The old adage that there is no rest for the weary is resonating this week with the Virginia men's lacrosse team. After winning their ACC season opener Saturday against Maryland, the Cavaliers fought hard to come back from a three-goal deficit to defeat Binghamton in a tough mid-week matchup. Now, as the team prepares for its second ACC foe of the week, Virginia finds itself taking on a newly confident North Carolina team.
"This is an important conference game," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "We have to get some rest and get ready to play because we are going to have our hands full with North Carolina --- they are playing very well at this moment."
The Tar Heels jumped five spots in the polls this week to No. 10 after upsetting Johns Hopkins 13-10 last weekend. The come-from-behind victory ended a string of 13 straight losses to the Blue Jays dating back to 1994.
In that contest, North Carolina won the ground ball and face-off battles while showing considerable depth on offense. Five different Tar Heels, none of whom were in the starting line-up, scored two goals apiece. With such balanced scoring and North Carolina junior defenseman Tim Kaiser notching two against the Blue Jays, the Cavalier defense recognizes that any Tar Heel with the ball poses a scoring threat.
The Hopkins game puts North Carolina one step closer to its first NCAA Tournament berth in three years and the Tar Heels will arrive in Charlottesville hungry for their second straight upset.
"They are a good team coming off of a huge win," senior goalkeeper Kip Turner said. "They are fighting for playoff contention just like everybody else so it is going to be a battle out there."
The Cavaliers are well aware that a repeat of their lackluster performance Tuesday will not secure a win over North Carolina. If they hope to stop the Tar Heels from riding their wave of confidence to victory, the Cavaliers must come out hard at the very beginning and sustain their energy until the final buzzer.
"Not only was that performance disappointing, it is not acceptable," Starsia said. "They all know that we have to play better because anything less than that is not going to get it done. It looked like we were painting pictures in the first half of that game -- we would cross the midline with the ball in our stick and decide it was time to pose. That can't happen in the games coming up."
Virginia will have a considerable home advantage Saturday night. As the Cavaliers try to extend their winning streak at Klöckner Stadium to 23 games, they hope to break their program's previous attendance record of 8,000 fans.
"It seems like over the last two years that the local support for lacrosse and soccer at Klöckner has grown," Starsia said. "It has been tremendous. For kids that play a sport like ours, when you get a crowd and you get this kind of atmosphere, it's a treat for everybody."
After playing in Charlottesville last Saturday, Maryland coach Dave Cottle told Starsia the atmosphere at Klöckner was striking. There is a consensus among players and coaches that a large crowd provides Virginia with an edge.
"With the fans' energy, it is like having another player on the field," Turner said. "It just helps out with the whole atmosphere. We aren't losing under the lights at Klöckner Saturday"
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