Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 28, 1994 TAG: 9405280040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dom Starsia used to feel the same way - before he became the Cavaliers' coach.
"The rap against Virginia has always been, `All talent, no action,' " Starsia said. "It's what my colleagues said; it's what I said. But, in the two years that I've been here, we have not underachieved."
From Starsia's perspective, fifth-seeded Virginia (12-3) will have to overachieve if the Cavaliers are to defeat No. 1 Syracuse (13-1) at noon today at Byrd Stadium at the University of Maryland.
The second semifinal, starting 45 minutes after the end of the first game, will match seventh-seeded Brown (13-4) against third-seeded Princeton (12-1). Many of the Brown players were recruited by Starsia, a former Bruins player and head coach for 10 years, 1983-92.
"It's amazing we're here together," said Peter Lasagna, the ex-Brown assistant who succeeded Starsia as head coach. "He taught me pretty much everything I know. It's a little bit of a Frankenstein and son-of-Frankenstein thing."
It will take a pair of upsets for the mentor and disciple to meet in the championship game, scheduled for noon Monday. Salisbury State (15-0) will meet Hobart (12-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Division III championship game.
Hobart, which will move to Division I for the 1995 season, won the first 12 Division III championships and has a 42-1 record in the tournament.
In a sport that basically is limited to the Northeast and Middle Atlantic and in which there are few changes among the national contenders, it is remarkable that Virginia and Syracuse will be meeting for only the fourth time - and second since 1950.
"We've had a couple of conversations," said Starsia, who had begun a series with the Orangemen by the end of his Brown tenure. "We've just had a hard time finding a date that is agreeable for both teams.
"Our players like the [Carrier] dome and I'll give Simmons credit. He doesn't mind coming to your place. Some of the big boys like Johns Hopkins will play you at their place but they aren't looking to start a series that will send them on the road."
Syracuse has won five Division I tournaments, including three in a row from 1988-90, and has reached the championship game on three other occasions. Virginia won its only championship in 1972 and made the championship game only one other time, in 1986.
"They are the envy of all lacrosse programs in the country," said Simmmons in reference to the Cavaliers. "They have a glut of talent; my top recruit last year - I can see his house from my house - went to Virginia."
He was referring to UVa defenseman Tommy Smith from Fayetteville-Manlius High outside Syracuse. However, Smith's family originally was from Virginia.
"Virginia is a good school, it's in a beautiful area and, if you're on the outside, you think it's almost too easy to recruit here," Starsia said. "Virginia has not won a national championship since 1972, however, and it probably should have. That's something we run up against in recruiting - the knock that Virginia can't get it done. We're trying to change that image."
Starsia has emphasized an up-tempo style, but the Cavaliers won't necessarily be the quicker of the teams on the field today, much less the quickest team in the country.
"We have some kids in the midfield who can move," said Starsia, whose team did not fare well against Syracuse in a fall scrimmage, "but we don't have any first-team All-Americans. Syracuse has three kids who would be the best middie on our team."
He wasn't exaggerating. Roy Colsey and Dom Fin were first-team All-Americans last year and Charlie Lockwood was a second-team selection. All will be in the lineup today.
Although North Carolina coach Dave Klarmann cited Virginia's experience after the Cavaliers' 12-10 victory at UNC in the quarterfinals, Starsia feels that most of his best players are underclassmen.
"My Brown teams the last couple of years were probably better, talent-wise, than what was here at Virginia," Starsia said. "They weren't known for their discipline, but in 20 years I've never had a team work harder or do more of what I asked."
by CNB