ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603040079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
THE CAVALIERS FACE top-ranked Syracuse today in their season opener.
Early March is not the best time for college lacrosse showdowns, as Washington and Lee and Roanoke College have learned and Virginia soon may find out.
The Cavaliers, ranked No.2 in most preseason Division I polls, will entertain No.1 Syracuse today at 2 p.m. on the artificial-surface field adjacent to University Hall.
``It was wonderful getting Syracuse on the schedule,'' said UVa coach Dom Starsia, whose Cavaliers met the Orangemen in the regular season for the first time last year. ``I just wish there were a better time to play.''
The weather reports for today were so ominous that Starsia on Thursday was considering several options - switching the game to the Carrier Dome at Syracuse, playing Sunday or not playing at all.
``I'd love to have a big-game environment,'' said Starsia, who said a capacity crowd might turn out in good weather. ``But the closer we get to game time, the more I take the attitude of, `We'll play in a parking lot if we have to.'''
The Cavaliers, looking to avenge a 20-13 loss to the Orangemen in last year's NCAA Tournament semifinals, have added Division III All-American David Curry to an attack that includes Division I All-Americans Michael Watson (second team), Doug Knight (second team) and Tim Whiteley (third team).
``[Curry] contacted us in the summer and said he was interested,'' Starsia said. ``We had a very frank discussion and I told him I wasn't sure it was a good thing. But, he's much better than I anticipated. It's forced us to take a look at some different things.''
Scheduling conflicts have prevented Virginia and Syracuse from playing later in the season, a problem that Washington and Lee and Roanoke faced until this year. The annual showdown for Old Dominion Athletic Conference supremacy will be played April 20 at Roanoke.
``The Roanoke game last year [a 9-8 loss] was a turning point in our season,'' W&L coach Jim Stagnitta said. ``We didn't play poorly. I felt we had a lot of big games left, but it affected us the rest of the year.''
Hampden-Sydney stunned Roanoke last year and received a bid to the NCAA Tournament, but, in most years, the road to the ODAC title runs up and down Interstate 81. The Maroons are ranked No.5 by Face-Off Yearbook, W&L is ninth and Hampden-Sydney is 16th.
Roanoke does not open its season until Wednesday, when the Maroons entertain No.11 Alfred, but W&L already has posted victories over Guilford (17-1) and No.22 Lynchburg (11-5).
Senior attackman Ande Jenkins, W&L's top scorer in 1995, already has scored 10 goals. The Generals also got off to a fast start last year, when they won their first five games but slumped to their second straight 9-5 finish and third in the last four years.
Roanoke must replace its leading scorer, All-America midfielder J.J. Blatt, who had 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists) as a senior. Also, midfielder Dan Keating transferred to Duke after a freshman year in which he had 21 goals.
Junior attackman Jeff Jones had 37 goals last season and ``probably has the hardest shot in Division III,'' according to coach Bill Pilat. The Maroons will be looking for their first NCAA bid in four years after going 12-3 last year.
``We could be No.2 in the country and I'd still be sweating out the bid,'' Pilat said.
VMI has the nucleus back from its first winning season (9-5) in three years. Attackmen Rob Worrell and Joe Brockman each scored more than 30 goals, as did midfielder John Ripley, and Worrell finished sixth in Division I in points.
Radford lost its last 10 games, but second-year coach Chris Swanenburg said it ``will be an absolute shock'' if the Highlanders (2-11) aren't improved. Their last three losses, with a team whose top five scorers were either freshmen or sophomores, were by a combined seven goals.
Virginia Tech, which has fielded a club team for more than 15 years, defeated the Highlanders 10-8.
Some of the best women's lacrosse is played in Virginia, much of it by schools without men's lacrosse programs (James Madison, William and Mary and Old Dominion). All finished in the top 10 last year, while Virginia was No.11.
The Cavaliers won the Division I championship in 1993 under Jane Miller, who resigned in the fall to concentrate on her administrative duties. Another program in transition is Virginia Tech, which has added 12 freshmen to a team that was 2-7 in its first season.
Roanoke College, tied with Washington and Lee in the regular season, defeated the Generals 12-7 in the tournament final. The Maroons must replace ODAC player of the year Kathleen Ostar in goal, but welcome back leading scorer Lisa Franzino and Kirsten Wagner, an All-ODAC choice on attack.
Washington and Lee junior Brooke Glenn is the heir to Ostar as the ODAC's top goalie, but gone are two players who scored 112 goals apiece in their college careers, Nicole Ripken and Lindsay Coleman.
Hollins, which lost three overtime games last year, is rebuilding after an 0-7 conference season in 1995.
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