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March 16, 2007
Charlottesville, Va. –
March 16, 2007
Charlottesville, Va. –
Watch the Webcast on ACCSelect
Game 7
No. 6 Virginia (5-1) vs. No. 16 Towson (2-1)
March 17, 2007 1 pm
Klöckner Stadium Charlottesville, Va.
Game Overview
The sixth-ranked Cavaliers conclude a four-game homestand Saturday afternoon against No. 16 Towson at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. The game is being broadast on WINA AM 1070. It is also available via the ACC Select webcast.
Virginia enters the game riding a five-game winning streak, in which the Cavaliers are averaging 15.2 goals per game. The Cavaliers lead the nation in offense with an average of 14.33 goals per game and rank fifth in defense, giving up an average of 6.33 goals per game.
Two of Towson’s three games have been close contests. The Tigers opened the season with a 9-8 win over crosstown rival Loyola and followed that with a 14-7 win over Malloy. They dropped their first game of the season last weekend to Maryland by the score of 8-7 and enter this contest with a 2-1 record.
Broadcast Information:
Radio: WINA AM 1070 in Charlottesville is providing live play-by-play coverage of this game. Jed Williams calls all the action. He is joined by Doug Tarring, a member of UVa’s 1972 national championship team.
The Series vs. the Tigers
Virginia leads the all-time series by a 9-3 margin and has won the last six match-ups. The schools met on an annual basis from 1972-77, but did not meet again until the 1991 NCAA Tournament, a game Towson won 14-13 in Charlottesville.
A 10-year gap followed before the series resumed in 2001 with a 12-8 Cavalier victory. The four-goal margin in that game proved to be the biggest defeat the Tigers suffered that season when they advanced to the final four.
Virginia’s 14-3 win two years ago in the most recent meeting in Charlottesville stands as the largest margin of victory in the series. UVa’s average victory margin during its current six-game winning streak is 6.0 goals.
Two of Towson’s three victories have been by one-goal (1977, `91). The Tigers’ three wins have been by an average of 2.0 goals.
Holding the Lead
During Virginia’s current six-game winning streak over Towson, the Cavaliers have outscored the Tigers 72-36. They have scored at least nine goals in all six, while never giving up more than eight.
One of the characteristics of UVa’s winning streak has been an ability to get and maintain a lead. In the last six meetings Towson has only had two leads (2002, 2004).
The Tigers have also had the added whammy of long scoring droughts. In the last five meetings they have had 13 scoring droughts of 10+ minutes (ranging from 10:00 to 28:08).
Last year the Cavaliers waited 1:55 before scoring the first goal and led the rest of the way.
Towson’s lead of 33:29 in the game three years ago is by far its longest lead time in the last six games.
Virginia’s six-game winning streak broken down by time of lead is listed below.
Time Percent of Total
Towson lead 34:35 (9.6%)
Tie score 63:08 (17.5%)
UVa lead 62:47 (72.9%)
total 300:30 100%
Rubeor Leads Nation in Scoring, Goals
Junior attackman Ben Rubeor is tearing it up during the first month of the season. He opened the year with a 4-goal, 4-assist performance against Drexel and hasn’t slowed since.
He has scored at least one goal in every game this season, to run his streak to nine games in a row with at least one. In addition, he has tallied three goals in four games, including a career-high five in the win over VMI.
Not only has he been scoring goals at a high rate, he has been his teammates score at a nearly similar pace. He has had an assist in five of six games so far this spring with a high of four vs. Drexel.
Rubeor leads the nation with 31 points (19g, 12), five more than Duke’s Zack Greer.
He also sits atop the goals scored list with 19, two more than Hobart’s Daryl Veltman.
Rubeor’s 12 assists are tied with Matt Lalli of Colgate for fourth nationally.
Rubeor and Greer are the only players in the country to rank in the top 10 in both goals and assists.
For his career, Rubeor has registered at least one point by goal or assist in his last 24 games and 33 of 36 in his career.
Fassnacht Dominates Faceoff Circle Lately
Faceoff man Adam Fassnacht has been one of UVa’s biggest contributors during the team’s recent winning streak the last few weeks.
After a couple rocky outings early in the season, he has picked up the level of his play beginning with a tremendous performance against Syracuse in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic two weeks ago.
He came into the game winning only 36 percent of his attempts and was matched up against Jon Jerome, winner of two-thirds of his draws this year.
Playing on a big stage at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium brought out the best in the Cavalier senior.
He won a career-high 12 draws in 16 attempts for a .667 winning percentage (also a career high at the time) and also scooped up a team-leading six ground balls.
Fassnacht so dominated Jerome, SU switched players in the second quarter but to no avail. Jerome lost six of nine to Fassnacht and his replacement was no better.
Fassnacht’s ability to gain possession enabled the Cavaliers from having to suffer through a famous Syracuse run. Their longest run was four goals in the first quarter and Syracuse scored only two goals in the final 45 minutes.
He won all seven faceoffs in a wild first quarter that saw his team fall behind 6-5 as the Cavaliers withstood the run before regrouping in the second quarter.
Fassnacht helped the Cavaliers set the early tone in last week’s win over VMI. He scooped the opening faceoff, dashed down field and found open on the left side for a goal just six seconds in. Virginia scored 11 goals in the firsr quarter and rolled to a 20-0 win. Fassnacht won eight of nine draws before giving way to several younger players.
Against Princeton a week ago, he took nine of 12 faceoffs to help gain possession for the Cavaliers in a game played at a close-to-the-vest pace. Virginia prevailed 7-6 on Ben Rubeor’s goal in the final 30 seconds.
In the last four games Fassnacht has won 34 of 49 faceoffs (.694) and leads the ACC in winning percentage at .553. He is also fourth in the league in ground balls, averaging 4.2 per game.
Green Grass of Klöckner Bodes Well
After losing their home opener to Drexel last month at the UHall Turf Field and having their 19-game home winning streak snapped, the Cavaliers have returned to Klöckner Stadium.
Virginia is riding a 19-game winning streak at Klöckner Stadium dating back to the 2004 season. The Cavaliers have been 7-0 at Klöckner the last two years, their best record ever there.
Overall Virginia is 68-12 (.850) at Klöckner since moving there in 1993.
Getting the Lead, Holding the Lead
One of the Cavaliers’ most notable characteristics last season was an ability to score early, get the lead and retain the lead.
Virginia scored first 13 times last season, including nine of the last 10 games. The Cavaliers led the nation with 81 first quarter goals (while giving up only 31).
Over the season’s final 10 games, the only time the Cavaliers trailed was a two-minute, 46-second span to Syracuse in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament after the Orange grabbed an early 1-0 lead.
Overall last season, the Cavaliers led a remarkable 86.1 percent of the time and either led or were tied for 95.1 percent of the time. Putting it the other way, Virginia trailed less than five percent of the time all season (4.9%).
This season, the story has been much the same. The Cavaliers have trailed for only 41:01 all season, just 14.8 percent.
Virginia has led for nearly 74 percent of the time this season, while being tied for less than 12 percent of the time.
The chart below shows a game-by-game breakdown of Virginia’s lead time this season.
UVa led
UVa Tied Opp. for last ...
Drexel 52:52 7:05 0:03 --
Stony Brook 51:12 8:05 0:43 50:19
Syracuse 28:20 14:10 17:30 18:11
VMI 59:54 0:06 0 59:54
Princeton 16:29 20:46 22:45 0:25.4
Mount St. Mary's 56:56 3:04 0 56:56
Total 265:43 53:16 41:01
Avg./g 44:17 8:53 6:50