Men's Lacrosse Begins Defense Of National Title

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March 3, 2000

Game Info
Virginia opens defense of its national championship this afternoon againstSyracuse at Klockner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 2:00 p.m.

The Cavaliers posted a 13-3 record in 1999 and defeated the Orangemen 12-10in the NCAA Tournament finals to claim the title. Syracuse was 12-5 overalllast season, the first under head coach John Desko.

This is the season opener for both teams and marks the fifth year in a rowVirginia has opened vs. Syracuse.

The Series vs. the Orangemen
The Cavaliers and Orangemen have staged some of the most thrilling battlesin college athletics throughout the last decade. Perhaps fittingly theall-time series is tied at six wins apiece.

The two teams have split the four regular season meetings inCharlottesville through the years. SU claimed an 18-17 win two years ago inCharlottesville in the most recent match-up on the Cavaliers’ home field.Virginia had lost four in a row going back to the 1997 season to Syracuseuntil last season’s NCAA title game, a 12-10 UVa win.

Virginia’s last regular season win over the Orangemen was a 17-15 win inCharlottesville to kickoff the 1996 season.

The two teams have met in the NCAA Tournament four of the last six year,including the last two. Both teams have claimed two victories in the NCAATournament.

A three-goal win can be considered a “blow out” in this series as six ofthe last nine games have been decided by two goals or less. In the recenthistory of the series (since 1994), Virginia’s biggest win was aneight-goal triumph (15-7 in 1995), while Syracuse’s biggest win was aseven-goal victory also in 1995 (20-13).

The two squads didn’t meet regularly during the regular season until 1995,but Virginia has opened against the Orangemen every year since. Curiously,the Cavaliers have also ended three seasons vs. Syracuse, including thelast two (with NCAA Tournament battles).

Virginia in Season Openers
The Cavaliers open their 66th season of play today with a match-up againstthe Syracuse Orangemen. Virginia is 36-29-1 (.553) all-time in seasonopeners. And when the season opener is at home, the Cavaliers have compileda 19-14-1 (.574) record throughout the years.

Under head coach Dom Starsia, the Cavaliers are 4-3 in season openers.Starsia won his first four season openers since coming to UVa in 1993, buthis Cavaliers have lost their last three season openers. (The Cavaliershave opened vs. Syracuse the last four seasons, with the Orangemen winningthe last three openers.)

Starting Lineup Taking Shape
Virginia returns seven starters and 21 other lettermen from last season togive head coach Dom Starsia and his staff the luxury of not having to dotoo much tinkering to settle on a starting 10.

Returning on attack are Drew McKnight and Conor Gill. McKnight, a senior,has been a mainstay in the lineup since his arrival three years ago. Gillproved himself last year by winning the ACC Rookie of the Year Award andbeing named the MVP of the NCAA Tournament. Joining them on attack isexpected to be sophomore Ian Shure. Shure missed all of last season due toa knee injury, but has returned to full strength. He is a gifted offensiveplayer who saw limited action as a freshman in 1998.

Jay Jalbert returns to anchor what is a very deep midfield this season.Hanley Holcomb is expected to join Jalbert on the first unit, with thethird spot up for grabs. David Bruce, Aaron Vercollone and A.J. Shannon areexpected to complete the first unit and form the foundation of the second.

Will Quayle, Andrew Farone and Chris Rotelli are among the competitors torun on the second unit. Quayle might even see time on the first unit.Jamison Mullen, Brenndan Mohler and Nick Russo should also see plenty oftime in the midfield.

Jason Hard and David Jenkins will continue to alternate as faceoffspecialists, while Peter Ragosa will be the top long stick middie onceagain. Richard Reid and Trey Whitty will also see time at long stick middie.

All three starting defensemen from the end of last season return. RyanCurtis, the nation’s top defensemen, headlines the returnees. He will bejoined by Mark Koontz and Court Weisleder. John Harvey, Ned Bowen and DavidBurman figure to be the top reserves.

Derek Kenney returns in goal after starting last season as a freshman. Hewill be backed up by local product Ben O’Neil again this season.

Cavaliers Sit Atop Preseason Polls
Virginia is ranked #1 in several preseason polls, including polls by InsideLacrosse, Face-off and the Baltimore Sun. This is the first time since 1996that the Cavaliers have been #1 in the USILA poll. They were #1 in thepreseason poll that spring and held on to the top spot for the first fivepolls before falling to third after a loss to Maryland.

Clash of the Titans
There aren’t many sports in college athletics where you get this type of amatch-up in the first game of the season. Both teams played last season forthe national championship, while this season Virginia enters the yearranked #1 and Syracuse #2.

A #1 vs. #2 game isn’t unusual for the Cavaliers-this is the eighth timesince 1971 they have played in this type of game. However, as the #1 teamthey haven’t fared so well, losing two of three.

This is the first time a #1 Virginia club has faced #2 Syracuse, but theteams have met twice before when the rankings were switched. Virginia wonboth.

A look at the results of UVa’s seven previous 1-vs.-2 games is below.

Eleven Cavaliers Earn Preseason Recognition
Virginia’s roster this season features 11 players who have been named tovarious preseason All-America squads.

Defenseman Ryan Curtis, last season’s Schmeisser Cup winner as the nation’stop defenseman, returns to anchor the Cavalier defense. Lacrosse magazinelisted him as its Player of the Year and one of five “Players to Watch”this spring. Curtis has also been named to preseason All-America teams byFace-off, Inside Lacrosse, College Lacrosse USA and the Baltimore Sun.

Joining Curtis as a Lacrosse magazine “Player to Watch” is midfield JayJalbert, winner of the 1999 McLaughlin Award as the nation’s outstandingmidfielder. And like Curtis, Jalbert has cited by Face-off, InsideLacrosse, College Lacrosse USA and the Baltimore Sun as a preseasonAll-America.

Two of UVa’s starting attackmen-senior Drew McKnight and sophomore ConorGill-have been selected preseason All-Americans. McKnight, the Cavaliers’leading active scorer (66g, 66a), was also named one of nine”Sharpshooters” by Inside Lacrosse magazine. Gill, the ACC Rookie of theYear and MVP of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, will be looked upon toquarterback the attack again this season.

Junior Hanley Holcomb joins Jalbert in the midfield to give head coach DomStarsia two preseason All-Americans on the first unit. Holcomb, whopossesses one of the hardest shots in the nation, found the back of the net27 times last season.

Long stick middie Peter Ragosa, one of the nation’s most underratedplayers, has been cited by Inside Lacrosse, College Lacrosse USA andFace-off for preseason recognition.

The Virginia face-off duo of Jason Hard and David Jenkins were bothrecognized for their face-off ability by the preseason pickers. Both werealso among 11 of the nation’s top face-off specialists selected by InsideLacrosse.

Defensively, junior John Harvey and sophomore Mark Koontz were named to thepreseason squad presented by Inside Lacrosse. Koontz was also named toFace-off’s preseason squad.

Goalie Derek Kenney, who last year became the first freshman to start ingoal for the Cavaliers in 20 years, has also been named to severalpreseason All-America squads.

Cavaliers at Klockner Stadium
This is a rare early-season match-up at Klockner Stadium. Ordinarily theCavaliers play their early home games at the University Hall Turf Field inan effort to allow the grounds crew to prepare the grass after the winter.

As a result the last two times these two teams have played inCharlottesville the games have been on the U-Hall Turf Field.

Klockner Stadium has been very good to the Cavaliers since they first beganplaying games there in 1993 as their 28-5 record at Klockner attests. TheCavaliers have also won their last five games at Klockner dating back to aloss to Maryland in the 1998 ACC Tournament.

Virginia has lost only one non-conference game at Klockner-a 13-10 decisionto Johns Hopkins in 1998.

Opening on Grass
Virginia has opened the last four seasons against Syracuse. Two of thosegames occurred in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, while the other two wereheld on UVa’s U-Hall Turf Field. About the only similarity between the twovenues is that both are artificial surfaces.

But this year’s meeting will be held at UVa’s Klockner Stadium whichfeatures a natural grass field.

This is the first time since 1991 that the Cavaliers have opened a seasonon grass. That year they defeated Washington & Lee 19-5 in Lexington.Since 1991 Virginia has also opened at Scott Stadium, the Cavaliers’previous home before they moved to Klockner Stadium, and Navy’s Turf Field(both were artificial turf surfaces at the time).

Looking to Continue the Winning Streak
Virginia ended last season with seven consecutive wins en route to itsfirst national championship since 1972.

This is the Cavaliers’ longest winning streak since they won 10 gamesduring the 1997 season and finished with an 11-3 record.

The longest winning streak in school history against collegiate competitionis an 11-game run in 1972-73. The Cavaliers won the final four games of1972 en route to their first NCAA title and then began the 1973 season withseven consecutive wins before falling to Johns Hopkins 14-9 on April 14,1973.

Five Seniors Named Co-captains
Five members of Virginia’s senior class this season have been namedcaptains for the 2000 season-Ryan Curtis, Jason Hard, Jay Jalbert, DrewMcKnight and Peter Ragosa.

Curtis and Jalbert were recipients of prestigious national awards lastseason for their play as the Cavaliers won the national title. Curtis wonthe Schmeisser Cup as the nation’s top defenseman, while Jalbert wasawarded the McLaughlin Award as the nation’s outstanding midfielder.

Hard teams with David Jenkins to give Virginia the top face-off unit in thecountry. Hard finished sixth in the nation in face-off winning percentage.This is the second year in a row McKnight has served as a team captain. Oneof the more overlooked members of the nation’s most potent offense,McKnight is poised to break into the top 10 in career scoring at Virginia.He currently is tied with Perry Frazer for 14th with 132 points (66g, 66a)and needs just 28 points to crack the top 10.

Ragosa, considered by many as the nation’s top long stick middie, hashelped spearhead Virginia’s defensive efforts throughout his career. He wastied for 46th in the nation a year ago in ground balls, averaging 4.4 pergame (70 in 16 games).

Jalbert Looks to Overcome Slow Starts
Senior midfielder Jay Jalbert has been UVa’s offensive MVP in each of thelast two years. But a curious thing happened to the way to winning the teamaward. He got off to very slow starts each of the last two years.Two years ago, playing on the attack, Jalbert scored 11 goals in theseason’s first six games as the Cavaliers got off to a 3-3 start. He scoreda career-high five goals in a win over North Carolina in the seventh gameto start a stretch in which he scored 23 goals in the season’s final sevengames. Virginia was 6-1 during that span.

Last season he moved back to the midfield and seemed to take some timegetting into the flow of the offense. Through the first seven games of theseason he had just six goals, including none against Princeton, JohnsHopkins and Maryland.

Once again it was North Carolina that got him going. His three goals in atight game against the Tar Heels began a stretch that saw him find the backof the net 25 times in nine games. During the span he tallied four timesagainst Stony Brook, Butler and Delaware in the quarterfinals of the NCAATournament.

To show just how important Jalbert is to the Cavaliers’ success on offense,UVa is 7-5 in the last two seasons when he scores none or one goal andeight of those games have come in the first half of the season.

Avoiding the “Sophomore Slump”
Attackman Conor Gill came to UVa with the reputation as being a giftedoffensive player and he lived up to his billing as UVa captured lastseason’s national title.

For the season he finished with 22 goals and 30 assists for a total of 52points and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year.Saving his best for the biggest stage in the college game, Gill turned theNCAA Tournament in College Park, Md., into his own personal show. He scoredfive goals in the first quarter to lead the Cavaliers to a 16-11 win overJohns Hopkins in the semifinals. He then scored UVa’s 11th goal andassisted on the 12th in the national championship game vs. Syracuse as UVagained a 12-10 win. For his play he was named the MVP of the title game andto the NCAA All-Tournament squad.

Given all that he did last year, one accomplishment he will certainly lookto keep off his resume is the dreaded “sophomore slump.”

That looks to be a difficult task considering his 30 assists tied Army’sTim Pearson for the national lead among rookies, while he tied for third inpoints (52) by a freshman last season. He also finished fourth among thenation’s rookies in scoring, averaging 3.25 points per game, and eighthwith 22 goals.

Hard, Jenkins Form Potent Faceoff Duo
Virginia head coach Dom Starsia unleashed a monster last season as theCavaliers stormed to the national championship-the two-headed beast ofJason Hard and David Jenkins.

Hard, a senior co-captain in 2000, met with varying success as UVa’sprimary faceoff specialist his first two years. Named the ACC Rookie of theYear in 1997 after winning 61.8 percent of his faceoffs, he slumped in ’98and won just 42.4 percent of his faceoffs.

Jenkins was UVa’s second faceoff man during his rookie campaign two yearsago, winning 56.9 percent of his faceoffs to lead the team.

Following the experiment of alternating faceoff men, Starsia adopted themethod full-time last season and reaped immediate dividends.

Hard returned to form by winning a career-high 62.8 percent of hisattempts, while Jenkins did even better by winning 64.3 percent of hisfaceoffs. Both finished in the top 10 nationally in faceoffs-Jenkins wassecond, Hard finished sixth-as the Cavaliers finished second nationallyamong the team leaders. Virginia’s 62.3 winning percentage was its bestsince the 1988 squad posted a 63.2 winning percentage.

Last season the Cavaliers lost the faceoff battle in the first two games(Syracuse, Princeton) but had the advantage in 13 of the last 14 games ofthe year (all but the ACC Tournament win over Maryland). In the NCAAplayoffs, Virginia captured an amazing 68.3 percent of the faceoffs taken.

Weisleder’s Return Bolsters Defense
Defenseman Court Weisleder graduated last May with a degree in economics onthe same day the Cavaliers defeated Delaware in the quarterfinals of theNCAA Tournament.

Following Virginia’s NCAA championship, Weisleder accepted a job with aNASDAQ trading firm on Wall Street.. He worked there throughout the fall,but longed to use his remaining year of eligibility and return to UVa.

Just after Christmas break he contacted head coach Dom Starsia of hisintentions. Without much hesitation Starsia accepted Weisleder back for thespring. Weisleder quit the firm he was working for, enrolled in classes atUVa and will be competing as a graduate student this season.

Curtis Makes the Case for the Defense
No doubt one of today’s most intriguing match-ups will be the battlebetween SU attackman Ryan Powell and UVa defenseman Ryan Curtis.Curtis has engaged in some tremendous showdowns with Powell the last coupleof years and before that against his brother Casey.

But as the nation’s top defenseman, it stands to reason that Curtis woulddraw the opponent’s most prolific offensive threat.

In last season’s opener against the Orangemen, Ryan Powell scored justtwice and added two assists in a 14-12 Syracuse win. In the NCAA titlegame, Powell again registered two-and-two, but was held to just one assistin the first 47 minutes as the Cavaliers built a 10-4 lead. Syracuse made amini-run in the fourth quarter scoring five consecutive goals, but wasn’table to get any closer than 10-9. Virginia added two late insurance goalsto capture the championship.

Some of the other notable offensive threats Curtis has shut down the lastfew years reads like a Who’s Who of the nation’s leading scorers recently.Duke’s Jared Frood has tallied just three goals and one assist in fourmatch-ups vs. Curtis and hasn’t scored more than once against him.

Princeton’s Lorne Smith was shutout in last season’s meeting, while theyear before Jon Hess scored only once and had two assists vs. Curtis. Lastseason in the NCAA Tournament’s quarterfinals, Delaware’s John Grant, thenation’s leading scorer, scored four goals and had three assists. That mysound like a lot, but Curtis held Grant to just one second half goal as UVagained a come-from-behind win.

Radebaugh, Anderson Join Coaching Staff
Tucker Radebaugh closed his stellar playing career at UVa last year with anational championship. One of the key components to the Cavaliers’ run forthe title, Radebaugh looks to bring his knowledge to the coaching arena asa first-year member of head coach Dom Starsia’s staff. Radebaugh replacesDoug Knight, who left to become a teacher and assistant lacrosse coach atSt. Paul’s in Baltimore.

Radebaugh will be joined by another Cavalier, Steve Anderson, as newcomersto the coaching staff this season. Anderson, a 1989 UVa graduate, recentlybegan a teaching position in the Charlottesville school district. He hascoached lacrosse in California at both the high school and college levelsand last season served as an assistant coach at Whittier College inWhittier, Calif. He is the brother of current UVa senior Jay Jalbert.

Chris Colbeck is in his fourth season at UVa and is the senior member ofStarsia’s staff. He serves as the offensive coordinator and is nationallyrecognized as one of the brightest, most innovative offensive coaches inthe game today. Under his direction, Virginia has led the nation in scoringin 1997 and 1999.