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Oct. 7, 2005

Virginia Beach, Va. –

“We’re all smart enough to know this is fall lacrosse.” Those were Virginiahead coach Dom Starsia’s words after Virginia defeated Navy 16-7 in its fallball scrimmage against Navy Saturday at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. Theevent attracted a crowd of 2800 and raised nearly $50,000; proceeds went tohelp the family of UVa lacrosse alum, John Driscoll (’80).

It was a good first outing for the 2005-2006 Cavaliers. Coach Starsiatalked early in the week “about focusing on the quality of our effort ratherthan worrying about the final result.” Even so, the final result turned outpretty well for the Cavaliers. After a 3-3 tie midway through the firstperiod, Virginia then went on a 10-goal run, making it 13-3 by early in the3rd quarter. Ben Rubeor led the way with 5 goals and 2 assists. TheVirginia face-off men also turned in great performances. Senior CharlieGlazer and junior Drew Thompson stepped up to fill the void left byoutstanding face-off man and current Long Island Lizard, Jack deVilliers.

Coach Starsia was “very pleasantly surprised” by the performances of Glazerand Thompson, but tempered his satisfaction by noting that the face-off X”remains an area of some concern going into the season.”

As past years tell us, you can never tell too much from autumn scrimmages. However, the Wahoo laxers did look sharp in some other important areas. The offense moved the ball crisply and some first years look like they canmake an immediate impact on offense, adding some depth and punch to theCavaliers’ offense of last year. Danny Glading, a blue chip recruit fromGeorgetown Prep, Canadian Garrett Billings, and St. Paul’s Gavin Gill areall first-year attackmen who are capable of helping the Virginia offensenext spring. Fellow first years Steve Giannone and Max Pomper also lookedstrong coming out of the midfield.

Along with the first years, the upperclassmen have clearly worked hard inthis offseason. As with any team, seniors are critical in setting the tonefor the rest of the team. According to Starsia, “this group is of thecaliber and has the temperament to take us to our final goal”. With nineseniors and two players in their fifth year, the Virginia team has strongsenior leadership. Patrick Buchanan, Matt Paquet, Matt Poskay, JaredLittle, Kyle Dixon, Chris Ourisman, Doug Brody and Charlie Glazer have ledby example this fall, consistently pushing themselves harder and farthereveryday. In addition to these seniors, the leadership of newly electedcaptains Michael Culver, Matt Ward and J.J. Morrissey has been outstanding.

Virginia finishes fall lacrosse Friday night with a match-up againstWashington & Lee in Lexington.

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