This weekend's ACC Men's Lacrosse Tournament will resonate with hopes for revenge. Whether it is Maryland hoping to avenge its 10-2 regular season loss to Virginia, Virginia looking for redemption after a 17-2 shellacking against Duke two weeks ago, or North Carolina looking to get its first conference win of the season, everyone is out for someone else's head.
For Virginia, this weekend's tournament held at M & T Bank Stadium in Baltimore could mean the difference between a No. 1 seed and hosting a first round game in the NCAA tournament or a tougher road to Philadelphia for the Final Four. Following the tournament's two-day schedule, No.2 Duke (13-1) and North Carolina (5-7) go head-to-head in the first semifinal Friday at 6 p.m., while No.3 Virginia (9-2) faces No.9 Maryland (6-5) in the second semifinal of the night at 8:30 p.m.
Although the Cavaliers soundly defeated the Terrapins in their first match up, Virginia had its most balanced offensive day of the season, something the Cavaliers have seen little of recently. The defense, especially senior Michael Culver, also stepped up to the plate, limiting star Maryland attackman Joe Walters to only one goal.
With only four participating lacrosse programs in the ACC, there is a feeling of familiarity among the players and coaches. Besides the annual regular season and possible ACC Tournament matchup, there is always the chance that two teams could meet for a third time in the NCAA Tournament.
For Virginia coach Dom Starsia, this familiarity does not change his game-day approach.
The game plans "are not particularly complicated preparations," Starsia said. "Not out of any lack of respect for anybody, but simply because we're so familiar with each other. In our case, almost our three most recent games were ACC games. At this point, [the game plan] is not going to change a great deal in a week's time."
While the game plan for Maryland likely will not be tampered with, an entirely new plan of attack will be needed should Virginia win and meet Duke in the championship game. In their first meeting, the Cavaliers were out-hustled and out-played in almost every aspect of the game by the Blue Devils. The lone bright spot was the play of senior midfielder Jack deVilliers who went 12-18 on face-offs. This statistic demonstrates possession, which generally leads to more shot opportunities. With that in mind, the fact that Virginia mustered only four first half shots and did not get on the board until midway through the third quarter is mystifying.
DeVilliers voiced the anxiousness of the team.
"Sometimes you're just not clicking with the person next to you," he said, reasoning for the loss. "I think everyone wants to get out there and prove that we're not the same team that was out there when we played Duke."
Fortunately for the Cavaliers, a bit of history is on their side.
In Virginia's 2003 National Championship season, the team fell to Maryland 8-7 in the regular season. While the teams didn't meet in the ACC tournament, Virginia was able to enact revenge with a 14-4 drubbing of the Terrapins in the NCAA Tournament semifinal, propelling it to a 9-7 win over Johns Hopkins in the final. If it takes another loss to get Virginia over the hump against the Blue Devils in Philadelphia, the Cavaliers surely will not mind. After all, just ask the 2003 squad how that turned out.
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