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For the first time all season the Cavaliers are having to with rebounding after a loss. While they would certainly rather be preparing for a game with a 13-0 record, such is not the case as Dom Starsia’s squad prepares for Saturday’s match-up against Dartmouth.
“The first couple days of practice this week were a little edgier than they have been,” he said. “If it did serve as little bit of a wake up call and if it helps sharpen our edges a little bit, then in the long run it can be helpful.
“This is the kind of thing in athletics that you can look back on (and ask yourself), did it help you?’ Well, that chapter’s still to be written. I think we’ve got a team that cares a great deal and has put a lot into this. Certainly our body language and our verbal language has been what you had hoped it would be this week coming off the game against Duke.”
This is the third year in a row the Cavaliers have closed the regular season with Dartmouth. The Big Green is 4-8 overall this season but has won two of its last three, including a thrilling 14-13 overtime decision over Yale last Wednesday.
Starsia cautions people to look past Dartmouth’s record. “Their record presently betrays a little bit their talent level and who they are,” he said. “This is a quality team that is particularly talented at the offensive end of the field.”
Virtually every player who contributed on offense last season is back, including the entire starting attack of senior Brian Koch and juniors Ari Sussman and Josh Gillam. Sussman tallied three goals in last season’s meeting between the two schools that saw Virginia eke out an 11-7 win.
Koch, who scored the winning goal in the overtime win over Yale two days ago, leads the way with a team-high 21 goals and 26 total points. Senior Jimmy Mullen leads an experienced midfield group with 15 goals, while shooting .333, an excellent mark for a middie.
One Cavalier has a truly unique perspective to the gamefaceoff specialist Chad Gaudet. He graduated from Dartmouth last spring and is using his final year of eligibility while working towards a master’s degree in the McIntire School of Commerce. Last season he won 11 of 21 draws and scooped up six ground balls against the Cavaliers. This season as the starting faceoff man he has won 56 percent of his attempts and leads the team with 77 ground balls.
He’s familiar with the Big Green and vice versa, but Gaudet has not let that affect his approach to the game.
“From a faceoff perspective, I’ve gone against pretty much everybody on their roster except the freshman (Alex Del Balso) who they’ve used a little bit,” Gaudet said. “Coach (Andy) Towers has taught me pretty much everything I know about facing off, so I think he’s going to have a pretty good plan. I’m going to have to respond and treat it like any other game.”
Starsia emphasizes a philosophy of “no big games” and Gaudet has taken that to heart this week while preparing to face his old teammates. It’s not just facing his old team, it’s also important to get back on the winning track as the team prepares for the postseason he says.
“My approach this week has been to treat it as just another game,” he said. “It’s definitely a big game since we’re coming off a loss for the first time this year. I hope I have been able to prepare the guys but as far as the game is concerned, it’s just the next one…I’ll talk to (my old teammates) after the game.”
Prior to the game the 12 senior players and two senior managers will be recognized for their contributions to the program. The day promises to be nostalgic, but it’s importance isn’t likely to be felt until the coming years as each looks back at the friendships made, the games won, the goals scored.
“The first thing that comes to mind is how crazily fast four years have gone by,” said Danny Glading, one of the Cavaliers making his last regular season appearance at Klckner Stadium. “It’s been over in the blink of an eye and it’s going to make us cherish these last couple weeks together.
“It’s a game we’re all going to cherish, but we’re hoping to have one more home game in the NCAA Tournament.”
While fifth-year player Mike Timms is experiencing his second Senior Day and Gaudet his second after graduating from Dartmouth last year, Starsia is facing his 17th as the Cavaliers’ head coach. While each class is special, he feels a particular bond to this year’s group.
“The wins are fickle at best. You can’t always control them,” he said. “You don’t always get the ones you deserve to get. What stands up over time are the relationships between the participants and the coaches…all these different classes over the years have meant something special, but at the same time some are just a little bit more special than others.
“With this group I’ve come to know Gavin Gill better than most; I’ve come to know Danny Glading better. I got to know Garrett Billings and the process of helping him move across the country and settle in here in Charlottesville in our program. I feel like there’s been a little greater investment here, and in turn an investment by the kids in terms of what we’ve been doing.
“Over these past four years this class has given us all that you would hope for out of a group of young men. We’re going to miss them a great deal, I’m going to miss them a great deal athletically, but on a personality side of it, I’m going to miss not seeing them around on a daily basis.”
Of the business at hand, Starsia is clear in the mission Saturday.
“What’s important for us is to play well,” he said. “That’s clearly been our emphasis during the week. We’re going to have to do that in order to get this one and that’s what we expect of ourselves.”