MEN’S LACROSSE: Cavs shake off rust, advance

For the better part of three quarters, the University of Virginia men’s lacrosse team didn’t look like the No. 2 team in the country.
Heck, UVa didn’t resemble a Top-20 team.
There were careless turnovers. There was shoddy defense. Then there were the outside shots that came closer to hitting birds than going in the net.
But on a cold and damp Sunday evening at Klockner Stadium, the Wahoos
managed to find their ‘A’ game when they absolutely had to have it.
In the process, they avoided getting bounced from the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
Virginia, behind four goals from Danny Glading and three goals from Garrett Billings, overcame a
two-goal second-half deficit to beat UMBC, 10-9, in front of a crowd of 937.
“I told the kids that I thought the effort was always there and if the game hadn’t turned out like it did, I still would have been pleased with the effort overall,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, whose team hadn’t played in two weeks. “We just weren’t real sharp early in the game. I don’t want to make excuses, but it may have been that we’ve had the week off.
“It’s been a very different kind of week for us in trying to get through our exams this past week. We hardly ever had a day where we had everybody at practice. We practiced at all hours and took different days off and things. It just seemed like we were a little out of sync.”
No matter now.
With the victory, UVa (13-3) advanced to the quarterfinals. The Cavs will play Maryland in a game that takes place at Navy on Saturday.
UMBC (12-4) was led by Matt Latham’s three goals. The Retrievers, who saw their 11-game winning streak snapped, had several chances to tie the game in the final minute.
One shot, by senior captain Terry Kimener, hit Virginia goalie Bud Petit in the face. Another, by sophomore Kyle Wimer, was blocked out front.
“I actually don’t remember any of my saves,” said Petit, who finished with eight. “I remember the one that hit me right in the face. I didn’t see it. Thank God it hit my face.
“It seemed like we had it won three or four times, but then UMBC came back fighting and getting more chances…but I knew our team would keep fighting.”
UMBC coach Don Zimmerman said his team wasn’t about to hang its head.
“We lost to a talented and well-coached team,” Zimmerman said. “We’re disappointed we lost, but I think what you saw today is the heart and determination that we’ve shown all year.”
“We played all day with the No. 2 team in the country,” added UMBC senior co-captain Taylor Marino, “but they came out on top.”
For the better part of three quarters, UMBC was the superior team. Early in the second quarter, the Retrievers took a 3-2 lead when Maxx Davis left Virginia midfielder Will Barrow in his tracks with a pretty spin move and rifled a shot past Petit.
Just over three minutes later, Latham took a pass from Chris Jones and beat Petit for a 4-2 lead.
The Retrievers went up
5-2 on a wicked outside shot by Davis over Petit’s right shoulder, but Virginia
answered with two straight goals to make it a 5-4 game at the half.
After the intermission, UMBC took a 7-5 lead on goals by Wimer and Matt Latham before UVa roared back with four goals within the last 3 minutes and 41 seconds of the third quarter to go up 9-7, the final tally coming when Glading raced around the back of the cage and beat goalie Jeremy Blevins with a low laser.
UMBC tied the game on a goal by Latham early in the fourth before Billings scored what proved to be the game-winner with just under 7 minutes to play.
“Our big boys made some plays,” said Starsia, referring to Billings, Glading and Ben Rubeor. “I think it’s hard for teams to hold them down for 60 minutes.”
Starsia was particularly pleased with his team’s defensive effort late in the game.
“It was a good win for us,” he said.