After starting the season undefeated through February, the No. 17 Virginia men’s lacrosse team has lost four of its five games in March and will close out the disastrous month by opening conference play Saturday against No. 2 Maryland at Klöckner Stadium.
Two and a half weeks ago, Charlottesville bid farewell to its basketball team. After scrambling to erase a 17-point deficit and edge Maryland 61-58 in overtime March 10, Virginia left John Paul Jones Arena and a regular season-closing 17-game home win streak behind for the next weekend’s ACC Tournament — presumably before moving on to the NCAA Tournament.
For the first time in years, the No. 17 Virginia men’s lacrosse team began its season as an underdog. Ranked No. 7 in the preseason, there was no question that the team was talented, but after losing so much offensive firepower and leadership from last year’s squad, the Cavaliers were picked to finish last in the ACC by both the media and the coaches.
An 18-inning performance at third base would be taxing enough for most players, but for Nick Howard, his job was not yet over. Less than 24 hours after Saturday’s double-header win, the sophomore took the mound as No. 8 Virginia’s starter in Sunday’s finale, firing 4.1 innings and batting seventh to lead a crucial sweep of N.C. State.
In her first two seasons on the No. 9 Virginia women’s lacrosse team, junior goalkeeper Liz Colgan logged a grand total of 124 minutes, 24 seconds in net, or about the length of two complete games. She saved seven of 44 shots on goal and registered a 1-1 record. When starting goalie senior Kim Kolarik went down with a broken hand earlier this month, though, Colgan was again called into action. And despite her past struggles in limited playing time, her teammates held no reservations about her ability to succeed.
With the conclusion of the third round of March Madness this past weekend, the remaining teams get the next few days to concentrate on surviving the Sweet 16. The losing teams, however, will head back to the drawing board and spend the offseason formulating a plan to go deeper in next year’s tournament, part of which may include the firing of a head coach.
The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team remained unbeaten over the weekend as it downed No. 8 Duke 4-3 and No. 70 North Carolina 6-1.
The No. 32 Virginia women’s tennis team continued to roll this weekend, easily defeating No. 72 Boston College and No. 55 Virginia Tech to stretch its win streak to four.
The Virginia softball team dropped three close battles against Maryland this weekend by scores of 6-5, 9-6, and 6-5. In each game, the Cavaliers put up strong showings on offense but simply could not contain the Terrapins’ explosive bats.
The Virginia men’s and women’s track teams opened the long outdoor season last Saturday with the Virginia Cup at Lannigan Field.
After Shane Larkin drilled a stepback 3-pointer with a minute remaining for a 57-55 lead, East Region No. 2 seed Miami benefited from a blown out-of-bounds call on the ensuing Illinois possession to escape with a 63-59 victory Sunday.
Though both squads found themselves ranked among the NCAA’s best teams, the Cavaliers owned a 1-4 record against fellow top-ten units and the Blue Devils were winless in just one try. Following Duke’s 13-7 win against the Cavaliers, the teams’ situations appear less analogous.
Behind dominating pitching and timely hitting, the young Cavaliers put together an impressive sweep of the Wolfpack at Davenport Field and have staked a strong claim as one of the top ten teams in the nation.
Following their tremendous performance over three days at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, redshirt senior Jedd Moore and redshirt sophomore Nick Sulzer will have their name added to the short list of All-American wrestlers in Cavalier program history.
The Virginia women’s swimming and diving team completed their season with an 18th place finish at the NCAA Championship meet in Indianapolis. Nine different Cavalier swimmers were able to make it out of prelims to score points for the team.
The No. 14 Virginia men’s lacrosse team found itself on the wrong end of a 15-8 beat down against No. 10 Johns Hopkins in front of 10,487 fans at M&T Bank Stadium Saturday in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic. The loss was the Cavaliers’ first in an Inside Lacrosse event and third consecutive regular season loss to the Blue Jays.
Simply put, this game belonged to freshman forward Justin Anderson. And Anderson, though far from the perfect player, harbors a passion for basketball which epitomizes everything sports could and should be.
Led by another assertive effort by budding star freshman guard Justin Anderson, the Cavaliers (23-11, 11-7 ACC) coasted past St. Johns (17-16, 8-10 Big East) 68-50 for their 19th straight home victory, the fourth longest active streak in Division I men’s basketball.
Virginia looks to extend its dominance to conference play as it hosts No. 8 Duke and No. 70 North Carolina this weekend.
After an exhausting stretch that spanned six matches in nine days, the No. 32 Virginia women’s tennis team returns home to host a pair of matches against No. 72 Boston College and No. 55 Virginia Tech this Friday and Saturday.
