Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504100051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
It has not been the Cavaliers' pattern to breeze past anybody, which left coach Dom Starsia both thankful and perplexed after a 15-12 UVa victory.
``I'm at a loss to explain why we seem to have trouble catching and throwing for long periods of the game,'' Starsia said. ``After what we've been through, that kind of stuff catches you a little bit by surprise.''
With one exception, all the Cavaliers do is keep winning. Second-ranked UVa (8-1 overall, 2-0 ACC) now owns victories over teams ranked No. 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12 in the Division I poll.
``If somebody had told me before the season that we had a chance to be [8-1], I would have accepted that,'' Starsia said. ``Not that it makes us feel any less crummy after losing to [Johns] Hopkins.''
Virginia, an overtime loser to Princeton in last year's national championship game, was ranked No.1 this year before then-No. 2 Hopkins trounced the Cavaliers 22-13 in Baltimore.
``We weren't as far off the mark as the final score indicated,'' Starsia said. ``That was Georgetown-Villanova in the NCAA [basketball] finals [in 1985]. It was just Hopkins' day.''
Nevertheless, Starsia concedes that the Cavaliers haven't been as sharp in the two weeks since the Hopkins game. Last week, UVa trailed virtually the whole way before beating Maryland 12-11.
The Cavaliers jumped to a 3-0 lead Saturday, but seventh-ranked Carolina (5-5, 1-2) closed to 6-4 at the half and took the lead, 11-10, on a goal by Ousmane Greene with 10:54 remaining in the game.
``There wasn't a minute all day when I wasn't worried,'' Starsia said. ``I went into the locker room at the half and said, `I want to scream at you and tell you to relax at the same time.'
``I'm appreciative of what a win over Carolina means, [but] we are courting with disaster if we're going to do that game in and game out. It seems like we need a little bit of a wake-up call to get going.''
Virginia tied the game with 9:50 left on a goal by sophomore Doug Knight and took the lead for good, 12-11, when senior Harmar Thompson scored the second of four consecutive UVa goals with 8:44 remaining.
Carolina outshot the Cavaliers 53-41, but Virginia junior Court Durling came up with 23 saves, the most by a Virginia goalie since 1988 - a span of 92 games.
``I hope I never see them again,'' said North Carolina coach Dave Klarmann, whose Tar Heels beat UVa 15-7 in last year's ACC championship game on the same field. ``They're good at finishing and we're not.
``Virginia has so much firepower, they're [the Cavaliers] going to get nine or 10 goals even if you're playing great. They probably feel they should have had more than 15.''
Knight's four goals, all in the second half, gave him 32 for the season. With at least five games to play, the first-year starter is well within reach of Kevin Pehlke's school record of 44.
``We're better on offense because Doug Knight is on the field,'' Starsia said. ``It means we can attack teams from all over. We couldn't do that last year. We're more unpredictable.''
Still, there are the lapses. Virginia is on the verge of clinching the top-four seed that would keep the Cavaliers at home until the final four, but Starsia continues to worry.
``I don't want us to take for granted that, all of a sudden, it's going to be playoff time and we'll be playing better,'' he said. ``We've got a lot of ground to cover if we're going to catch Hopkins.''
by CNB