The Virginia men's lacrosse team takes on fellow powerhouse Syracuse this Saturday in a 1:00 p.m. matchup at Klockner Stadium. Coming off two nail-biting losses to Air Force and No. 23 Denver last weekend, the Cavaliers look to bounce back against the No. 2 Orangemen.
After upending Drexel 15-4 to tip off the season, the Cavaliers struggled in the high altitudes at Denver's Pioneer Face Off, falling to both Air Force, 7-6, and to the University of Denver, 9-7. Playing catch-up for the majority of play in both games, the Cavaliers struggled to gain control of the tempo. John Christmas and Brett Hughes were both named to the All-Tournament team, however.
Clearly the Cavaliers' early season struggles aren't because of lack of talent. While Virginia is relatively young, with only four returning seniors, the defending national champions have four starters on the preseason "watch list" for this year's Tewaaraton Trophy- co-captain Brett Hughes in the defensive position, co-captain Tillman Johnson guarding the goal, and John Christmas and Joe Yevoli leading the attack.
Unfortunately, second-team All American Brett Hughes was sent to the hospital with an injury against Denver last weekend when he was knocked unconscious. The team did not comment on his status for this weekend's matchup.
Joining Hughes in the backfield are Pat Buchanan and Michael Culver, two sophomores representative of the young Cavalier squad faced with the challenge of turning around a 1-2 start.
"The main thing these younger guys need to learn is that it is a long season, and you lose a few in the beginning," Tillman Johnson said. "Last year we lost two in the middle of the season, but we came back and won the rest of our games out. It's a long season and you just have to keep fighting through it."
A victory over the 1-0 Orangemen would serve as a motivation booster before Virginia dives even deeper into its challenging season. Sophomore midfielder Jared Little looks forward to the battle.
"I love playing Syracuse. It's where I'm from," Little said. "That's one of my biggest games of the season, but we don't take any game lightly."
The Michael Powell-led Syracuse squad comes off a 19-15 victory over Army. Powell has led the team in scoring for the past three years and is a three-time All-American.
The Cavaliers subsequent contest will be against No. 4 Princeton (1-0) on Saturday, March 13 at 1:00 at Klockner. Despite having 13 freshman on the roster and only four players who had previonsly started a game, Princeton conquered Quinnipiac 19-10 last weekend in their home opener. The youthful squad is led by captains Jason Doneger and Ryan Boyle. The Tigers will travel to No. 1 Johns Hopkins this weekend before arriving in Charlottesville.
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