The Cavalier men's lacrosse team got a taste of the tough competition to come in their last-minute 15-13 loss to Syracuse in a chilling rain Saturday.
"I thought it was a lost opportunity," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "We had a chance to beat one of the top teams in the country and we didn't finish the job. You can't expect to not take advantage of too many of those and expect to be still playing at the end of the year."
The game started off in the spectacular fashion one would expect from two of the traditional powerhouses in collegiate lacrosse, with 11 goals scored in approximately 11 minutes.
Syracuse took the first two goals with an unassisted shot by sophomore attacker Brian Nee and another one by junior attacker Mike Springer.
Virginia's offense was quick to respond. Midfielder Chris Rotelli started a furious 5-0 Cavalier run to make the score 5-2.
Senior attacker Conor Gill, a two-time All-American, played a solid game with three assists and a goal. Virginia's freshmen looked especially sharp as well. Freshman attacker John Christmas showed lots of speed and energy all game and came up with a nice catch-and-shoot, assisted by Gill in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
Freshman attacker Joe Yevoli had an outstanding day, attacking the Syracuse crease in his second straight four-goal game, including a difficult shot behind his back.
Yevoli and Christmas, "did fine today." Gill said. "They didn't look nervous at all."
Despite the Cavaliers' strong play, Syracuse held the lead for most of the game. All-American senior attacker Josh Coffman had four goals, and showed his prowess for shooting by rifling several unassisted shots past the Virginia defense. Syracuse sophomore attacker Mike Powell also netted four goals.
Syracuse complemented their run-and-gun offense with strong defensive play. The Orangemen had a combined 32 shots compared to Virginia's 41, and the Syracuse defense rarely gave the Cavaliers an open look straight to the goal.
Syracuse freshman goalie Jay Pfeifer came up big, recording 15 saves. Virginia's sophomore goalie, Tillman Johnson, had only five saves.
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The final deciding factor of the game was Virginia's turnovers and penalties. Syracuse capitalized on three out of five extra man goals compared to Virginia's one of four.
"The X-factor obviously was turnovers," Gill said. "We threw the ball away way too much. To have that many turnovers and still hang around that long, I wouldn't say it was a good sign, but we fought the whole time and never quit."
Virginia was only down one point and had possession with 20 seconds left. Christmas drove hard to the cage, but his shot sailed over the goal.
"I thought it was a good take, I thought he went hard to the cage and made a good shot," Starsia said. "He didn't hit the cage, but he took a good spot to take the shot."
The game closed at 13-15 with an easy Syracuse goal as Virginia left itself open to try one last offensive drive.
The loss to Syracuse was the beginning of Virginia's four-game series against last year's Final Four teams. The Cavaliers will face Princeton on March 9, Notre Dame on March 12, and Towson on March 17.
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