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National Champions: UVa Rolls Over UMass

By Kris Wright

Editor, TheSabre.com

May 29, 2006

Michael Culver and J.J. Morrissey hoist the National Championship trophy.
PHILADELPHIA - Unbeaten, untied, and virtually untested, the Virginia men's lacrosse team wrapped up a storybook season Monday with a convincing 15-7 victory over Massachusetts in the NCAA Championship. It proved to be the sweet conclusion to a magical season as the Cavaliers finished the season a perfect 17-0, winning every game in the NCAA Tournament by at least four goals.

While the debates of where this team fits into the history of lacrosse and Virginia athletics will surely continue for quite some time, the Cavs left little doubt who was the best team of 2006. UVa emerged from a season tinged with the Duke controversy as a team of destiny - a group of unselfish and dedicated players committed to working hard, sharing the experience, and aiming for the highest goal possible. In the end, their bond proved too strong to derail as they steamrolled to championship glory.

“It's a little overwhelming to hear some of those statistics about our team. I don't think I was making it up as I said to you over the last few weeks that the whole thing kind of snuck up on us a little bit,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “For us to come into the tournament and win out sort of the way we were expected to, it's a very special moment for our program and all the young men involved with Virginia lacrosse.”

The final leg of the season-long journey provided one last test of character for the Cavaliers as the Minutemen battled with great determination and palpable pride. In fact, early in the third quarter, UVa found itself in a tie game for the first time in a second half this postseason. Just as they had every time out, however, the Hoos responded. Once again, they found a little something extra, a little more energy, and somehow an even higher level of focus.

Kyle Dixon

Matt Poskay
In fact, after the scoreboard flashed 5-5, Virginia took over the contest and essentially dominated every phase of the game for the final 27 minutes. It was a blend of face-off fortitude, defensive dissection, and offensive fury. The Cavs allowed just two more goals the rest of the way while pouring it on in their offensive end, scoring 10 goals before slowing things down in a sportsman-like manner in the final minutes.

A third-quarter run triggered it all as the senior leadership of the Cavaliers took over the game. Matt Ward started an offensive barrage with a goal that Kyle Dixon and Matt Poskay followed with four alternating goals between them. That ballooned the lead to 10-6 and the Cavs never looked back.

“We just got a little smarter shooting it I thought in the third quarter,” Starsia said. “The big boys - Dixon, Poskay, Ward, all those guys that need to - stepped up and made plays in the third quarter when it had to happen and that's what pulled it together for us.”

“I think it was kind of an unspoken bond between the senior kids where we just had the confidence to look each other in the eyes when a team was making a run on us and knowing that we needed to stop that and go on a run of our own,” Ward said. “I think that was kind of a characteristic of this team all year. Whenever teams started to make runs on us, we calmed the storm and went on our own run and that kind of takes the wind out of any team's sails.”

The break-through offensively came with patience as UMass goalkeeper Doc Schneider had stymied the Hoos for most of the first half. Schneider saved 9 shots before intermission and he was just as effective in the third quarter with 6 more saves, but the Cavaliers peppered the freshman with more and more shots from clearer and clearer spaces.

The openings came courtesy of a more focused and deliberate attack by the Cavs.

Matt Ward set an NCAA Tournament record with 16 goals in the event.
“I just think we were taking some bad shots in the first half. We were just getting rushed, coming down the field and letting them go against a good goalie that's had a great playoffs,” Dixon said. “We came in at halftime and said we have to play our game as usual and settle down. I talked to [coach Marc Van Arsdale] after the game and he said every time we got into our set and got focused on what we had to do in our offensive rotation, we either got a shot on the crease or a step down or those through balls.”

Starsia said the second-half leadership by the team's big guns was not only the key to Monday's success, but to the season as a whole.

“Those guys stepped up when we had to and that's what leadership is all about,” he said. “When the game is going to be decided, the key guys are in the middle of the battle and we had some good guys that were there for us.”


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