There are few moments more exciting at the beginning of a season than a defending champion taking the field in hopes of a repeat title run.
The Virginia women's lacrosse team will give a preview of that scenario this weekend when it participates in the Charles Street Challenge in Baltimore. Loyola College is hosting the event, which is a series of scrimmages set to be played Sunday. The three scrimmages will help the Cavaliers as they hope to build on last year's championship run. Virginia coach Julie Myers said she hopes her team's experience can help as they try to repeat.
"We have so much experience and depth at all the positions," Myers said. "We don't have to spend time recapping last year. Instead, we can concentrate on trying to build off of last year."
The Cavaliers will be returning nine starters from last year's team. Virginia also will welcome back two players who were injured last year, Cary Chasney and Meredith Lazarus. The two players were former All-Americans prior to their injuries last season and were both named to the preseason second-team All American squad. The return of the duo allows the Cavaliers to plug in two players with college experience who were not on the field last season.
"I hope I can help the team as much as possible," Chasney said. "Hopefully, my experience can help. We played in a championship game my sophomore year. I think that experience will help me step up in on-field leadership."
Leadership should not be a problem for Virginia. In addition to all the returning starters, the Cavaliers have three players who are on the Tewaaraton Award WatchList. The Tewaaraton Trophy is presented to the top collegiate lacrosse player in the nation. Chasney is up for the award along with teammates Nikki Lieb and Amy Appelt. Appelt won the award in 2004 after she tallied 90 goals and 121 points for the Cavaliers on the season. Lieb is coming off a 2004 campaign in which she earned first-team All American honors primarily for her defensive efforts.
One position where there is no returning starter is goalkeeper, as last year's goalie, Andrea Pfeiffer, graduated. This year there has been open competition for her job. The two Virginia players vying to replace Pfeiffer are Ginger Miles and Kendall McBearty. Whichever player gets more playing time this weekend will have the luxury of playing behind an extremely talented Virginia defensive unit. The Cavalier defense will be back in totality, and such continuity should help whoever is in between the pipes.
"Whether it be Ginger or Kendall that's in the goal, they're both going to be new to the big game situations, so it's really important [to have the defense back]," Virginia defender Elizabeth Pinney said. "We were coming together wonderfully at the end, and we're just going to continue on from there. We're great friends on and off the field, and we know how we all work. Hopefully, we can make it easy for our goalie."
Sunday's scrimmages will give the Cavaliers a chance to prepare to defend their title without needing to worry about their record. But that may not be as a great of a situation as it sounds, according to Pinney.
"I think we're a team that thrives off pressure," she said. "It only makes you work harder when you know everyone is after you. I'm excited because it makes it a lot more intense."
There will be a preview of that intensity this weekend for Virginia as it prepares to defend its title.
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