Going up against No. 3 Virginia this evening, the Vermont men's lacrosse team will face off against a top nationally ranked team for the second time in just three days. Having lost to No. 2 Duke 19-7 during the weekend, the Catamounts travel to Charlottesville looking for the upset they were unable to secure Saturday.
The trip to Klöckner Stadium may be somewhat surreal for Vermont head coach Ryan Curtis, a Virginia lacrosse alumnus. Having graduated in 2000, Curtis was a captain of the Cavaliers' 1999 national championship team and that season's NCAA Defenseman of the Year.
Virginia (2-0) will head into the game coming off a hard-fought, nail-biting win against Stony Brook Saturday. With both teams taking the field after a short three-day respite, the early season matchup will test everyone's endurance and fitness.
"This time of year we put a couple extra games on the schedule so you can make some personnel decisions," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "You like to think you are a little healthier early in the year so you play some extra games."
With the Cavaliers having defeated Stony Brook by large margins in years past, the fact that Saturday's game remained undecided until the final minutes was somewhat of a surprise for both Virginia players and fans. After the game, both junior Danny Glading and senior Peter Lamade said that they were excited to get back out on the field quickly.
Starsia expressed the same sentiment, saying that the Vermont game is a chance for the Cavaliers to correct some things and to practice playing well before heading into this weekend's Face-Off Classic in Baltimore, Md.
As the Seawolves battled back Saturday, Starsia replaced his starting goalkeeper, freshman Adam Ghitelman, with fifth-year senior Bud Petit. When asked why he made the switch, Starsia acknowledged that the Stony Brook comeback was certainly not all Ghitelman's fault, but said he felt he needed to give his young goalie a chance to regroup.
"Generally you feel like when your starter sort of gets knocked out of the box, you come back with him and give him a chance to establish himself," Starsia said after Saturday's game. "We will talk about it and figure out where we are at going into Tuesday's game, but I am confident [Ghitelman] will bounce right back."
As with nearly all early season games, Virginia will go into this evening's contest somewhat blind. The Duke matchup was Vermont's only regular season contest thus far, leaving little material for the Cavaliers to scout.
"We don't know much about them -- we take our games one at a time," Glading said after the Stony Brook game. "But we will start looking at what tape and reports we do have."
With little information about Vermont, Virginia will focus on preparing itself to play to the best of its ability instead of focusing on the specific tendencies of its opposition. And while the Cavaliers certainly are not underestimating the Catamounts, they are aware of the fact that this Saturday they will take on a national top-10 opponent for the first time this season in No. 9 Syracuse.
"Every game is going to be hard this year," Lamade said. "We certainly have the talent, but we play Syracuse soon, and they have already proved they are going to be good this year as well. We have to have a good week of practice, have a good game against Vermont and get ready for that."
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