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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VAAs the undefeated men’s lacrosse team heads into this Saturday’s game at Towson (faceoff at 3:30 p.m.), it would be easy to understand if the players have gotten a bit tired. After all, they are playing their third road game in eight days, a grueling task by any measure. But in the eyes of head coach Dom Starsia this is not the case.
“We have been very alert in practice,” he said, “and continue to be (so). It might be easy to predict that that would happen, but I don’t see it being a factor so far. I’ve got a group that seems to be paying attention and seems to have good energy.
“I like what we have been doing in practice and I feel like we’ll be ready to play on Saturday; we’re going to need to be against a good Towson team.”
The Tigers are just 1-2 this season, highlighted by a 10-9 win over Denver two weeks ago. Towson’s offense is experienced and features six of the top-nine scorers from a year ago in what could be an explosive contest.
“I think they have a lot of different ways they can go on offense,” said Starsia. “They present lots of different looks and things that we need to be prepared for. I think that they are a team that is probably more dangerous in transition, than they are otherwise.
“Watching the game against Maryland (last) weekend I thought they created and capitalized on a bunch of good unsettled opportunities. They are a quick, fast team overall and look to push the ball. You’ve got two teams that might go up and down the field a little bit.”
Senior attackman Jonathan Engelke led Towson with 25 goals last spring and leads again this year with six, including three in the win over Denver. Junior midfielder Randall Cooper has netted four goals, while sophomore attackman Eric Boyle and junior middie Bill McCutcheon have three apiece.
Virginia counters with the nation’s second-ranked offense that averages 15.9 goals per game. Junior attack Danny Glading leads the nation with 33 points (15g, 18a), two more than Garrett Billings (17g, 14a). The recently activated Ben Rubeor has scored nine goals in the last three games and torched the Tiger defense for a career-high seven last year.
The road-warrior Cavaliers have taken a liking to Towson’s Unitas Stadium through the years, winning the five previous contests played there since 2002. Their 2003 and 2006 national championship squads won quarterfinal playoff games there to advance to the final four.
“It’s a great facilitygood locker rooms, good place to park the busall the little things that make the difference in terms of comfort level,” said Starsia of his team’s success there.
The Cavaliers have won seven straight over the Tigers dating back to 2001 and lead the all-time series 10-3.