For the past four seasons, world-class attackmen have routinely walked the hallowed halls of the Virginia men's lacrosse program. When 1999 national player of the year Tucker Radenbaugh graduated, 2000 national player of the year Drew McKnight stepped in to fill his shoes. After McKnight graduated, Conor Gill kept the tradition alive by leading active Division I players in assists and standing fifth in goals scored. But Gill will graduate at the end of this season, and no current Cavalier attackman has shown that he will be the next great one. There are plenty of potential candidates: freshman John Christmas, for example, but no one has the combined experience and skill that Gill possessed to lead the Cavaliers.
Instead, after Gill scores his final goal and notches his last assist, he probably will pass the torch to the sophomore who stands in front of the Virginia cage and tries to keep balls out of the net rather than to put them in.
Tillman Johnson is the next big thing. The highly regarded Virginia goalkeeper recently earned ACC player of the week honors for leading the Cavaliers to wins over Notre Dame and Towson in the past week. He was brilliant in limiting the Fighting Irish to their lowest goal total of the year, five, on March 12. With Princeton's Owen Daly bearing down on him in the waning moments of Virginia's third game this season, Johnson stepped up and made the stop to preserve the Cavaliers' slim 13-11 lead. Anyone who has watched a men's lacrosse game in the past two years will be amazed by Johnson's talent and seemingly limitless potential.
Last year, Virginia men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia thought so highly of Johnson that he moved incumbent junior goalkeeper Derek Kenney to the midfield in order to make room for the freshman in the starting lineup. Although Kenney may not have had Johnson's talent, he was no slouch either. In 1999, Kenney backstopped the Cavaliers to the national championship and earned a spot on the NCAA all-tournament team. He took Virginia to the 2000 NCAA semifinals before losing a close 12-11 contest to Princeton. But Starsia gave the freshman the starting job in 2001 so that he could gain some valuable in-game experience.
Johnson predictably played like the raw, inexperienced goalie that he was last year. He had his ups - a 19-save, quadruple-overtime effort against Johns Hopkins - and his downs - an eight save debacle against Duke. But he played well enough to become the first goalkeeper to be named the ACC's rookie of the year.
This year, Johnson has shown that he is one year older and one year wiser. He is maturing into one of the top goalkeepers in the country and will be a key player in Virginia's national title hopes. After faltering in his first real test of the year against No. 2 Syracuse by notching only four saves, Johnson bounced back with a strong 13-save effort against No. 1 Princeton in Virginia's 13-11 win. He has continued to play well, posting a 6.50 goals against average and a .639 save percentage over the past two games. Starsia's faith in his young goalie has paid off, and notwithstanding injury, the returns will just keep coming.
Johnson was fearless with the media last year, thanking his teammates after the Johns Hopkins win and taking on responsibility for the Duke loss. His attitude alone makes him an asset to the Cavaliers - and gives him more than a little leadership potential.
For now, Virginia's fortunes do not rise and fall with Johnson's play. Gill should provide the Cavaliers with enough offense to give Virginia, and Johnson, a comfortable cushion against all but the top teams. But if Johnson continues to improve on his already outstanding play, the national title could be Virginia's for the second time in four years. He has the ability to put the Cavaliers over the top this season.
After this year, however, the Cavaliers will be Johnson's team. After the last member of the Radenbaugh, McKnight and Gill trinity of attackmen graduates, Johnson will be the one to lead Virginia to the promised land. He will serve as a reminder that in a sport that values talented attackmen highly, a dominant goalkeeper still is priceless.
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