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March 13, 2001
Charlottesville, Va. –
#7 Virginia Cavaliers (1-2) vs. #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-0)
March 14, 2001
4:00 p.m.
Kl?ckner Stadium
Charlottesville, Va.
The Series vs. the Fighting Irish
The Cavaliers have won both of the previous meetings vs. Notre Dame. Interestingly, the two teams’ only match-ups have occurred in the NCAA Tournament.
Virginia downed the Fighting Irish 19-9 in the first round of the 1993 playoffs and followed that with a 23-4 first round win the following year. Both games were played at Kl?ckner Stadium.
Virginia’s 23-4 win in the 1994 national playoffs represents its biggest win over a ranked team in the program’s history (Notre Dame was ranked 14th at game time.) The margin of victory also marks UVa’s greatest in NCAA Tournament action.
Both wins over Notre Dame have occurred under head coach Dom Starsia. The Fighting Irish have been ranked each time (15th in 1993, 14th in 1994) and have lost to the Cavaliers by at least 10 goals each time. Those are two of the eight wins under Starsia against ranked teams that have been by double digit margins.
Cavaliers Fall to a Tie for Seventh in Coaches’ Poll
Faced with a tough road schedule to open the season, that has seen them drop two straight, the Cavaliers are now tied with Massachusetts for seventh in this week’s USILA coaches’ poll. Virginia is also seventh in the Brine/360Lacrosse.com poll and fifth in the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse poll.This is the lowest Virginia has been ranked since a #7 ranking the week of April 6, 1998.
With consecutive games against #1 Syracuse, #2 Princeton and now #6 Notre Dame, this is the first time Virginia has played three straight games against higher ranked teams since doing so in the final three games of 1994.
Cavaliers Falter in Fourth, Fall to Princeton 8-4
Matt Striebel scored three goals and Will MacColl added two goals and one assist, all in the fourth quarter, to lead home-standing Princeton to an 8-4 win over the Cavaliers last Saturday.
Princeton never trailed and outshot Virginia 43-19, but the game wasn’t decided until MacColl had his big fourth quarter. The Tigers led 5-4 after three quarters before MacColl scored on a feed from Owen Daly with four minutes gone, set up Striebel with 4:42 remaining and finally scored on a one-on-one move with 2:24 to go.
Rob Torti and Sean Hartofilis scored in the first three minutes to make it 2-0 Princeton, but UVa battled back behind goals from Chris Rotelli and Billy Glading just over a minute apart late in the first quarter to make it 2-2. Striebel’s first goal made it 3-2 in the second quarter, but Ian Shure tied it 24 seconds before intermission.
Princeton regained its two-goal lead when Striebel and Ryan Boyle scored 26 seconds apart in the third quarter, but Derek Kenney’s goal 3.4 seconds before the end of the third made it a one-goal game heading into the fourth quarter.
Rotelli Records First Hat Trick vs. Top-Ranked Squad
Chris Rotelli was moved from the midfield to attack for the Syracuse game in an effort to get more scoring punch on the field and the moved seems to have paid off. The sophomore from Rumford, R.I., responded by scoring a career-high three goals against the top-ranked Orangemen and was one of the few bright spots for the Cavaliers in the game.
He followed that by scoring UVa’s first goal against Princeton last Saturday.
Rotelli has scored a team-high five goals during the young season and is two away from his total of seven goals last season.
He has also assisted on two goals in two games and is second on the team with seven points (one away from his total of last season).
Holcomb Tallies Three in Opener vs. Towson
Hanley Holcomb scored 27 goals two years ago and was one of the unsung Cavaliers during their championship season. But last season was a trying one for the lefty from Ridgewood, N.J. Hampered for much of the season with a nagging hamstring injury, his goal output dropped to 10 as he pressed to regain his scoring touch. He scored just once in the first six games (missed two due to injury) and he failed to score more than two goals in any game.
Owner of one of the hardest shots in the game today, Holcomb has worked hard on both ends of the field during the preseason to become a more complete player and put last season behind him. An outstanding fall caught the notice of some of the preseason All-American pickers who named him to their preseason squads.
He got his season off to an outstanding start in the season opener vs. Towson by scoring three goals to share scoring honors with Billy Glading. His three goals are the most he’s scored since notching three vs. Syracuse in the 1999 national championship game.
In the Towson contest, Virginia’s first midfield unit of Holcomb, Billy Glading and Chris Rotelli combined for seven goals and two assists. Holcomb and Glading scored three goals apiece, while Rotelli passed off for a career-high two assists and chipped in with one goal.
Starsia’s Cavaliers vs. Higher Ranked Opponents
Virginia is tied for seventh in this week’s USILA poll, while Notre Dame has used a three-game winning streak to jump to sixth.
Since Dom Starsia took over the Virginia program in 1993, the Cavaliers have never been ranked lower than eighth (1993), so more often than not they are the higher ranked team.
However, on the rare occasions when the Cavaliers are the lower ranked squad they have had pretty good success springing an upset. as shown by their 13-15 record when being the lower-ranked team.
Being the underdog hasn’t been so good for UVa this season, however, as the Cavaliers have lost consecutive games to #1 Syracuse (13-7) and #2 Princeton (8-4).
When the Cavaliers are playing at home they are 10-9 as the lower ranked squad under Starsia. The homestanding Cavaliers are sure to want this historical trend to continue–they are 6-1 as the lower-ranked team when playing at Kl?ckner Stadium.
Glading Records Hat Trick in First Extended Action
Billy Glading got caught behind an experienced group of midfielders as a rookie last season and didn’t see much action (just seven games). But with David Bruce, Jason Hard and Jay Jalbert having graduated, there are plenty of opportunities for Glading and a host of other youngsters (including Andrew Faraone, Ted Lamade, Brett Wagner among others) to see significant time in the midfield.
Based on an outstanding fall season, Glading has been chosen to several preseason All-America teams and he quickly seems to be justifying the selection. In the season opener against Towson late last month, he scored three goals to tie Hanley Holcomb for the team scoring lead. He also scored three goals combined in the two scrimmages vs. Georgetown and Loyola the week before the Towson game. Not bad for a player who only took three shots and scored one goal last spring.Glading converted a nice feed from Ian Shure last Saturday against Princeton for his fourth goal of the season. He is second on the team in goals.
Kenney Sees First Action of the Season
Goalie turned midfielder Derek Kenney saw his first action of the season against Princeton last Saturday. Sidelined since early in the preseason due to a hamstring injury, Kenney was cleared to begin practicing the week of the Princeton game.
He entered the contest for the first time late in the third quarter and quickly made his presence felt. With Princeton leading 5-3 late in the third quarter, Kenney took a fine pass from Ian Shure on the left side of the cage and calmly bounced a shot past goalie Trevor Tierney on the first shot of his career.
Kenney’s athleticism will certainly be a welcome addition to the Virginia midfield, which to this point is having trouble generating offense.
Power Shortage Reaches East Coast and Charlottesville
Perhaps one of the oddities of the season so far has been Virginia’s inability to score. Normally one of the most high-powered squads around, the Cavalier offense has experienced a power shortage similiar to that faced in California earlier this year (well, maybe not exactly, but close). So far this season the Cavaliers are averaging just 7.67 goals per game. They scored 12 in the opener vs. Towson, but have reached the back of the net only 11 times since (vs. Syracuse-7 and Princeton-4).
The seven goals they scored vs. Syracuse on March 3 ended a streak of 21 consecutive games dating back to the middle of the 1999 season that the Cavaliers had reached double figures. The 21-game streak is the second-longest streak in school history. The school record is 44 consecutive games with 10+ goals from 1995-97.
Virginia’s four goals vs. Princeton last Saturday is its fewest since scoring three vs. Johns Hopkins in 1989.
The back-to-back games with fewer than 10 goals is the first time since 1993 (Dom Starsia’s first in Charlottesville) that Virginia has failed to score at least 10 goals in consecutive games.
The last two games have seen two of the seven-lowest goal totals for Virginia under Starsia.
Jenkins Assumes Primary Face-off Duty
For the last three years David Jenkins and Jason Hard shared UVa’s face-offs responsibilities and gave Dom Starsia the luxury of having two outstanding face-off specialists. In fact, both were ranked in the top 10 in the nation the last two seasons. But with Hard’s graduation, Jenkins will be taking most of the team’s draws this season.
So far this season Jenkins is winning 58.6 percent of his draws (34 of 58).
He had his best game of the season against #2 Princeton on Saturday, winning 12 of 16 faceoffs.
The senior tri-captain was ninth nationallly in winning percentage last spring, claiming 62.1 percent of his opportunities (105 of 169). He is the seventh-leading returnee this season in terms of winning percentage.
Jenkins has won 61.8 percent of his career face-offs, the second-highest total in school history. Steve Kraus holds the school record with a 68.0 winning percentage.
Jenkins is also closing in on UVa’s top five in face-off wins in his career. The winningest face-off men in school history are listed below.
name, years taken W L Pct. 1. Jason Hard, 1997-00 949 539 410 .568 2. Brad Wood, 1984-87 707 423 284 .598 3. Tony Nugent, 1992-95 668 362 306 .542 4. Steve Kraus, 1978-81 478 325 153 .680 5. Greg Montgomery, 1971-74 537 309 228 .575 6. David Jenkins, 1998-01 495 306 189 .618
Freshman Takes Over Between the Pipes
Tillman Johnson, one of the top goalies in the country in last year’s recruiting class, has started both games this season. His start marks the second time in the last three seasons that Dom Starsia has started a rookie in goal. Derek Kenney, the starter the last two seasons, became the first freshman to start in the cage for Virginia since 1979. Kenney has moved to the midfield this season.
Johnson got off to a shaky start in the opener vs. Towson last month–a 12-8 win. The rookie from Annapolis, Md., failed to make a save in the first quarter, but once settled in he finished with 12 saves. His play in man down situations was stellar as Towson failed to score in six extra-man opportunities.
He had a tough game against Syracuse 11 days ago, relinquishing 13 goals, while making just six saves. Starsia admitted after the game that Johnson’s play wasn’t typical of how he had been playing and that it’s understandable considering the opponent and site (Syracuse in the Carrier Dome).
Johnson put the Cavaliers in position to win last Saturday against Princeton. He allowed just five goals through three quarters, but with the Cavaliers unable to sustain any offensive momentum, he wore down and allowed three goals in the final quarter of the 8-4 loss.Nonetheless, Johnson is allowing an average of just 9.78 goals per game and is averaging 9.33 saves per game.