Virginia Men's Lacrosse Faces Georgetown in Quarterfinals Sunday

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May 16, 2003

Charlottesville, Va. –

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Game 15
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
#2 Virginia (12-2, second seed) vs. Georgetown (11-3)
May 18, 2003 * 3 pm on Comcast SportsNet
Towson Stadium * Towson, Md.

Comcast SportsNet will televise all Quarterfinal games on May 17 and 18. For a complete schedule visit:Comcast SportsNet

Game Info

The Records:
Virginia: 12-2/2-1 ACC
Georgetown: 11-3/4-1 ECAC

The Rankings: (USILA/Inside Lacrosse)
Virginia: 2/2
Georgetown : 8/7

The Series vs. Georgetown:
Overall: first meeting

UVa in the NCAA Tournament:
Appearances: 27
Years as #2 Seed: 1972-95-97-2000-03
Overall: 28-24
at Neutral Sites: 11-10
Quarterfinal Record: 15-8
Current Streak: W1
Biggest UVa Win: 19, Notre Dame 1994 (23-4)
Biggest UVa Loss: 11, Cornell 1988 (17-6)
Most UVa Goals: 23 on two occasions
Fewest UVa Goals: 2 vs. North Carolina `84 QF
Most Opp. Goals: 20 by Syracuse `95 SF
Fewest Opp. Goals: 3 by Army `72 QF
UVa Goals: 608
Opp. Goals: 560
Starsia (UVa) in NCAAs: 14-9

The Series vs. the Hoyas

Despite the relative proximity of the two schools, this is the first time they have met. The two have scrimmaged each several times recently, however.

This is the second game in a row the Cavaliers have played a team for the first time. They defeated Mount St. Mary’s 19-8 in the first round last Saturday.

The Hoyas play in the six-team ECAC along with UMass, UMBC, Navy, Penn State and Rutgers.

Virginia has a limited history with this group, playing them sporadically over the last decade. However, the Cavaliers did defeat Penn State 11-10 last month, the second year in a row the teams have played.

Dual Goals at Work Sunday

Lacrosse players come to Virginia with two primary goals in mind-to graduate from UVa and win national championships.

In Sunday’s game vs. Georgetown the goals are in conflict.

The university is holding its annual graduation ceremonies Sunday at 10 a.m.

However, due to this quarterfinal match-up the Cavalier seniors will miss their final exercises.

Instead, in what has become a team tradition, they will have their own graduation ceremony Monday morning.

Eleven Cavalier seniors-D Ryan Binder, D Ned Bowen, D David Burman, M Andrew Faraone, M Billy Glading, M/A Derrick Preuss, M Chris Rotelli, M A.J. Shannon, A Hatcher Snead, M Calvin Sullivan and LSM Trey Whitty are expected to take part in Monday’s graduation ceremony. They will be joined by volunteer assistant coach Hannon Wright, who is graduating from UVa’s School of Law. Manager Kristin Madl is also expected to receive her degree in education Monday.

Virginia in the NCAAs

This is Virginia’s 27th NCAA Tournament appearance. Only Johns Hopkins has been to the tournament (32 times) more than the Cavaliers. Maryland is third with 26 appearances.

Virginia has a 28-24 all-time playoff record and is fourth in tournament wins behind Johns Hopkins (48), Syracuse (43) and Maryland (33).

Coaches Know Each Other Well

Virginia assistant coach Marc Van Arsdale and Georgetown head coach Dave Urick will have a chance to renew a friendship and relationship that goes back 30 years to the days when Van Arsdale was a youngster growing up in upstate New York and Urick was a lacrosse and football coach at Hobart.

As a youngster Van Arsdale served as a ball boy at Hobart football and lacrosse games, when Urick coached both sports. He also honed his skills as a camper at Hobart’s lacrosse camp each summer.

When it came time to pick a college, Hobart and Urick were the easy choice. Van Arsdale was a key member of four consecutive national championships at Hobart under Urick (1982-85).

Following his graduation in 1985, Van Arsdale spent a year as an assistant coach at Nazareth, before returning to Hobart as an assistant on Urick’s staff for three years (1987-89). Van Arsdale remained on the staff at Hobart in 1990 under B.J. O’Hara, who took over the program after Urick left to become the head coach at Georgetown.

Curiously, this is the first time in their careers Van Arsdale and Urick have been in the same game and NOT been on the same sideline.

11th Consecutive NCAA Appearance

This is Virginia’s 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the longest streak in school history.

Previously, Virginia made nine straight trips to the NCAAs under head coach Jim Adams from 1978-86.

Virginia’s 11-year run is the fourth-longest current streak in the nation. Schools with longer streaks are Johns Hopkins (32), Syracuse (21), and Princeton (14).

Cavaliers Earn NCAA Second Seed

Virginia is the second seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000 and the fifth time overall (1972-95-97-2000-03).

The Cavaliers have had pretty good success throughout the years living up to their second seed. They have advanced to the semifinals three previous times (1972-95-2000) and won the first NCAA title in the program’s history as the second seed in 1972.

12 Wins Near School Record

Virginia has won 12 games this spring, the most since winning a school-record 13 games in back-to-back seasons in 1999-2000. The 12 wins are tied for fourth-most in school history.

The Cavaliers won 13 games for the first time in 1994 and again in 1999 and 2000.

Defense Best Since 1986

While the Cavalier offense has had some ups and downs the last month, the defense has remained stellar. Virginia allows an average of 7.86 goals per game and is tied for 14th in the country in defense despite playing the nation’s toughest schedule.

Virginia has held the opposition to fewer than nine goals in 11 of 14 games this season.

Towson’s two goals in a game back in March is the fewest allowed by an ACC team this season.

The Cavaliers’ 7.86 goals against average is their lowest since the 1986 squad allowed just 7.20 goals per game.

Second Half Domination

The Cavaliers have scored at least 38 goals in every quarter this season despite getting off to some slow starts (such as a scoreless first half vs. Johns Hopkins).

But in the second half the Cavaliers have been especially potent on the offensive end, increasing their scoring by nearly 20 percent in the final 30 minutes (first half average=5.6, second half=6.6).

Virginia has outscored the opponents in the third quarter on 10 occasions this season and owns a 47-25 advantage in the period.

In the fourth quarter Virginia has only been outscored three times and owns a 45-29 scoring edge.

The Cavaliers lead the ACC in second half goals (93) by a wide margin (Maryland is second with 72).

Close Calls in Playoffs

Virginia had its run of one-goal playoff games halted by last weekend’s 19-8 win over Mount St. Mary’s in the first round.

The Cavaliers’ five previous NCAA tourney games had all been decided by one goal. In fact, before last week’s first round game, the last time UVa won a playoff game by more than a goal was its 12-10 win over Syracuse in the 1999 championship game.

The run of five consecutive one-goal games is the longest in tournament history. Princeton (2001-2002) and Syracuse (2001-2002) have had streaks of four consecutive one-goal games.