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April 4, 2003
Charlottesville, Va. –
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Game 8
#6 Virginia vs. #7 North Carolina
April 5, 2003 * 1 pm
Kl?ckner Stadium * Charlottesville, Va.
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Game Info
The Records
:
Virginia: 5-2/0-1
North Carolina: 5-3/2-0
The Rankings: (USILA/Inside Lacrosse)
Virginia: 6/6
North Carolina: 7/7
The Series vs. North Carolina:
Overall: 38-23
Home: 17-12
Current Streak: W2
Biggest UVa Win: 17, 1950 (17-0)
Biggest UNC Win: 11, 1987 (18-7)
UVa Goals: 659
UNC Goals: 543
Starsia (UVa) vs. UNC: 12-4
Last Meeting:
Virginia won 10-3 in last year’s ACC Tournament
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The Series vs. the Tar Heels
Virginia leads the all-time series with North Carolina by a 38-23 margin. The Cavaliers’ 38 wins over the Tar Heels make the Heels third on UVa’s list of most beaten opponents (UVa has defeated Duke 45 times and Washington & Lee 42 times). The series goes all the way back to two meetings in 1938 (when the teams split the contests). After a brief hiatus in the series in the `50s and `60s, the teams have met every season since 1964.
The Cavaliers have had remarkable success against North Carolina in Charlottesville, winning 17 times and losing 12. Curiously, Virginia has had even better success in Chapel Hill with an 18-9 record.
The Cavaliers defeated the Tar Heels twice last season–10-9 during the regular season in Chapel Hill and 10-3 in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament at Duke.
North Carolina won 7-5 two years ago in the most recent meeting at Kl?ckner Stadium, but overall Virginia has won eight of the last nine match-ups going back to 1997.
The teams have played several nailbiters recently, including UVa’s 10-9 regular season win last year. Three of the last four games have been decided by two goals or less.
North Carolina’s last three wins (2 in 1996, 2001) have been by a combined five goals.
Last year the Cavaliers built a 10-6 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Tar Heels battled back to get to within one. They had a chance to tie in the closing seconds but Steven Will’s shot from in close was wide as time expired.
The Cavaliers come into Saturday’s game ranked sixth, while the Tar Heels are seventh. This is the 13th consecutive meeting the Cavaliers have been ranked higher. Since this streak began they are 9-3 with two of the losses coming at Kl?ckner Stadium (1996, 2001). The Tar Heels were ranked 19th when they upset UVa 7-5 two years ago at Kl?ckner, the lowest ranked team to ever win at Kl?ckner.
Cavaliers Look to End Two-Game Losing Streak
Virginia looks to end its two-game losing streak vs. North Carolina on Saturday. The Cavaliers got off to their best start (5-0) since 1996, but have dropped the last two games by identical 8-7 scores to fall to 5-2 overall.
This is UVa’s first two-game losing streak since late last season when the team lost to Duke and Penn State.
The Cavaliers haven’t lost three straight games since 2001, a losing streak that began with a home loss to the Tar Heels.
Offense in Two-Game Drought
Despite having some of the most explosive scorers in the college game, Virginia has had trouble finding the back of the net the last two games, scoring seven goals against both Johns Hopkins and Maryland. These games are the only times all season Virginia has failed to reach double digits.
The current drought is UVa’s longest since failing to score at least 10 goals in three straight games late in the 2001 season.
Several of UVa’s big guns are having a rough go of it lately. Chris Rotelli has scored twice in the two games (but added a career-high four assists vs. Maryland), Matt Ward has two and A.J. Shannon and Billy Glading have scored once each.
Leading the way in the last two games are John Christmas (4 goals) and Joe Yevoli (3).
Even with the recent performance Virginia is seventh in the country in scoring with an average of 11.9 goals per game.
One problem the team has encountered all season is an inability to score when man up. The Cavaliers have taken advantage of just 24 percent of their man-up opportunities, by far the worst percentage in the ACC.
Shooting Woes Lead to Dry Spell
One of the Cavaliers’ problems during their recent scoring drought is subpar shooting.
In the last two games, where they’ve scored a total of 14 goals, they have shot under 20 percent both times. In this span they are shooting 16.5 percent (14×85).
Virginia has lost the last three games when shooting under 20 percent. The Cavaliers shot 15.6 percent (5×32) in a home loss to North Carolina two years ago.
It’s interesting to note the last time Virginia won when shooting less than 20 percent occurred in the 1999 national championship game vs. Syracuse. The Cavaliers won 12-10 that day despite shooting 19.7 percent (12×61).
Defense Remains Steady
While the Cavalier offense has struggled some recently, the defense has remained stellar. Virginia allows an average of 8.0 goals per game, despite playing the toughest schedule in the nation so far. The Cavaliers are currently tied for 16th in the nation in defense.
Virginia has held every opponent except Syracuse to fewer than nine goals this season.
In fact, four of UVa’s seven opponents this season have scored their season-low total against UVa (Princeton, Notre Dame, Towson, Johns Hopkins).
The five-game streak of allowing fewer than 10 goals is the Cavaliers’ longest since an eight-game streak during the 2000 season.
Green Grass of Kl?ckner Bodes Well
As the weather gets warmer and the grass greener, perhaps the Cavaliers will benefit from playing at Kl?ckner Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Cavaliers are 22-4 (.846) in April since they moved to Kl?ckner in 1993. Virginia has won 14 of the last 15 April games at Kl?ckner since 1997. It should be noted the lone blemish is a 7-5 loss to North Carolina two years ago.
Including that game the Tar Heels own three of the four April wins over UVa at Kl?ckner. They also won in the 1994 and 1996 ACC Tournaments.
deVilliers Improves at Faceoff X
One of the big questions for the Cavaliers coming into the season centered on the play of faceoff man Jack deVilliers (pronounced duh-vill-yea). He was the team’s primary man at the faceoff X last season, a tough assignment for a rookie.
He won less than 50 percent of his draws for the season (.478) but improved during the latter part of the campaign and won more than half in two of his last three games. In perhaps his best performance of the season he won 13 (career high at the time) of 24 attempts in the national semifinals vs. Syracuse.
The sophomore from Lutherville, Md., worked hard in the offseason and came back bigger and stronger and has given the squad a big lift with his play.
He was instrumental in the win over then #1 Syracuse earlier this month, winning a career-high 19 of 32 draws (.594), including 11 of 17 in the second half as UVa came from three goals down to win 16-15.
He turned in one of the most amazing performances by a Cavalier in a long while last week vs. Maryland. He won 15 of 19 attempts (.789), by far the best percentage of his career.
deVilliers is 11th in the nation in winning percentage (.622) to help Virginia rank fifth nationally as a team. All told he has won at least half his draws every game this season.
He has already won 92 faceoffs, just 18 away from his total all last season!
deVilliers leads the nation in total wins (92), 11 more than the #2 player, and attempts (148).
A look at his statistics on a game-by-game basis is below.
opp., Wins, Pct.
Drexel, 16 of 23, .696
Syracuse, 19 of 32, .594
Princeton, 11 of 18, .611
Notre Dame, 14 of 23, .609
Towson, 8 of 16, .500
J. Hopkins, 9 of 17, .529
Maryland, 15 of 19, .789
Gotta Play the Full 60
One characteristic of Virginia’s two losses so far is its play in one fateful quarter–both in the first half.
Against Johns Hopkins, the Blue Jays jumped to an early 5-0 first quarter lead. After the fast start their offense went dormant, allowing the Cavaliers to claw their way back into the game. Despite being blanked for almost 34 minutes, Virginia managed to outscore the Blue Jays 5-2 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 7-6 early in the fourth.
The teams traded goals in the final eight minutes, and Virginia still had a chance to tie at the end but Matt Ward’s shot at the horn hit the side of the net.
After scoring the game’s first two goals last week vs. Maryland, the Cavaliers went scoreless for more than 33 minutes as the Terrapins used a seven-goal run to take a 7-2 lead late in the third period.
Once again the Cavaliers used a frantic late rally by scoring two quick goals in the final two minutes to pull within one. They had a chance to tie in the closing seconds but couldn’t get off a decent shot.
Giving up the big quarter has proven disastrous to the Cavaliers during the last four seasons. Since 2000 Virginia is 3-10 when allowing at least five goals in a quarter. Other than this season’s win over Syracuse (when the Orangemen scored five goals in the fourth quarter), Virginia has lost eight of nine going back to 2000.
Rotelli Reaches Century Mark
Senior midfielder Chris Rotelli notched a career-high four assists last week vs. Maryland. While the game’s outcome wasn’t gratifying, Rotelli did manage to achieve a bit of personal accomplishment–reaching the 100-point plateau for his career, the 31st player in school history to do so.
Rotelli is the ACC’s leading scorer this season with an average of 3.6 points per game (25 in 7 games). He is one of two players (along with UNC’s Jed Prossner) to also rank in the top five in the league in goals and assists. Rotelli is tied for second in assists (1.4/g) and tied for fourth in goals (2.1/g). Nationally, Rotelli is 18th in scoring, tied for 27th in assists and tied for 30th in goals.
Rotelli is currently tied for 29th in school history in scoring. His imminent movement up the career scoring chart is shown below.
Player, years, points
25. Rob Falk, 1990-93, 111
26. Andy Kraus, 1987-89, `91, 107
27. Greg Traynor, 1992-95, 106
28. Henry Peterson, 1959-61, 104
29. Chris Rotelli, 2000-pres., 102
29. Scott Gerham, 1981-84, 102
While we’re at it, we’ll also give you Rotelli’s place on UVa’s career goals chart. You can also see A.J. Shannon is closing in on the top 20.
Player, years, goals
14. Greg Traynor, 1992-95, 82
15. Conor Gill, 1999-2002, 77
16. Andy Kraus, 1987-89, `91, 75
17. Chris Rotelli, 2000-pres. & 2 others, 74
20. Randy Natoli, 1979-82, 73
21. A.J. Shannon, 2000-pres. & 1 other, 70
Johnson Reaches Top 10 in Saves
Junior goalie Tillman Johnson is considered by many to be the top goalie in the nation. He was a preseason first-team All-American and is the only Division I goalie named to the list of candidates for the Tewaaraton Trophy, given annually to the top player in the nation.
He has been the starter throughout his career. Last season he was an honorable mention All-American after turning aside 173 shots, the most by a Cavalier netminder since 1996.
The junior from Annapolis, Md., has been steady during the season’s early stages while going up against some of the top teams in the nation–Virginia has faced the toughest schedule in the nation.
By his own account, he had his best performance of the season against Towson with a season-high 15 saves while allowing a season-low two goals. The 15 saves is tied for the fifth-highest total of his career (18 is his high).
Since facing the potent Syracuse offense in the second game, he has allowed fewer than nine goals in the last five games. In that time he has a .611 save percentage and is averaging 10.8 saves per game.
Johnson is currently 10th in school history and could move into ninth place Saturday. A look at UVa’s career saves list is below.
Player, years saves
1. Rodney Rullman, 1972-75, 553
2. Deeley Nice, 1960-62, 498
3. Bo Moore, 1952-54, 494
4. Chris Sanderson, 1995-98, 493
5. Peter Sheehan, 1984-88, 491
6. Cam MacLachlan, 1975-78, 470
7. James Ireland, 1991-94, 458
8. Tom Groeninger, 1988-91, 455
9. Bob Hoover, 1955, 57-58, 403
10. Tillman Johnson, 2001-pres., 400
Hughes Shuts Down Syracuse’s Powell
Junior defenseman Brett Hughes has started throughout his career at UVa. His first two years he played in the shadow of 2002 ACC Player of the Year Mark Koontz, who like Hughes hails from Upper Arlington, Ohio.
But with Koontz graduated and off to a career on Wall Street, Hughes has assumed the role of defensive stopper. He got a taste of it late last season following Koontz’ season-ending knee injury, but this season the role is all his.
An outstanding athlete–Hughes was an all-state football player in Ohio–he will draw some of the top offensive players the nation has to offer this season.
His first big test of the season came against Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in the season’s second game.
By all accounts Hughes was one of the unsung heroes in UVa’s 16-15 win by holding the explosive Michael Powell to just two assists. The game was only the fourth of Powell’s career in which he failed to score a goal and the third-lowest point total of his career.
Hughes also contributed a big play on offense that proved to be a key in the one-goal win. With six seconds left in the third period he launched a 90-yard pass downfield for Joe Yevoli. Yevoli snared the ball one handed and fired the ball past a stunned Jay Pfeifer for a goal at the buzzer.
Hughes leads ACC close defensemen in ground balls with an average of 3.6 per game.
Something Has to Give
North Carolina comes into Saturday’s game converting on 51.7 percent of its extra-man opportunities. That would rank first in the nation, but for some reason the NCAA doesn’t list the Tar Heels. The Tar Heels have scored 18.3 percent of their goals in man-up situations this season.
The Cavaliers lead the ACC in man-down defense at 25.6 percent, which would rank 21st in the country but isn’t listed by the NCAA.
Virginia has done an outstanding job in man-down situations on several occasions this season. The Cavaliers held Princeton to just one goal in eight attempts and last week limited Maryland to just one on six opportunities.
Syracuse (3 of 5) is the only opponent to score on more than half its extra-man opportunities vs. UVa this season. Four opponents have been held under 50 percent, while two others were right at 50 percent.
The last time the Cavaliers were as good on man-down defense was in 2000, when they had a .235 percentage.
Glading is Underrated Warrior
Senior midfielder Billy Glading is frequently overshadowed by classmates Chris Rotelli and A.J. Shannon, among others.
However it is interesting to note that of the team’s middies Glading spends more time on the field than anyone.
An extremely gifted athlete–he was a standout point guard in high school–Glading’s speed and athleticism enable him to be effective on both ends of the field.
Offensively he is an opportunistic scorer, who has connected on 33 percent of his shots in his career. This season he has found the back of the net eight times, third among the team’s middies.
He led the team for the first time with three goals in the win over Towson recently.
Defensively he is frequently the player the poles look to to carry the ball downfield on clears. He is also adept at checking the ball free and leads the team’s short stick middies with 18 ground balls.
Rookie Ward Reaches Double Digits
Freshman Matt Ward came to UVa with a reputation of being an explosive scorer. He hasn’t had the pressure to score a lot this season, but he is blending in well on the attack with sophomores John Christmas and Joe Yevoli.
Ward has scored 10 goals this season, fifth on the team. He is also the second-leading freshman in the ACC behind Maryland’s Joe Walters (18).
Ward has scored 16 points which is also second among league rookies behind Walters (24).
Heffner Flourishes in New Role
Junior Zach Heffner spent his first two years at Virginia in a reserve role on defense. After a series of injuries to the defensive middies late last season, head coach Dom Starsia moved Heffner there to shore up the ranks. Heffner played in five of the last six games and seemed to add a spark.
This season he’s traded in his long pole for good. He has flourished as a wing man on faceoffs and in the defensive midfield where he can use his speed and athleticism to great effect. He’s the fastest player on the team according to Starsia (and holds several New York state high school track records).
He has gobbled up 39 ground balls and leads the ACC with an average of 5.6 per game. He is ranked 13th in the nation in ground balls.
The junior from Averill Park, N.Y., led the team in GBs for the first time in the win over Syracuse when he snapped up eight, a career high.
He came back to lead the team again the next week with five vs. Princeton.
Heffner scored the first goal of his career on a nice back door cut vs. Notre Dame.
He led the team for the third time with eight GBs last Saturday vs. Maryland.
UNC, UVa Share Several Ties
Saturday’s combatants share several ties that make this an intriguing match-up and might cause some familial conflict.
Virginia sophomore Joe Yevoli was named the ACC’s Rookie of the Year last year after scoring a Virginia freshman record 40 goals.
His father, Joe, Sr., was an All-American attackman at North Carolina in 1977-78. The elder Yevoli led the Tar Heels both years in scoring (51, 38 points respectively) and assists (21, 25) and was the team leader in goals in 1977 (30).
He didn’t have his best performances vs. UVa, however. His Tar Heel clubs lost both match-ups to the Cavaliers. In the 1977 meeting he had a goal and an assist as UVa won 15-7. The following year he scored a single goal in UVa’s 9-8 overtime win.
The younger Yevoli led the Cavaliers in goals in both games vs. UNC last season–two in the regular season and three in the ACC Tournament.
Current UNC coach John Haus, was a two-time All-American defenseman at UNC in the early 80s.
He learned the nuances of defense play from his father, Bert, who was a standout D-man at UVa and lettered from 1957-59.