Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 28, 1995 TAG: 9505300089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Medium
The Cavaliers, convincing winners over Syracuse in the second week of the regular-season, were victimized by the Orangemen in the NCAA men's lacrosse semifinals.
``It's been a bit of a bumpy ride,'' UVa coach Dom Starsia said after a 20-13 loss Saturday at Byrd Stadium, ``but I'll leave it to others whether we should be judged harshly or not.
``Roy [Simmons, the Syracuse coach] came up to me after the game and thanked me for the lessons that we taught them in March. I'm sorry it worked out that way.''
A 15-7 loss to Virginia on March 14, coupled with a 15-14 overtime setback to the Cavaliers in last year's semifinals, was all the motivation the Orangemen needed Saturday.
``I have to give Virginia a lot of credit for waking us up,`` Simmons said. ``If somebody had asked me about our team in March, I would have said we were fairly mediocre then but had great potential.''
Syracuse, which dropped to 2-2 following an overtime loss to Johns Hopkins, has won its past 10 games and will be going for its fifth men's lacrosse championship since 1988 when it meets Maryland on Monday at 11 a.m.
Third-seeded Maryland (11-3) set the tone in Saturday's first semifinal with a 16-8 rout of previously undefeated and No.1-ranked Johns Hopkins.
A sellout crowd of 30,327 watched Terrapins' goalie Brian Dougherty record 23 saves, including 12 in the first quarter, when the Blue Jays scored once on 19 shots.
``I've been doing this for a while and I've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows,'' Maryland coach Dick Edell said, ``but it's been a long time since I've seen this kind of performance out of a lacrosse team.''
Second-seeded Syracuse (12-2) didn't get spectacular goaltending out of senior Alex Rosier, but the Orangemen clearly had the edge in the nets. UVa's Court Durling had fewer saves (16) than goals allowed for the second game in a row.
``I don't think it was decided in goal,'' Starsia said. ``He didn't help us enough today, but I don't want to put the whole thing on his shoulders. Our [midfielders] didn't help us enough either.''
Faceoffs proved critical, especially after second-seeded Virginia (12-3) scored the first goal of the second half to close to 8-7. Syracuse junior Toby Price won the next five draws.
Price, handling the bulk of the faceoff work after regular Dave Signor broke his hand in the second quarter, also won five straight faceoffs following a Virginia goal that made it 14-11 in the fourth quarter.
``Every time they scored, we got together and told ourselves, `Let's not do like last year,''' Syracuse defenseman Ric Beardsley said. ``Geez, we were riding high, we relaxed and it came back to haunt us in the end.''
Virginia overcame a 12-7 fourth-quarter deficit to win last year's NCAA semifinal, but there was no comeback Saturday. The Orangemen, up 13-10 after three quarters, led 20-12 before UVa's Michael Watson scored at the buzzer.
Watson finished with three goals and two assists, but Syracuse shut down the rest of the Cavaliers' vaunted attack. Doug Knight, who entered the game with a school-record 51 goals, had a goal with 9:37 left in the first quarter and did not score again.
Much of Knight's early success came when he drew the opposition's No.3 defenseman. On Saturday, the Orangemen decided to shift Beardsley, who previously had checked Watson, to Knight.
``I was a little surprised to see that,'' Starsia said. ``In the end, I'm not sure it made a lot of difference, but it may have dissuaded Doug, who is still a little bit of a neophyte, from dodging some more.''
Virginia directed much of its defensive attention toward All-American midfielder Roy Colzie, who seemed content to be a decoy for most of the afternoon.
Nick Licamelli, a fifth-year senior who was cut from the team as a freshman and did not dress for the playoffs as a sophomore, had a game-high four goals for the Orangemen. Casey Powell and Rob Kavovit each had three goals and four assists.
``Syracuse made the team sacrifices I haven't seen it make in a long time,'' Starsia said. ``This may not be Syracuse's best team, but it's the best I've seen Syracuse play in a long time.''
by CNB