 tackles, including 10 sacks, and intercepted four passes last year.

-- Jeff White

Strike up the band for Cavs' Cain
Isaac Cain knows how to play the trombone and drive a bus.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For some walk-on athletes, just being awarded a uniform is an accomplishment.

Isaac Cain has never lacked for a uniform.

At Hampton High School, Cain played trombone in the Crabbers' band until he was persuaded to join the football team prior to his junior year

Cain has lost track of his trombone since arriving at the University of Virginia, but he has pursued another extracurricular activity.

For the last two years, Cain has driven buses for the University Transit Service.

He hopes to resume his route in the spring, but for now, Cain has other demands on his time. He plays offensive guard for UVa's football team and received his first start last Saturday against Texas Christian.

That was the latest milestone in an odyssey that started when coaches couldn't keep their eyes off a big kid in the Hampton High School band.

"He actually had lifted [weights] with us during the summers," Hampton High School coach Mike Smith said. "We thought we would get him before we did."

Cain hardly played as a junior but showed enough promise as a senior that Division I-AA Norfolk State offered him a scholarship.

Then, a week before signing day in 2006, Virginia coach Al Groh invited Cain to come to UVa as a preferred walk-on. Cain, who said he was a 3.9 student at Hampton, jumped at the chance.

Early impressions were not favorable.

"He literally could not run back and forth across the field when he came here as a freshman," said Dave Borbely, the Cavaliers' offensive line coach. "In fact, I yanked his playbook because he was so out of shape."

Mostly, Cain was too heavy. He eventually got his playbook back but played in only one game in 2007 as a redshirt freshman and one game in 2008.

By last spring, he had gotten his weight down to 300 pounds from a high of 330 and was listed on the two-deep behind B.J. Cabbell at right offensive guard.

"This kid really busted his butt after his freshman year to get in shape," Borbely said early in fall camp. "I would love the opportunity to get him on the field if there's a situation that warrants it.

"When you look at the end zone copy of the tape, it's hard to tell the difference between B.J. and Isaac."

Cabbell, a redshirt sophomore, has been plagued by injuries that have limited his practice time, but he did play against TCU and is listed atop the depth chart again this week for the Cavaliers' trip to Southern Mississippi.

Cain will always have the distinction of having started at least one college game, but more important was the full scholarship he received on the eve of preseason camp.

"As far as football goes, [the scholarship] doesn't mean anything," Cain said. "It just means a little less responsibility for my parents. Everyone on the team is important and nobody is belittled because of their status."

It was Cain's desire to help pay for his education, as well as a fondness for driving, that prompted him to contact the University Transit Service. He underwent a two-week training period and was ready to hit the streets.

One of Cain's fellow offensive linemen, Austin Pasztor, said he boarded a bus for class last year and was startled to see Cain behind the wheel.

"It was pretty funny," Pasztor said. "Actually, when I got on, he tried to shut the door on me."

After players and coaches met at UVa's Rotunda for their team picture in 2008, Cain drove one busload to Scott Stadium for "Meet the Team" activities.

Cain also has a somewhat unusual academic curriculum, at least for a football player. He is majoring in history and has a minor in German, explaining that his great-great grandfather is of German descent.

"I definitely look at school as a start to the future," he said, "[but] I don't know what the future holds."

There might be a place for him in uniform rental. He's definitely got the goods.
 

Cavs need improvement on both lines
By Michael Phillips
Published: September 16, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For the U.Va. football team this week, it's all about pressure.

Specifically, the defensive line will try to create some, while the offensive line will look to protect quarterback Jameel Sewell.

After two games, the Hoos have allowed nine sacks, while they've made just three. Both numbers have been a factor in the team's 0-2 start.

"Some of it was getting beat physically, some of it was mental errors," offensive lineman Isaac Cain said. "We've just got to improve and make sure it doesn't happen again."

On offense, the team has run into a pair of tough matchups. William and Mary defensive end Adrian Tracy is likely NFL-bound, as is TCU end Jerry Hughes. That meant a pair of long games for right tackle Will Barker.

The school that has churned out several NFL players at the position has also had trouble replacing Eugene Monroe, who anchored the line last year.

In addition, right guard B.J. Cabbell has missed time because of an injury, though he has not yet appeared in the team's injury reports. His replacement has been Cain, a junior who has assumed the No. 2 position on the depth chart officially this week at right guard.

Behind him is redshirt freshman Aaron Van Kuiken, who is still developing. True freshman Oday Aboushi is also on the depth chart but won't be rushed in.

"There's no position that's as developmental as offensive lineman," coach Al Groh said.

Those problems show up on the scoresheet as nine allowed sacks, an anomaly for an award-winning group last year.

"It was a tough game for us, because last year we had the fewest in the ACC, and we take pride in that," left guard Austin Pasztor said. "We'll work hard in practice to fix those things."

The unit is also adjusting to a new spread offense, which spaces out the linemen and puts emphasis on individual matchups.

Groh also cited the nature of the position, saying that two mistakes per game doesn't sound like a lot, but it would add up to 24 sacks a year, which would be too many for any team.

"To really have a good night, everybody involved has to allow zero sacks, with maybe a couple guys allowing one," Groh said.

On the defensive line, the job is to put pressure on quarterbacks.

The 3-4 defensive scheme uses three linemen and will occasionally bring forward additional linebackers or safeties to produce extra pressure.

Nate Collins and Matt Conrath are the defensive ends, and while Collins is a senior and Conrath a sophomore, both are inexperienced in playing time at the position.

"There's significant room between where they are and where the ceiling is," Groh said.

But even after two rough games, the units aren't throwing in the towel just yet. This week's game against Southern Miss offers them a chance to get their bearings against a smaller unit.

Golden Eagles coach Larry Fedora expressed concern about the size mismatch.

"Obviously, we're not going to get any bigger this week," he said. "So we'll have to do a great job with the speed and quickness we have."

If the Golden Eagles don't, it could be a breakout week for the Cavaliers in the trenches.
 

U.Va. runs the 10-man play to perfection
Michael Phillips
Sep 15, 2009

After Virginia scored its first touchdown of the game last Saturday, lineman Austin Pasztor ran over to his friend Javaris Brown, who caught the touchdown, and started celebrating with them. The two took their party to the sideline, where Pasztor heard another cheer rise up, and noticed that the team had gone for a two-point conversion successfully.

That’s when it hit him - he was supposed to remain on the field for that play.

“We scored, I was celebrating, congratulating Javaris - who’s a good friend, and I kind of jogged off the field with him,“ Pasztor said. “And then we ran it behind where I was supposed to be.“

While he took some grief from his teammates, the successful result ultimately meant that they could laugh about the missing offensive lineman. So say what you will about U.Va.‘s offensive struggles, but for one play, 10 Cavs were better than 11 Horned Frogs.
 

Perry Jones’ role, now that the redshirt is off
Michael Phillips
Sep 15, 2009

Freshman running back Perry Jones (Chesapeake) has seen some action at special teams this season for the Cavaliers, meaning that he cannot be redshirted. Coach Al Groh was asked if that means his role will change now.

“He played ten plays total on special teams. And he’s very ‑‑ he’s fun. You know, every day, out there in practice, he’s lively. He’s energetic. He’s a very positive kid. He expects to do well at whatever he does. He’s kind of one of those little light bulbs that light things up wherever he goes and has a high expectation of success and did a nice job; he does every play in practice that way. He did a nice job on special teams.

You know, more than likely, his primary role this year will be on special teams, and we can certainly see the possibilities where that role might expand.“
 

Mixing Messages
As the wolves begin to circle around Virginia football coach Al Groh, a peculiar dynamic is in play.

Because Groh is the sole outlet for official information on the Cavaliers – remember, the assistant coaches are off-limits to reporters – his regular give-and-take sessions with his media buddies are an odd mix of coach’s hot seat and personnel minutiae.

For instance, at Monday’s presser, within the space of a few minutes, Groh was asked about the potential effects of an increasingly disenchanted fan base on recruiting and his thoughts on rotating defensive tackles. He was asked if a road game is good, because it escapes the home-grown griping, and about what role true freshman Perry Jones might fill.

College football coaches are quite capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time – that is, juggling and addressing multiple topics. But when things are careening toward the dumper, there’s a sly benefit to being the Lone Disseminator.

Reporters cannot simply bang away at the head coach’s ability to dodge cutlery, because readers also want to know about individual players and game strategy and how he feels about fielding punts inside the 10-yard line.

Spend all of the allotted time asking about job status, and you get nothing about other aspects of the team. Or, if an interview session becomes too contentious, there’s always the chance that the One Voice goes monosyllabic or retreats to the bunker, which again means that nothing else about the program is discussed.

Groh’s position as the singular voice of the program comes from his NFL background and the Parcells/Belichick School of Public Relations. Only the head coach speaks publicly, which all but eliminates the possibility of competing messages.

Never mind that assistant coaches provide valuable insight in areas of personnel and schemes and the decision-making process – the daily stuff and the detail stuff, which in theory would permit the head coach to address the big-picture stuff. Unless the big-picture stuff happens to be unpleasant.

All of this might strike you as yet another example of whiny journalism. So what if reporters have limited access? Now that everybody’s on Facebook and Twitter and has their own Web sites, there’s plenty of info available, provided you know where to look. You don’t need the keyboard and lens jockeys to tell you what to think.

And besides, how many different ways can you ask a coach how he avoids the distraction of job status talk? And how many different ways can a coach say that he’s not concerned about things outside his control, such as job status talk?

Still, the next 10 weeks will be interesting. Expect a lot of tap-dancing around the elephant in the room, just so folks get something that resembles answers about the running backs and when the Cavs are likely to employ their ‘nickel’ package.

As the Guinness guys used to say: “Brilliant!”

Posted by Dave Fairbank on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 04:19 PM
 

Further evidence that Vic Hall won't play
Virginia coach Al Groh all but said Sunday that quarterback/punt returner/holder Vic Hall's rib injury will sideline him for a second consecutive game this week, at Southern Mississippi.

An additional hint arrrived this afternoon with the Cavaliers' depth chart. Unlike for last week's game against TCU, a backup holder is listed.

He is junior walk-on punter Nathan Rathjen, who's yet to kick in a college game.

Hall sustained his injury in the opener against William and Mary and appeared against TCU only as a holder for Robert Randolph's 40-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter.

Danny Aiken's snap was high, and Hall was unable to handle. The mishap ended with a 19-yard loss, and Groh later blamed himself for using Hall in that spot.

With a bye week following Southern Miss, all signs indicate that Virginia will shelve Hall on Saturday with an eye toward having him ready for the ACC opener Oct. 3 at North Carolina.

Absent Hall, Jameel Sewell is likely to take most, if not every, snap at quarterback. Like all of his teammates on offense, Sewell struggled for three-plus quarters against TCU, yet Groh said he never considered replacing him with Marc Verica, last season's starter.

Verica is more accurate than Sewell but prone to ghastly interceptions -- a late end-zone pick at Virginia Tech last season still sticks in Groh's craw. Plus, Verica lacks the mobility best suited for the spread offense.

That said, Sewell threw three interceptions against William and Mary, including the clinching pick-six. If Sewell and the offense head south again Saturday in Hattiesburg, I'd summon Verica from the pen.

But don't hold your breath. Groh is nothing if not stubborn, 0-2 record be damned.

Posted by David Teel on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 04:55 PM
 

Cavs want to get away?
By Norm Wood
247-4642
September 16, 2009

With fans loudly voicing their opinions about the state of University of Virginia football throughout a 30-14 home loss last weekend to Texas Christian, there may be no better time for the Cavaliers to head on the road.

U.Va. will head to Hattiesburg this week for its first road game of the season against Southern Mississippi (2-0). In two games at Scott Stadium, the Cavaliers have failed to sustain drives, gaining just 2.6 yards per first-down play and 2.83 yards on second down, a big reason they've converted just nine of 31 third downs (29 percent; tied for 98th in the nation).

The offense's inability to stay on the field has inspired a steady stream of boo-birds at Scott Stadium, which played host to just 48,336 fans last weekend — the smallest crowd in the stadium in 10 years.

So, maybe it's the perfect time for the Cavaliers (0-2) to hit the road for a little change of scenery while the pressure is ratcheted up in Charlottesville on coach Al Groh and Co., right? Groh realizes the only way to truly silence the critics is to improve on the field ... regardless of the zip code.

"It's all between the white lines," Groh said. "Except in a few memorable circumstances, there's not much history of anybody coming off the sidelines — much less out of the stands — to impact any particular play.

"So, there's nobody who caught any passes for us the other day. There's nobody who sacked the quarterback the other day, other than the people who were on the field, and people can't do that at home and when you go on the road. There's nobody on the other side who can come out and make you play badly."

But the Cavaliers have lost five of their last six games away from Scott Stadium.
Storylines
ROCK BOTTOM

No team from a Bowl Championship Series conference has a worse total-offense ranking than U.Va., which is 112th with an average of 223 yards per game. Also, no BCS conference team is surrendering more sacks per game (4.5) — stunning for a program that produced three NFL first-round selections on the offensive line in the last four drafts.

SLOW START

After logging 20 pass breakups total in the last two seasons, cornerback Ras-I Dowling hasn't touched a pass yet this season. Coach Al Groh said Dowling's stat reduction was partially due to William & Mary and TCU throwing a lot of short and underneath passes.

CAIN IS LISTED NO. 2

Though he got his first collegiate start last weekend at right guard in place of B.J. Cabbell, Hampton High graduate Isaac Cain was listed Tuesday as U.Va.'s No. 2 option at left guard and right guard on the official depth chart. Groh said Cain played about two-thirds of the snaps against TCU, while Cabbell played about one-third.

AVOIDING EMBARRASSMENT

By scoring two touchdowns in the last 4 minutes and 14 seconds against TCU, U.Va. avoided snapping a long streak — 152 games without being shut out at home, dating to a 55-0 loss to Clemson in 1984.
 

Smalls doing his part for Cavaliers
By Jay Jenkins
Published: September 16, 2009

Riko Smalls is back where he hopes he belongs.
A quarterback since his childhood, Smalls recently shifted back to his natural position after auditioning for Virginia at wide receiver during training camp.
It was a move that was dictated by an injury to quarterback Vic Hall’s hip on a fumble in the opener, but one that Smalls promptly embraced.
“I will do what is best for the team, but I came here to play quarterback,” Smalls said after Virginia’s 30-14 loss to No. 16 Texas Christian. “It is the position I have played almost my entire life and the plan is that I will stay there.”
Smalls, a redshirt freshman from Plano, Texas, was the happiest camper at spring practice last year when Virginia (0-2) welcomed in new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon and the spread offense.
The reason was obvious.
“I was raised in this offense,” Small said. “I really was groomed in this offense dating back to my days playing Pee Wee football for my dad when I was 10 years old, so I had known that offense since I started playing the game.
“I have known that offense since going into high school and it compliments me because the athletic ability that I was blessed with allows me to use my legs to use my arm basically. Being raised it helps a lot. The transition to this offense when coach Brandon came in was not difficult at all. It was basically the same concepts that we had in high school, so it is nothing new.”
As a senior at Plano East High, Smalls completed 203 passes for 2,985 yards and 33 touchdowns, all the while running the spread offense that he ran as a youngster.
His youngest brother did, in fact, pass for 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns last year. While playing against sixth- graders, Smalls’ youngest brother was just in fourth grade.
“It is our life,” Smalls said. “It is all we know.”
Now back comfortably at quarterback, Smalls has tried to use his brief time at wideout to showcase his desire to be a team-first performer to his fellow players.
It was something that he witnessed firsthand when Hall, who preferred to play quarterback, lined up at cornerback the past three seasons.
“Whatever they need from me is what I am about,” Smalls said. “It is not a personal thing, but there really is no ‘I’ in team. You have do whatever is needed.
“If Vic is needed at cornerback, he is there. If Marques Hagans was needed at wide receiver, he was there. We all will get our time, whenever that comes.”
That dedication to the team has impressed Virginia coach Al Groh in a special fashion.
“Those are the kind of guys that a team is built around, that are really interested in whatever their contribution can be,” Groh said.
“That’s a very tricky thing with a college football team — it is the trickiest of all teams, because no team has got as many players on their rosters in all of organized sports. No team has got as many players on their roster as a college football team. There are a lot of different roles to be shared, and there has to be a real built-in awareness of guys being willing to understand their roles and do their very best, whether that’s be to scout team right guard or the starting wide receiver.
“Hopefully becomes a cultural thing within your team, and is there from year to year, but it still has to be renewed. It
doesn’t just automatically regrow itself.”
It helps that Smalls has the mobility to man numerous positions on the field.
“I am naturally a quarterback, but I am lucky enough to run around and do some things that can help,” he said. “Basically, it is whatever the team needs. That is part of being a quarterback, doing whatever your team needs you to do. Even though you may have to go to another position for a certain amount of time, that’s what you have to do.
“You have to have a positive attitude and your teammates have to see you work hard. They have to see you grind on a daily basis. You don’t have to lead from quarterback. You can lead from the sidelines really. Vic does a tremendous job of that. I hope they will say the same about me someday.”
 

Virginia bounces back
By Whitey Reid
Published: September 16, 2009

After a painful home loss to Duke in overtime on Friday, the Virginia men’s soccer team returned to the field on Tuesday night.
This time, there were several thousand fewer fans in the Klockner Stadium stands. And this time, Virginia’s opponent was a far cry from an ACC outfit.
The Cavaliers played as if it they were completely aware of these facts.
But Virginia coach George Gelnovatch didn’t seem too perturbed after the team’s uninspiring 1-0 win over Mount Saint Mary’s.
“We wanted to win tonight and we wanted to rest a lot of people — and we accomplished that,” Gelnovatch said. “I would have liked to have scored more goals and won more convincingly, but in the end we achieved our two goals.”
In the first half, Virginia had a number of quality scoring chances but just couldn’t put the ball in the net. UVa outshot the Mount 9-0 and held a
5-0 edge in corner kicks.
In the 38th minute, Virginia was finally able to break through when Neil Barlow took a pass from Ari Dimas near the top of the box and blasted a shot to the far right post that eluded the outstretched arms of goalie Chris Davis.
“Ari played me a great ball and I just decided to run with it,” Barlow said. “I just took it upon myself to try and put us ahead by one.
“Luckily, it went in.”
Virginia freshman goalie Will Whorton got the start in place of redshirt junior Diego Restrepo, a transfer from South Florida who had started the team’s first three games.
Defender T.J. Cyrus and midfielder Chase Neinken also got their first starts of the season.
Reserves Jordan Evans, Sean Hiller, Sean Murnane and Dimas saw extensive action.
Barlow, who scored the game-winner in overtime in the Cavalier’s win over the University on Washington on Sept. 6, admitted that the team was still in a little bit of a fog after the disappointing loss to the Dookies.
“We definitely need to move past [the Duke loss] because the game we have coming up is a big one and we definitely don’t want to go down 0-2 in the ACC,” said Barlow, alluding to Friday night’s game at Wake Forest. “That wouldn’t be a good start.
“We just have to lift our spirits and do better.”
Added forward Tony Tchani: “I think everyone was pretty much tired from the last game and that’s why we didn’t really play our games.
“But we’re looking forward to the game against Wake.”

 

No. 20 Virginia Shuts Out Mount St. Marys, 1-0
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 09/15/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The 20th-ranked Virginia men’s soccer team shut out Mount St. Mary’s, 1-0, Tuesday night at Klöckner Stadium. Senior midfielder Neil Barlow (Herndon, Va.) scored the game-winning goal in the 38th minute to give UVa the victory.

With the win, the Cavaliers improved to 3-1 on the year, while Mount St. Mary’s fell to 1-4.

Virginia out-shot The Mount, 18-2, and held a 10-1 advantage in corner kicks. After multiple scoring opportunities in the first half, the Cavaliers got on the board when Barlow bent a ball from 12 yards out to the far post and past Mount St. Mary’s goalkeeper Chris Davis for his second goal of the season.

Barlow was assisted by freshman Ari Dimas (Chesapeake, Va.), who passed him the through ball. It was Dimas’ first career assist and point. For Barlow, it was the fifth goal of his career and third game-winner.

Freshman Will Whorton (Atlanta, Ga.) earned the start in goal for Virginia, and clocked 45 minutes of the shutout. Diego Restrepo (West Palm Beach, Fla.) relieved him at halftime and preserved the shutout.

Davis, meanwhile, recorded six saves in defeat. The Cavalier offense was led by Will Bates (Chester, Va.), who had three shots, all on goal. Chase Neinken (Roswell, Ga.) and Greg Monaco (Virginia Beach, Va.) also tallied three shots apiece for Virginia.

Eric Detzel and Chris Wheeler each had a shot for The Mount.

The win marked Virginia head coach George Gelnovatch’s 198th career victory as he moves closer to milestone win No. 200.

Up next, Virginia travels to No. 2 Wake Forest on Friday (Sept. 18) for a 7 p.m. match.

MATCH NOTES: Virginia earned its first home win of the season and improved to 3-1 overall … the Cavaliers improved to 7-0 in the all-time series with Mount St. Mary’s … Will Whorton earned his first career start … Ari Dimas registered his first career assist and point … Neil Barlow improved his career goals total to five and had the third game-winning goal of his career … T.J. Cyrus earned his first start of the 2009 season … UVa head coach George Gelnovatch’s career record improved to 198-77-22.
 

Cavalier quidditch
Dan Stalcup, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
Sports
September 16, 2009

Most of the sports columns I write deal with trivial matters, but today I want to answer a very serious question I’m sure many of you have been wondering about: If the fictional sport quidditch were real, what would Virginia’s best team, composed of current athletes, look like?

For the few of you who haven’t read a Harry Potter book or seen one of the movie adaptations, here’s the run-down: quidditch consists of seven people per team riding on flying broomsticks, trying to outscore the opposing team.

Points are awarded when one of three players, called chasers, throws a floating red ball — called a quaffle — through hoops that serve as goals. Each team has a keeper to protect the hoops.
There are two players per team called Beaters who protect their teammates from black, enchanted attack balls called bludgers.

Keeping up? The seventh player on each team is called the seeker. His job is to grab a wily little gold ball with wings known as the snitch that darts around like a hummingbird.

Each goal is worth 10 points, and the seeker who grabs the snitch earns his or her team 150 points. The game ends when the snitch is caught, and as in any sport, the team with the most points wins.

It’s a pretty compelling idea, despite a glaring flaw in its design: the goals often end up meaning almost nothing, because the team that grabs the snitch usually ends up winning.

For fun, though, let’s pretend that flaw doesn’t matter, and take a good look at what sort of squad Virginia could produce. I took the time to evaluate Virginia athletes’ unique talents, then chose a starting Cavalier roster.

The key assumption I’m making here is that athletes would operate on flying broomsticks the same way they do on the ground. Speedsters and jukesters on the fields, pitches and courts still have great quickness on brooms. Conversely, offensive linemen and heavyweights will remain plodding up in the air.

Without further ado, here’s your starting lineup:

Keeper: Shamel Bratton, men’s lacrosse, junior midfielder.

Bratton has lightning reflexes and instant acceleration. Though he lacks experience guarding a goal, it’d be a smooth transition because his sport demands that he adjust to flying objects quickly.

Chaser: Sylven Landesberg, men’s basketball, sophomore guard.

Landesberg wowed basketball fans around the conference with his tremendous handles, accurate shooting and tenacious hustle. He’d score buckets of goals for the Cavaliers with improvised shots at the hoops.

Chaser: Danny Hultzen, baseball, sophomore utility.

All-American surprise star Hultzen does not only have a rocket arm to make incredible shots far from the net, but also the offensive sense and strength to be a threat every time the ball is in his hands.

Chaser: Monica Wright, womens’ basketball, senior guard.

As she is currently one of the best athletes on Grounds, Wright deserves a spot on the roster. Her shooting is spot on, and she doesn’t let being a female prevent her from playing physical basketball. She’d be an all-around threat, stealing the quaffle and hitting long-distance shots while orchestrating the offense. Additionally, she brings a winning attitude and great athleticism.

Beater: Chris Henrich, wrestling, 174-pound class junior.

An All-American and a force to be reckoned with, Henrich would bring the agility, toughness and strength required to excel as a Beater. Every bludger he hit would be a threat to knock an opponent off his broom.

Beater: Paige Selenski, field hockey, sophomore midfielder.

Selenski should be a smooth transition because she has experience hitting hard using bat-like objects. And she’s so well-rounded and gifted as an athlete that she earned national Rookie of the Year last year.

Seeker: Tony Tchani, men’s soccer, sophomore midfielder.

If you don’t know why I made this pick, go join the Wahooligans for a men’s soccer game at Klöckner. Tchani has a stupefying combination of reflexes, speed and vision. He’s been known to shake off three defenders with a single juke. There’s nobody I’d trust more to spot a snitch and dart after it.

Although that’s my ideal lineup for current Virginia athletes, I’d love to hear some counter-arguments. Should junior outfielder Jarrett Parker start as a beater? Perhaps senior swimmer Mei Christensen as a seeker? Would junior Adam Ghitelman, already a goalkeeper, transition better to broomstick keeping than Bratton? These were tough calls, but I stand by my choices. And if you think this was a waste of a sports column, then you can go back to reading Twilight now.
 

Elstein makes switch to back, leads stout defense
Despite graduating several key players, team jumps out to 6-0 start with senior’s help
Ben Gomez, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Field Hockey / Sports
September 16, 2009 0

After playing on offense for the first three years of her career at Virginia, senior Lauren Elstein made the transition to back before the start of the 2009 season. Photo by Bennett Sorbo.
Virginia field hockey’s senior back Lauren Elstein had a busy offseason, interning at the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. for 10 weeks during the summer, where she was responsible for analyzing Nike’s expenditures and determining where the company could save money.

Upon returning to Charlottesville, Elstein had a new task ahead of her. Unlike previous seasons, she needed to learn how to play a new position as she made the transition from forward to back.

“Defense has always been where my strengths are,” Elstein said.

This natural inclination toward defense combined with her previous experience in coach Michele Madison’s high press system, which demands a defensive effort from every player, eased Elstein’s switch to back.

“She is a versatile player,” sophomore back Rachel Jennings said. “She is a really good defender in general and she adds a lot of dynamic to defense.”

Despite losing several key players from last year’s team to graduation, the defense has arguably been the most impressive aspect of the Cavaliers’ 6-0 start. Virginia has recorded four shutouts, recently defeating Ohio University 5-0, and is second in the ACC in goals allowed, giving up only three thus far. Unlike many successful collegiate defenses, which consist primarily of upperclassmen, the Virginia squad features several underclassmen and newcomers.

“It has been great working with a cohesive group,” Elstein said. “I feel like Floor [Vogels], Shelly [Edmonds], Charlotte [van den Broek], Taylor [Swezey] and myself all have good chemistry.”

Elstein, one of the two seniors on the team, also is one of only two athletes living on the Lawn. The experience has allowed Elstein to meet other students on Grounds.

“It is a cool opportunity to interact with leaders of different student organizations,” Elstein said.

It’s just another transition that the field hockey captain has gotten used to by now.
 

Rojas Finishes Third at Manor Intercollegiate
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 09/15/2009

Farmville, VA - Virginia senior Steven Rojas tied for third place at Longwood's Manor Intercollegiate. Rojas shot 1-over 217 and finished four shots behind Gardner Webb's Daniel Kim and Liberty's Preston Dembowiak.
The finish equaled the best tournament showing during Rojas' career. He was also third at the Palmas Del Mar tournament in 2008. It was the third top-10 during his career.
UVa's other two competitors at the tournament were redshirt freshman Cory Siegfried and true freshman Mac McLaughlin. Siegfried posted a 73 Tuesday to move up to 15th place at 225. McLaughlin shot even par 72 and placed 36th at 235.