Starsia Wins 200th Career Game at Virginia

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia won his 200th game at Virginia behind three goals by Steele Stanwick as the No. 3 Cavaliers (1-0) topped the Drexel Dragons (0-1) by a score of 11-8 at Vidas Field on Saturday.

The victory etches Starsia’s name in the history books as the second coach in the history of the sport to win 200-plus games at one school, while also reaching the 100-win plateau at another school. Starsia becomes the first coach to reach the feat at two Division I schools.

Georgetown’s Dave Urick accomplished the feat first, as the Hoyas’ final win of the 2009 season elevated him into the 200/100 club. Urick’s first 122 victories came at Hobart College when he led the school to 10 NCAA Division III titles.

Overall, Starsia’s 301 career wins breaks a tie he shared with former Massachusetts head coach Dick Garber for second most all-time by a coach at a Division I school.

“With all modesty, as I get older I find myself more impressed with the numbers in my life,” said Starsia. “I become more impressed whether it’s years married, games coached or games won because it means I have been doing what I do for awhile and I respect that and I respect the people all around me that have helped me get to where I am today.”

However, Drexel started quickly on the historic day when Colin Ambler put the Dragons on the scoreboard first with his goal at 14:15 in the opening quarter. Virginia eventually knotted the game, 1-1, at the 6:28 mark in the first quarter with Connor English’s (Manhasset, N.Y.) first collegiate goal courtesy of a Colin Briggs (Narragansett, R.I.) assist.

Drexel then scored three straight goals to close out the first quarter, storming out to a 4-1 advantage. Scott Perri scored on an Ambler pass at 5:33, and within nine seconds, Zak Fisher took a break and scored unassisted at 5:24. Dennis Adam scored a man-up goal to cap the scoring streak at 1:06 in the first quarter.

Chris Bocklet’s (South Salem, N.Y.) unassisted goal at the 9:12 mark in the second quarter started a streak for the Cavaliers, which included five straight scores. Brian Carroll (Towson, Md.) took a Steele Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) helper at 7:18 in the second half to cut the Drexel advantage to one goal, 4-3.

Shamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) tied the game with his unassisted goal at 6:20 in the second quarter, while Matt White (Ridgefield, Conn.) tallied his first collegiate score courtesy a Bocklet assist to give the Cavaliers its first lead of the game, 5-4, at the second quarter’s 5:35 mark.

Rhamel Bratton (Huntington Station, N.Y.) scored an unassisted goal on a Cavalier break at 3:28 to finish the scoring streak and give UVa the 6-4 advantage. The Dragons added one more mark, via a Kevin Stockel score with 2:39 left in the first half, sending the Cavaliers into the break with a narrow one-goal lead, 6-5.

Emulating their fast start to the game, the Dragons scored the first two goals in the third period, Ambler’s second of the game, followed by Perri’s second on an assist by Aaron Prosser. The scores gave the lead back to Drexel, 7-6.

Stanwick took the fourth quarter into his hands, scoring back-to-back goals at 14:22 and 12:03 to give UVa an 8-7 advantage, and the Cavaliers would not trail again. Perri scored his third goal with 5:40 left to tie the game at 8 apiece, but Stanwick would secure his third goal at 3:37 to give UVa the lead for good.

Rhamel Bratton added insurance with his second goal at 2:09 on a Bocklet helper. Bocklet tallied his second goal to finish the UVa scoring with 34 seconds left, securing the victory for the Cavaliers.

“I knew we would have our hands full coming on the road to play a good Drexel team and that is the way the game played out,” said Starsia. “I thought we were tentative early on both the offensive and defensive end. Eventually we got to it a little bit – the faceoff guys picked it up in the second half. Steele [Stanwick] came alive in the second half and I thought the defense settle down and did a nice job. We got some stops when we needed them.”

Stanwick led UVa with three goals and two assists for five points. Bocklet added four points on two scores and two assists, while Matt Lovejoy (Orford, N.H.) had a team-high seven groundballs. Ken Clausen (Downingtown, Pa.) returned home and chipped in five ground balls and a game-high five caused turnovers. Adam Ghitelman (Syosset, N.Y.) added eight saves in the cage.

Perri led the Dragons’ attack with three goals, followed by Ambler’s two scores and assist, as both players led Drexel with three points. Dana Wilber added a game-high 10 ground balls. Mark Manos had a game-high 17 saves in goal.

Virginia returns on short rest on Tuesday when the Cavaliers travel to take on Mount St. Mary’s. Faceoff is set for 3 p.m. in Emmitsburg, Md.

Virginia 1-5-0-5-11 record: 1-0
Drexel 4-1-2-1-8 record: 0-1
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Scoring (G-A)- V: Steele Stanwick 3-2, Chris Bocklet 2-2, Rhamel Bratton 2-0, Shamel Bratton 1-0, Connor English 1-0, Brian Carroll 1-0, Matt White 1-0, Colin Briggs 0-1 D: Scott Perri 3-0, Colin Ambler 2-1, Adam Dennis 1-1, Kevin Stockel 1-0, Zak Fisher 1-0, Aaron Prosser 0-1

Goalie Summary-D: Mark Manos 60 mins., 17 saves, 11 goals allowed. V: Adam Ghitelman 60 mins., 8 saves, 8 goals allowed

Shots: V-46, D-30
Ground Balls: V-36, D-23
Clearing: V-21×22, D-17×21
Faceoffs: V-10, D-13
Penalties: V-4-3:30, D-5-5:00
EMO: V-1×5, D-1×4