The Virginia men's lacrosse team will begin defending its No. 1 preseason ranking Sunday. The season opener pits the Cavaliers against the Drexel Dragons, with face off scheduled for 1 p.m.
"Everybody's ready, everybody's excited and we're ready to bring it to Drexel on Sunday," senior goalie Kip Turner said.
The Cavalier-Dragon season opener has become somewhat of a tradition for the two schools. Unfortunately for Drexel, the Cavaliers have not lost since before the 2002 season, and last year, Drexel fell 15-7 on its home turf. Though the beginning of the second half of that game was tied 5-all, in the third quarter Virginia scored eight unanswered goals and left the Dragons in the dust.
Despite that convincing victory and its historical winning streak over Drexel, Virginia is anything but cocky about Sunday's match. In fact, the Cavaliers are anticipating a feisty Drexel team with nothing to lose and everything to gain by toppling the No. 1 team in the country on its first outing.
"Drexel is going to be a very good team," junior attackman Ben Rubeor said. "This whole week is about preparation and really concentrating on this game."
Rubeor described a game as a week-long process. The team focuses on the upcoming game not only on the field and in the weight room, but also by watching film and gauging the other team. This latter part of preparation is particularly difficult at the beginning of the season because each team has a new crop of freshmen and has had nine months in the off-season to revamp the previous year's game strategies.
"We don't know much about them [Drexel] right now," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "And since nobody really knows each other very well in these early games, you are really worried primarily with your own performance. We will have a little film and a report from some things that we saw last year but we really don't know much for the first couple games of the season. It's a time to focus on your own play and not worry so much about your opponent."
This week in practice, Virginia has concentrated on areas that showed room for improvement during pre-season scrimmages against Navy and Georgetown. After last weekend's scrimmage against Georgetown, coaches and players alike conceded that the Cavaliers' full-field game needs to be refined.
"Our sticks were a little off," Turner said. "We just need to get things back together and then I think we will be fine come Sunday."
Turner himself turned in stellar pre-season performances. Entering his third season as the starting goalkeeper, the senior was a major factor in last year's record-breaking season. He is first in school history with a 7.12 goals allowed average and fifth with a save percentage of .584. This spring, with the Cavaliers relying on a fairly young offensive squad, Turner will be key in anchoring the team's defense.
"I thought Kip's play today was exceptional," Rubeor said after the Georgetown game. "I thought he played very well and we are definitely going to need him this entire season."
Turner and the Cavaliers' first test commences Sunday afternoon on the turf field behind U-Hall.
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