The first sporting event I attended as a University student was the home football game against Duke Sept. 8, 2007. A year later, I bleed orange and blue. With everything that’s happened this year, how could I not be a die-hard fan? Championships, stumbles, glory, defeat — this past year has seen it all. I’d like to share a countdown of my 11 favorite moments and games of my first year as a Cavalier.
11. Field Hockey – Virginia 2, Old Dominion 0 (Sept. 7, 2008)
This past Sunday saw a field hockey match more engaging than any I’ve seen before. Scoreless until the last 15 minutes, the game pitted a stifling defensive effort by the No. 11 Cavaliers against a phenomenal goalkeeping performance by the No. 8 Monarchs’ goalkeeper, Kelly Driscoll. From the opening whistle to the final buzzer, it was an intense and physical game that increased my appreciation of the sport. Be sure to catch a game on the University Hall Turf Field sometime before the season’s over; this year’s squad is a special one.
10. Meeting Jameel Sewell
Through being a reporter and a member of various pep bands, I’ve met dozens of varsity athletes representing the University, but none has had more charm than our former starting quarterback. When I first met him, he looked me in the eye as I talked, thanked me when I complimented him on his performance the weekend before and smiled as we talked. A week later, I passed him in Observatory Hill Dining Hall, and he, without prompt, greeted me like an old friend even though we’d only talked once. He emanates charisma and strength. Not only do I miss his clutch play on the gridiron, but I miss having him as a positive force on a team so overwhelmingly negative right now.
9. Experiencing the Wahooligans first-hand
You’ve worn your shirt and tie to a football game and decked yourself in orange for some basketball games in John Paul Jones Arena, so you think you’re a big-shot Cavalier fan, huh? I’m not sure you can say you’ve really experienced U.Va. sports unless you’ve sat in the stands of a men’s soccer home game. The students who fill the bleachers of Klöckner Stadium have their own array of chants and traditions, and I’d be surprised if even one of them leaves a game with his or her voice.
8. Sharneé Zoll breaks the ACC career assist record
I hope you all were keeping up with Debbie Ryan’s scrappy squad last season. The girls fought hard all season long and were rewarded with a fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament. One of the great moments of the season was when point guard Sharneé Zoll broke Dawn Staley’s ACC record for career assists. Zoll, who was taken in the WNBA draft but is currently without a team, is the type of player who makes those around her play well.
7. Sean Singletary scores his 2,000th point
Even though I only got to watch him for one season, Sean Singletary proved to me without doubt that he’s something special on the court. No matter how disappointing you thought the season was, you have to give credit to Sean for refusing to give up. Watching Sean play, I see the same fire that I see when I watch Allen Iverson or Kobe Bryant taking the court. The loudest cheers I’ve ever heard at a sporting event came when Sean scored his 2,000th career point and entered the class of the greatest offensive producers in Cavalier history.
6. Men’s Lacrosse – Virginia 13, Johns Hopkins 12, OT (March 22, 2008)
The hyped-up clash of the titans did not disappoint. The 2006 National Champions topped the 2007 National Champions in a back-and-forth match displaying some of the finest, white-knuckle intense lacrosse I’ve ever seen. Brian Carroll slipped the ball into the Blue Jays’ goal with 8 seconds left in the sudden-death overtime to secure Virginia’s victory.
5. Meeting Steve Garland
The more coaches I meet, the more impressed I am with the ability athletics director Craig Littlepage has to pick the right personnel for the University. The coach who left me with the biggest impression was the first one I met. Wrestling coach Steve Garland might be my favorite person in all of Virginia sports. In interviews, he talks about his athletes the way a parent would talk about his or her children: with pride, great compassion and high expectations. The Cavaliers’ quick rise to the cream of the ACC crop — they missed the conference title by inches — and superb recruiting under Garland are important, but the high standard of character he brings to the program is even more so.
4. Men’s Basketball – Virginia 80, Old Dominion 76 (March 24, 2008)
Hope you didn’t blink. In a matter of a few seconds as the clock was winding down, Sean Singletary singlehandedly turned a disappointing loss into a dramatic victory. I don’t care if you’re playing in the Collegiate Basketball Invitational or for the national championship — it takes a tremendous athlete to grasp a game from the claws of defeat the way Sean did, especially when a loss means the end of a season and a collegiate career.
3. Football – Virginia 18, Maryland 17 (Oct. 20, 2007)
It took barely a month of being a Cavalier fan before I got to see a classic live. That’s right — I was lucky enough to be in College Park to see the thriller with my very own eyes. As some fourth-string running back named Mikell Simpson outgained the entire Terrapin team and Chris Long cemented his status as a U.Va. legend, the Cavaliers staged the most dramatic and improbable of comebacks.
2. Thousands protest the no-sign policy
It took the frustration of a 52-7 loss and a spark from ESPN columnist Rick Reilly, but the ‘Hoo Crew and the thousands of Virginia fans at Saturday’s football game finally proved to me that they have the fire in their belly needed to make Virginia the greatest university for sports in the nation. Don’t relent, Cavaliers: Keep writing those angry e-mails to the athletic department and get some clever signs ready for the next home game: Oct. 4 against Maryland.
1. Women’s Basketball – Virginia 103, Georgia Tech 101, 2OT (March 2, 2007)
A lot of those other events were special, but there is no question in my mind which game deserves the top spot. On senior day, the Cavaliers sent off Tara McKnight and Sharneé Zoll, both team captains and fan favorites, with their most exciting and important game of the season. Sharneé passed on her role as the leader of the offense to the rising star Monica Wright. McKnight, a former walk-on, finally got her start. Virginia overcame a 15-point deficit and three times used last-second heroics, twice to tie and once to finish off the Yellow Jackets in the highest-scoring women’s basketball game you’ll ever see. To cap it all off, the athletes came out of the locker room after the game to meet the fans and sign autographs. Thrilling and dramatic, this game was the perfect way to end the regular season for the Cavaliers and the highlight of the year for me as a Virginia fan.
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