After finishing last season at 5-8, many may have wondered what had gone wrong with the Virginia men's lacrosse team. A 5-8 record was not the standard that Coach Dom Starsia had instilled in the program or in his players, and it certainly wasn't what Virginia fans had come to expect.
Coming off an NCAA National Championship victory in 2003 and a Final Four appearance in 2002, the 2004 team had every intention of following in the footsteps of its predecessors. Instead, Virginia failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993.
Despite last year's 5-8 record and the loss of All-Americans Brett Hughes and Tillman Johnson, Inside Lacrosse's pre-season ranking pegged the Cavaliers at No. 6.
"That's kind of typical of this program," junior defenseman Steve Holmes said. "They say all around the lacrosse world that we get all the recruits, so they're just going to assume that we should be in the top 10. That comes with the territory. I think the pre-season ranking is as far as the correlation goes between last year and this year."
While fans can only hope that Holmes is correct, the members of the 2005 squad have a chance to back up their teammate by their play on the field. With three scrimmages scheduled between now and the Cavaliers' season opener, there are plenty of opportunities to fine tune the machine.
On the offensive end, Virginia's starting lineup returns almost entirely intact with the three leading point scorers back. The one asterisk with the offense is the role senior attackman Joe Yevoli will have this season. Yevoli, who injured his back last year, played sparingly in the fall, and whether or not he will play this season has yet to be determined. If Yevoli does not play, his goal-scoring ability will be missed as well as the senior leadership he would provide.
Ready to fill his void is fellow senior John Christmas, who electrified the college lacrosse world with his arrival three years ago. Christmas was plagued by injuries last season as well -- only one of numerous explanations for last year's results.
With former starting goalie Tillman Johnson having departed, the defensive burden will fall squarely on the shoulders of the newcomer in goal. Two sophomores, Kip Turner and Michael Petit, currently are competing for the starting position. While no one may doubt the pair's ability to play the position, lack of experience could be a problem.
"It's always nice to have an All-American goalie behind you," junior midfielder Kyle Dixon said. "If you mess up on defense you know he's going to save the ball. It'll be a little bit different with these guys never playing in a big game."
Whomever gets the go ahead will have to adjust quickly to the big-game mentality as Virginia takes on their annual brutal schedule. While the team plays eight of their 11 games at home, the three away games are at No. 1 Johns Hopkins, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 14 Duke.
"This year, as with any, there are going to be ups and downs, but we have the ability to rebound," Holmes said.
Rebounding was something last year's team had problems with and something this year's team will have to master. It would have been tough for any team in the country to bounce back from a 1-4 start, but it is worth noting that the margin was more than two goals in only one of those losses.
"We've got all the tools, and everyone's on the same page this year, so we should get it done," Holmes said.
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