May 20, 2005

Charlottesville, Va. -

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Game 14
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
#6 Virginia (fourth seed) vs. #3 Navy (fifth seed)
May 21, 2005 ** 3 pm
Homewood Field ** Baltimore, Md.

Game Overview
Virginia faces Navy in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals Saturday at 3 pm at Homewood Field in Baltimore. The Cavaliers are coming off a 23-9 win over Albany in the first round. They missed the playoffs last season, but look to advance to the national semifinals for the third time in the last four seasons. This is the Cavaliers' 25th appearance all-time in the quarters.

The Cavaliers have won their last three quarterfinal games at Homewood: 1996--23-12 over Harvard, 2000--10-9 over Duke, and 2002--11-10 over Cornell. Virginia is the tournament's fourth seed with a 10-3 record, while Navy is 12-3 and seeded fifth.

The Midshipmen captured the Patriot League crown with a 15-8 win over Army three weeks ago. This is the second week in a row Virginia has played a league champion in the NCAA Tournament.

Navy lost to Syracuse 14-13 in last year's national championship contest and is making its 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance, including its 18th in the quarterfinals.

This game has turned into somewhat of a family affair. Navy midfielder Graham Gill is the nephew of UVa head coach Dom Starsia. Starsia's older sister, Christy, is Gill's mother. Gill was a soccer player in high school, but his school did not have a lacrosse team so he played club ball and was recommended to the Navy staff by Starsia.

The Series vs. the Midshipmen
The two schools have a long-standing rivalry that stretches back to the early history of both programs. Virginia has won the last five meetings, but Navy holds a 31-17 all-time lead.

Navy's 12-game winning streak from 1959-70 remains the longest winning streak against Virginia all-time.

The teams met annually from 1952-95, but haven't played since. Despite not playing in 10 years, the teams have a familiarity with each other since they typically scrimmage in the fall and spring each year.

This is the third time the teams have met in the NCAA Tournament and the first since 1986 when Virginia gained a 12-9 quarterfinal win in Charlottesville. Navy won the first meeting 9-6 in the 1971 quarters in Charlottesville in the very first NCAA Tournament game for both teams.

Five More Wins Than Last Year
Virginia has rebounded from last year's disappointing 5-8 record, doubling the number of wins on the way to a 10-3 mark this spring.

The Cavaliers are one of 22 teams to win more games this year than last and their five-game improvement is tied for the fifth-best this season.

The five-win improvement is also tied for the best improvement in program history. Both the 1967 (7 wins) and 1999 (13) squads improved by five wins from the year before.

Not surprisingly, Duke is the nation's most improved team, winning 10 more games than last year.

Virginia at Homewood Field
This is the third time in six seasons Virginia has made a quarterfinal appearance at historic Homewood Field and the sixth year in the last seven the Cavaliers have played at least one game there.

The Cavaliers have dropped their last two games at Homewood (to Johns Hopkins in 2003 and this year), but have won five of their last eight games at Homewood against all competition.

A nailbiter is pretty much guaranteed when the Cavaliers play on Johns Hopkins' home field. Their last six games have been decided by one or two goals, including five straight one-goal games from 1999-2003.

This is Virginia's 11th playoff game at Homewood (seven have been against Hopkins), including the fifth quarterfinal match-up. UVa dropped the first five NCAA tourney games at Homewood (all to Hopkins), but has rebounded to win four of five, including three in a row. The Cavaliers have won their last three quarterfinal games at Homewood (1996-2000-02). The last two NCAA wins at Homewood have been by one goal.

Six to Graduate Sunday
Lacrosse players come to Virginia with two primary goals in mind--to graduate from UVa and win national championships. This weekend the march toward both takes place.

On the field, the Cavaliers' quest for a title continues Saturday vs. Navy, with the university's graduation taking place the following day.

In years past, the lacrosse team frequently found itself playing during final exercises, but this year's seniors can "walk the Lawn" with their classmates before a crowd expected to exceed 30,000.

Six Cavaliers are expected to receive their degrees Sunday--A John Christmas (sociology), M Jack deVilliers (sociology), A Brendan Gill (English), M Hunter Kass (sociology), M Jared Little (religious studies) and A Joe Yevoli (sociology). Little and Yevoli have a year of eligibility remaining and are expected to return next season.

First Midfield Erupts vs. Albany
The first midfield unit of Kyle Dixon, Matt Poskay and Drew Thompson is in its second year of playing together. They have had their ups and downs this season, but have picked up their performance recently as the team continues its run for a national championship.

Last week's first round game vs. Albany was delayed 45 minutes due to a thunderstorm, but once play began the fireworks were restricted to the field. Virginia banged in seven goals in the first quarter and eight more in the second to build a 15-3 halftime bulge.

Dixon got the Cavaliers started in the opening minute with a blistering shot from 18 yards out, for the first of his three goals. Thompson followed a short time later with the first of his three. Prior to this game, neither had scored more than twice in a game.

In Virginia's most productive first half in four years, the trio combined for six goals and three assists.

Dixon finished with three goals and three assists, both career-high figures, while Thompson's three goals are a career high. Poskay scored a pair for his seventh multi-goal game of the year.

The trio has all scored in the last three games, combining for 17 goals and five assists in that span.

Poskay is tied for the lead among ACC midfielders with 24 goals (with Maryland's Bill McGlone) and is seventh with 24 points.

Dixon, one of only four ACC middies with double digit goals and assists, is tied for second among league middies with 13 assists and fourth in points (28). His 15 goals rank seventh. He is the only ACC midfielder with 10 goals and 10 assists the last two years.

Steady Gill Leads vs. Albany
Brendan Gill isn't the flashiest player on the roster; instead he uses his experience and keen sense of the game to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Praised for his consistency by the coaching staff, he has served as the fourth attackman throughout his career. This season he has seen extensive action in every game, including three starts, and scored five goals. He is also second on the team with 14 assists. As you might imagine, both figures, are career highs.

His abilities enable the UVa coaching staff to do a variety of things on offense, including creating different things with John Christmas.

This was most evident last week vs. Albany, when Gill assisted on four Cavalier goals, the most of his career, to lead the team for the first time.

Cavaliers Earn NCAA Fourth Seed
Virginia is the fourth seed in this year's NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years and the fourth time overall (1979-84-85-2005).

The Cavaliers have had pretty good success throughout the years playing as the fourth seed, advancing to the final four twice (1979-85).

Virginia also looks to extend a recent run of success by the No. 4 seed in the NCAAs. The fourth seed has won the national championship three times, but twice in the last three years. Princeton won the title three years ago as No. 4 and Syracuse was last year's champion. Johns Hopkins was the first No. 4 champion in 1987.

Virginia in the NCAAs
This is Virginia's 28th NCAA Tournament appearance. Only Johns Hopkins has been to the tournament (34 times) more than the Cavaliers. (Maryland has also made 28 appearances.)

Virginia has a 32-24 all-time playoff record and is fourth in tournament wins behind Johns Hopkins (53), Syracuse (48) and Maryland (36).