It's official: The Virginia men's lacrosse team is back in championship form. By beating then-No. 3 Syracuse 12-11 at the Carrier Dome March 5 and outrunning No. 8 Princeton 11-7 Saturday night, the Cavaliers rejoined the ranks of the college lacrosse elite.
For any holdover critics from last year, this is the final boarding call for the bandwagon, so hop on now.
Behind the stellar play of the attack, senior John Christmas (1 goal, 2 assists), junior Matt Ward (2g, 2a), and freshman Ben Rubeor (1g, 2a), Virginia improved to 4-0 on the season and improved to 13-0 in night games at Klöckner Stadium.
The defense also came up big, combining with sophomore goalie Kip Turner to hold Princeton scoreless as well as shot-less over the first 15 minutes of play. Turner, who has now taken over the starting role in goal, had five saves. While Virginia mustered 11 shots in the first quarter, it was held scoreless as well.
"I thought we were tight early in the game," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "We were settling for 15-yard shots which Princeton is almost always going to want to give you. We just talked about being more patient and a little bit more disciplined."
When the Tigers finally broke the 0-0 stalemate one minute into the second quarter, the Cavaliers responded strongly, scoring four out of the next five goals to take a 4-2 halftime lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Virginia dominated the possession game throughout, winning 49 ground balls to Princeton's 32, while senior Jack deVilliers won 13 of 21 face-offs. In last year's 8-7 win over Virginia, the Tigers won the ground ball battle 47-27, emphasizing the importance of possession. Princeton's offense is built around controlling possession and slowing down the tempo of the game, the opposite of Virginia's, which is geared toward quick offensive strikes.
"They like to get possession of the ball, throw it around, lull you to sleep and stick it to you," senior attackman Matt Ward said. "In the second half, we started going to a set that started working for us -- we controlled the game tempo-wise."
With the Cavalier defense holding the Tiger offense to a minimum, Virginia widened its lead in the second half while its offense put on a circus-type display of lacrosse wizardry, firing in one improbable shot after another.
Freshman Ben Rubeor began the show when his point blank shot from right of the crease was blocked. The rebound came right back to him and, while splitting two Princeton defenders, he fired home a goal to the lower left corner. Junior midfielder Jared Little upped the ante with a behind-the-back shot from close range six minutes later, widening Virginia's lead to its biggest of the night, 11-5.
By passing its first two tests with flying colors, the team received an immense boost of assurance.
"You're trained as an athlete to say there are no big games," Christmas said. "But [the Syracuse] game was huge -- it gave us a lot of confidence, it gave me a lot of confidence."
It was announced Monday that deVilliers has been named the ACC Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week. In addition, Virginia's home game against Denver has been rescheduled for April 17th at 7 p.m.
The Cavaliers return to action tonight at 7 p.m. for a home game against Mount St. Mary's.
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