May 17, 2002

Charlottesville, Va. -

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals

May 19, 2002
Schedule of Games:
Game 1-Johns Hopkins vs. Massachusetts at noon
Game 2-Virginia vs. Cornell 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game
Homewood Field on the campus of Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Md.

Ticket information: Tickets for Sunday's game are $ 12 for adults and $ 10 for student from the participating institutions and for children 12 & under.

The Series vs. the Cornell Big Red
Virginia holds a slim 3-2 advantage in the all-time series vs. Cornell. The two teams met for the first time during the 1971 regular season with the Cavaliers winning 10-9 at home.

All the other match-ups have occurred in the NCAA Tournament (1974, '79, '80,' 88). The first three playoff games were in the quarterfinals, while the 1988 game was a semifinal battle.

Virginia won consecutive games in the 1979-80 national playoffs, while Cornell won the 1974 meeting in Ithaca, as well as the most recent meeting in 1988. Cornell's 17-6 win in the semifinals of the 1988 NCAA Tournament stood as its most recent tourney win until last weekend's first round win over Stony Brook.

One of the characteristics of the series between the two schools seems to be there is no middle ground-the games are either extremely tight or routs.

Two of Virginia's three wins have been by one goal (including Randy Natoli's extra-man goal 47 seconds into overtime for a 9-8 win in 1980), while both of Cornell's victories have been by at least seven goals. The Cavaliers' other win was by seven goals.

Cornell's 17-6 win in the 1988 national semifinals in the most recent game represents Virginia's largest loss in NCAA Tournament play. It is also Virginia's only loss by more than 10 goals since 1974.

Virginia in the NCAAs
This is Virginia's 26th NCAA Tournament appearance. Only Johns Hopkins has been to the tournament (31 times) more than the Cavaliers. Maryland is third with 25 appearances.

The Cavaliers have a 26-23 all-time playoff record and are fourth in tournament wins behind Johns Hopkins (46), Syracuse (39) and Maryland (32).

Wahoos Make 10th Consecutive NCAA Appearance
This is Virginia's 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the longest streak in school history. Previously, Virginia made nine straight trips to the NCAAs under head coach Jim Adams from 1978-86.

Virginia's 10-year run is the fourth-longest current streak in the nation. Schools with longer streaks are Johns Hopkins (31), Syracuse (20), and Princeton (13).

Cavaliers Enter Tournament as the Third Seed
Virginia is seeded third in this year's NCAA Tournament, the same seed the Cavaliers had in 1999 when they won the national championship.

The last time the Cavaliers were seeded higher occurred two years ago when they were the second seed.

Being the tournament's third seed has been good for Virginia the last decade and a half or so. The Wahoos were the third seed in both 1986 and 1996 and advanced to the championship game. (Unfortunately they lost both times in overtime.)

The first two times UVa was the third seed weren't as good. The Cavaliers lost in the semifinals as the third seed in 1982 and fell in the quarters the following year.

The Cavaliers have had remarkable success as the higher seed in the tournament, posting a 20-9 record. Under head coach Dom Starsia, Virginia is 9-4 as the higher seed.

Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 12 teams in 1987, the #3 seed is 11-4 in the quarterfinals, including a 9-2 mark against the sixth seed. The #3 seed has advanced to the championship game eight times and won five titles (including Virginia's championship in '99).

Cavaliers Receive First Round Bye
This is the sixth time in 10 tournament appearances (and third time in last four years) under head coach Dom Starsia Virginia has received a first round bye in the NCAA Tournament.

Byes have been good to the Cavaliers under Starsia. They have posted a 4-1 record in the quarterfinals after receiving the bye.

In addition, four of Virginia's five semifinal appearances under Starsia have come in years when the Cavaliers received a bye ('95, '96, '99, '00).

Virginia at Homewood Field
This is the second time in three years Virginia has made a quarterfinal appearance at historic Homewood Field and the fourth year in a row the Cavaliers have played at least one game there. Overall the Cavaliers have won four of their last five games at Homewood, including a dramatic 9-8 quadruple overtime win over Johns Hopkins last season.

Virginia gained a 10-9 win over Duke in the 2000 quarterfinals and defeated Harvard in the quarterfinals of the 1996 playoffs. The Cavaliers' last loss at Homewood was a 16-15 defeat to Johns Hopkins in 1999. They also defeated Johns Hopkins during the 1997 regular season.

Starsia is No Stranger to Cornell
Virginia head coach Dom Starsia is familiar with the tradition and success of the Cornell program throughout the last 30 years. As a player at Brown from 1971-74 and later a coach there from 1983-92, he went up against the Big Red on an annual basis.

As a player on the Brown varsity from 1972-74, the Bears won once and lost twice to Cornell. Starsia led Brown to five wins against Cornell in 10 games as head coach at his alma mater.