Men's Lacrosse Hosts Ohio State on Senior Day
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April 27, 2001
Charlottesville, Va. –
#12 Virginia (5-6, 1-2 ACC) vs. Ohio State (7-5, 2-3 GWLL)
April 28, 2001
1:00 p.m.
Kl?ckner Stadium
Charlottesville, Va.
The Series vs. the Buckeyes
Virginia has won all three games in the series vs. the Buckeyes. The series began in 1968 (12-8 UVa win) and wasn’t played again until 1999 when the Cavaliers posted a 21-0 win over the Buckeyes for the sixth shutout in school history.
The Cavaliers made their first trip ever to Columbus last season and came away with a 13-7 victory. Conor Gill had a hand in eight of UVa’s first 11 goals with four goals and four assists to pace the offense. Virginia built a 10-0 lead before Ohio State tallied its first goal with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter to end the Cavaliers’ streak at 34 consecutive goals in the span of the three games.
Virginia has scored first in all three games and has done a pretty good job of holding the lead. The Buckeyes have led for just 2:48 combined in all three meetings and the entirety of their lead time occurred in the first match-up in 1968. UVa has held the lead for 143:55, while the teams have been tied for a combined 33:17. Last season Virginia scored just 59 seconds into the game and led the rest of the way.
Four Common Opponents
Virginia and Ohio State have four opponents in common this season. The chart below shows the results of these common opponent games.
UVa OSUNotre Dame L--11-8 L--13-4Johns Hopkins W--9-8 (4ot) L--17-7Butler haven't played yet L--13-12Denver W--15-5 L--13-7
Starsia Closes in on Rare Coaching Feat
With each victory, Virginia head coach Dom Starsia moves closer to several coaching milestones. In 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach at Brown and UVa, Starsia has fashioned a 198-81 record and is the seventh-winningest active Division I coach. He needs just two wins to join the select group of coaches with 200+ career wins.
In his ninth year at the helm of the Virginia program, Starsia’s Cavalier squads have compiled a 97-35 overall record. Starsia needs just three more victories to become only the second coach in school history to win 100 games. Jim Adams won a school-record 137 games (and lost 60) at Virginia from 1978-92.
Starsia won 101 games in 10 seasons at Brown and as he closes in on 200 career victories, he is also drawing nearer to becoming only the third coach in college history (as best as we can tell) to win 100-or-more games at two different schools.
A look at the known coaches who have won 100+ games at two different schools are listed below. It is interesting to note that the two coaches with 100+ wins at two schools are both still coaching.
Head coach first school second schoolJack Emmer Wash. & Lee, 108-47 (`73-83) Army, 147-105* (`84-pres.)Dave Urick Hobart, 122-30 (`80-89) Georgetown, 115-46 (`90-pres.)Dom Starsia Brown, 101-46 (`83-92) Virginia, 97-34 (`93-pres.)doesn't include Friday night's game vs. Navy
Gill Expected to be Out of Action
All-American attackman Conor Gill is not expected to play Satureday due to a hand injury he sustained in last week’s ACC Tournament match-up vs. Maryland. Currently ranked second in the nation in assists, Gill suffered a deep laceration in the palm of his right hand when he was pushed onto some exposed bolts behind the cage with 4:28 to play in the game. He underwent surgery that night and required 15 stitches to close the wound.
Gill is the ACC’s leading scorer with 41 points (12g, 29a) and also holds a huge lead in the ACC in assists. His 29 assists, tied for 20th in school history, are eight more than the next player (Duke’s Alex Lieske has 21).
Virginia Looks to End Rare Slide
The Cavaliers have had a frustrating spring and currently stand at 5-6. This is Virginia’s worst record this deep into the season since 1966 when the Cavaliers finished 2-9. The 1987 squad was 6-3 through early April, but dropped its last four games to finish 6-7 and mark the last time Virginia had a losing record.
The current three-game losing streak is Virginia’s second of the season, the first time in school history the team has had two three-game losing streaks in a season.
Virginia hasn’t lost four games in a row since dropping the last four games of 1987.
The Cavaliers need wins today against Ohio State and Tuesday over Butler to get above .500 and be eligible to receive one of the seven at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Seniors Make Final UVa Appearance
Today’s game marks the final Kl?ckner Stadium appearance for 10 Cavaliers. Those playing in their final home game today include Steve Burman, Tyler Gilbert, John Harvey, Hanley Holcomb, David Jenkins, James Kenny, Evan Mancini, Jamison Mullen, Will Quayle and Ian Shure (who has a year of eligibility remaining and could come back next season).
This group of players has been instrumental in putting together one of the best four-year runs in school history, including winning the national championship in 1999.
They have won two ACC titles and have been invited to the NCAA Tournament every year and have been ranked in the top five for 28 weeks, including four at #1. Their overall collegiate record stands at 39-16 (.709).
Rotelli Sees Scoring Streak End at 10
Chris Rotelli has seen action at attack and in the midfield this season in order to give Virginia some scoring punch. The sophomore from Rumford, R.I., has been the lone Cavalier who has not had trouble finding the back of the net so far this season.
He leads the team with 20 goals (taking just four games to top his goal total of last season) and is second on the squad in total points (20g, 6a).
Rotelli failed to score last weekend against Maryland in the ACC Tournament and saw his scoring streak end at 10 consecutive games.
Moved to the attack for the first time for the Syracuse game, Rotelli responded with a then career-high three goals to lead the Cavalier attack. He turned in his second hat trick vs. Notre Dame sharing the scoring honors with A.J. Shannon.
He has been the team’s one consistent offensive threat recently, leading the team with two goals against North Carolina and a career-high four scores vs. Duke prior to the ACC Tournament.
Winning the Ground Ball War
One of the goals of the Virginia coaching staff this season has been the desire to snag more ground balls than the opposition. This season the Cavaliers are averaging 46.8 ground balls per game and have claimed more ground balls than their opponents on six occasions this season, winning four.
When Virginia has lost the ground ball war, the outcome generally hasn’t been good. The Cavaliers have lost three times in four games when having fewer ground balls than the opposition. In last weekend’s ACC Tournament loss to Maryland, both teams scooped up 38 ground balls.
Virginia scooped up a season-high 64 ground balls against Radford and averaged 54.5 ground balls per game during its four-game winning streak earlier in the season.
The Cavaliers have won 29 of their last 31 games dating back to 1998 when snapping up at least 50 ground balls.
Face-off specialist David Jenkins leads the team with 76 ground balls, which isn’t unusual since he’s led the team the last two years.
All-American defenseman Mark Koontz is second on the team–and the leader among the long sticks–with 56 ground balls. It’s also not unusual to see Koontz leading the way since he was tops among UVa’s long sticks a year ago. Goalie Tillman Johnson has snared 45, while attackman Conor Gill has snapped up 41 ground balls.
Three Cavaliers Named All-ACC
Three Cavaliers were named to the 2001 All-ACC squad in voting by the league’s head coaches. Two Cavaliers are repeaters from last season–Conor Gill and Mark Koontz–while Chris Rotelli was selected for the first time.
Gill is the first Cavalier attackman named to the All-ACC squad in his sophomore and junior seasons since Michael Watson and Doug Knight in 1995-96. Koontz joins Scott Lind (1984, `86) as the only defensemen in school history named to the all-conference squad as a sophomore and junior. It should be noted that Lind did not play in 1985 due to an injury.
Gill and Koontz are the only juniors on the all-league team.
Rotelli, the team’s leading goal scorer, is UVa’s first sophomore middie named All-ACC since Andy Kraus in 1988. Rotelli is one of three sophomores on this year’s All-ACC squad.
Of the five non-seniors on the 2001 All-ACC team, Virginia has three.
Power Shortage Reaches 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 (nation’s top-scoring offense in 1997 and 1999), the Cavalier offense has experienced a power shortage similar to that faced in California earlier this year (well, maybe not exactly, but close).
The Cavaliers are averaging just 9.64 goals per game and have failed to reach double digits eight times. Their 22 goals vs. Radford represents a season high. The last time Virginia failed to score at least 10 goals as many as eight times in one season occurred in 1966 when the Cavaliers finished 2-9 and didn’t score more than eight goals in any game.
Despite ranking second in the ACC in offense, Virginia has only one player who has scored more than 12 goals.
Chris Rotelli leads the team with 20 goals, while Conor Gill and A.J. Shannon are next with 12 each. Hanley Holcomb and Ian Shure have both scored 10 goals.
The seven goals the Cavaliers scored against Syracuse on March 3 ended a streak of 21 consecutive games dating back to the middle of the 1999 season where they reached double figures. That streak is the second-longest streak in school history. The school record is 44 consecutive games with 10+ goals from 1995-97.
The four goals vs. Princeton is UVa’s lowest output under Dom Starsia, while the five goals vs. North Carolina is the second-lowest total under him. Overall, five of the 14-lowest scoring games under Starsia have come this season.
Gill Sets Career High for Assists in a Game
While Brenndan Mohler was finding the back of the nets five times against Radford, Conor Gill was making it possible for Mohler and his mates to score a season-high 22 goals.
In his role as offensive playmaker, Gill was spectacular vs. the Highlanders, passing for a career-high six assists (all in UVa’s nine-goal second quarter). Gill’s six assists are the most by a Cavalier since Tim Whiteley’s six vs. Harvard in the 1996 NCAA playoffs.
It’s not surprising to see that how Gill goes, so goes the offense. He was brilliant in the upset over then #1 Maryland earlier in the season with four assists in the 7-2 win.
Gill’s recent performance has been reflective of the offense’s overall sluggishness. Against North Carolina he scored a goal and added an assist, but the offense had trouble getting going and scored just five goals.
He tied his season high with two goals and had one assist vs. Duke two weeks ago, but the offense still had difficulty sustaining consistent pressure.
He scored a season-high three goals (and added an assist) vs. Maryland in last weekend’s ACC Tournament, but injured his hand late in the game to cap off a disappointing night for the Cavaliers.
With 29 assists, Gill is second in the nation and leads the ACC by a wide margin. His 29 assists are tied for 20th on UVa’s all-time single-season list.
Gill has 99 career assists and is sixth in school history. He needs just one more assists to become the sixth player in UVa history to reach the century mark.
Gill is also working his way up the all-time ACC assists list as shown below.
Player, school, years assists14. Mike Caravana, UVa, 1980-83 10415. Kevin Pehlke, UVa, 1991-94 10116. CONOR GILL, UVa, 1999-pres. 98