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Over the last half-decade or so, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team has accomplished some remarkable featsan undefeated national championship, two other trips to Memorial Day weekend, an ACC title, several No. 1 rankings in the polls. One thing the Cavaliers have not accomplished has been to defeat Dukethis weekend’s opponent. The Cavaliers have dropped five in a row to the Blue Devils dating back to 2005. No current player on the Virginia roster has ever come out victorious in this match-up. The string of losses has certainly made it easier on head coach Dom Starsia to get his team ready for the clash with the nation’s eighth-ranked squad.
“There are particular instances like this one where I don’t have to come up with any artificial motivational techniques in order to get them to pay attention,” he said. “I can usually tell early in the week whether or not they’re paying close attention to what’s going on and I have sensed that this week. So even though it’s late in season and we’ve played a lot of lacrosse, we’ve been in a lot of big moments, you feel like this game has got their attention.”
Last season’s regular-season game has certainly gotten the Cavaliers’ attention. In that game they fought back to tie the score at nine only to see the Blue Devils rattle off the game’s final 10 goals and post a convincing 19-9 win.
“This one’s kind of circled on my calendar, definitely,” said midfielder Shamel Bratton, “because last year that was just kind of the biggest butt whipping I’ve ever taken, losing by 10 goals. I am really going to come out hard against these guys.”
Virginia has had three thrilling 1-goal games in a row, while the 8-3 Blue Devils had a bye last week. But Starsia would not be surprised to see another close affair.
“I don’t see either team burying the other team so to speak,” he said. “I think we’ve got two talented lacrosse teams and there’s going to be a lot of enthusiasm on both sides. I think it promises to be a hard fought, close game. We’re probably more familiar with the Duke program than any other over the last 3-4 years.”
Starsia sees the Blue Devils as more balanced on both ends of the field when compared to his team’s last two opponentsMaryland and North Carolina.
“They’re the best athletic team on defense that we’ve seen in some time,” he said. “On the offensive end … they have some very talented guys.”
At the defensive end, Duke has been outstanding allowing just 7.30 goals per game in the last seven contests. Senior goalie Rob Schroeder allows an average of 7.75 goals per game and has a .485 save percentage. Providing the last line of defense in front of Schroeder is a trio of experienced defensemensenior Ryan McFadyen, junior Parker McKee and sophomore Mike Manley, the ACC’s Rookie of the Year last season.
While the offense isn’t as potent as the previous few years that featured Matt Danowski and Zack Greer, the Blue Devils can still score goals. Senior attackman Ned Crotty is the quarterback of the offense and leads the nation with 30 assists; he has scored 11 goals. Max Quinzani has found the back of the net 29 times after scoring 61 goals last season. The midfield of Brad Ross, Steve Schoeffel and Justin Turri has combined to score 35 goals and add 16 assists.
“They contest everything, especially in the middle of the field,” said senior attackman Danny Glading about Duke this week. “Every ground ball in the middle of the field is going to be a battle. When you think you’ve got the ball cleared, they come up your back with two or three poles. They’re a really aggressive team that gets out and rides really hard the whole day. It’s going to be a challenge for us. We’ve got to be willing to take the extra step on our exchanges and working hard all over the place.”
While the Cavaliers are aware of their lack of success in recent years, they have been focused throughout the week to the task at hand.
“We’ve had a great week work wise (in practice),” said midfielder Max Pomper. “I think there’s been a great sense of urgency every time we step on the practice field or go in the weight room or the film room. We want this one real badly.”
With his years of coaching experience, Starsia knows that the past is no indication of the future.
I don’t think one way or the other, it guarantees the result of what’s going to happen on Saturday,” he said. “We’ve got two good teams and the team that makes the plays is going to win. At some point we’re going to beat Duke again and hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.”