Band of brothers: Family’s tenure at Virginia coming to an end

In the fall, Gary Gill nearly had to splash water on his face. There they were — his three sons playing on the same lacrosse field, on the same team.
Man, had time flown by quickly.
During Virginia’s annual game versus its alumni, the coaching staff had switched Gill’s youngest son, Gavin, to the alumni squad so that he could play with older brothers Conor (‘02) and Brendan (‘05). The net result was an all-Gill attack.
Because of their age gaps, it was the first time that the Gills had ever played on the same field or on the same team, let alone on the same offensive unit.
When the game was over, the three brothers posed for a picture.
Talk about a Kodak moment.
This season represents the end of an era. Gavin is a senior and that means this will be the 11th and final year that a Gill will be starring on the Virginia attack.
Unfortunately for UVa coach Dom Starsia, Gary and Laurie Gill are out of sons.
“I tell [them] as often as I see them that, ‘What is it that makes them so lucky?’” said Starsia, whose No. 1-ranked team travels to Duke Saturday. “These are probably three of the most handsome, most respectful, thoughtful young guys that I’ve been around in all my years of coaching.
“Off the field in particular, you just couldn’t ask for a better lineage of young men to come to the University of Virginia and play lacrosse here. It’s a family that I have enjoyed every minute of getting to know.”
Gary Gill said this season has felt like a “Farewell Tour” for Laurie and him. They’ve been regulars at games since 1999. He wonders how they will occupy their newfound spare time next spring.
“I’ll be a little disappointed if my handicap in golf hasn’t gone down a little bit,” he joked. “I’ve always excused my average golf game for being so involved with lacrosse in the spring.”
Neither Gary nor Laurie Gill played sports in college, although Laurie excelled in swimming and lacrosse as a high-schooler.
It was Conor, the oldest of their sons, who first caught the lacrosse bug. Gary Gill could tell almost right away that Conor — even though he was only 6 when he first picked up a stick — had a knack for the sport.
“The one thing that he seemed like he had a special talent or special gift in was that he was a great feeder,” Gary Gill said. “He had a knack for getting the ball to people…he could hit the open man.”
Conor played baseball too before deciding to focus solely on lacrosse as he entered high school.
“As I got older, that’s what all my friends were playing and that was what was most fun to me,” said Conor, who currently works in product management and development for Under Armour in Baltimore, “and it just kind of progressed from there.”
Conor went on to become a two-time first-team All-American at Virginia. He was part of the 1999 NCAA championship team and finished his career tied for second in assists (146) and seventh in career points (223) in ACC history. In 2003, he was named to the league’s 50th Anniversary Team.
“Conor had an uncommon ability to see the open man and had a snap in his wrists,” Starsia said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been around a better passer than Conor Gill … he just had that supple wrist snap that those kinds of athletes have. He just had some gifts.”
Brendan Gill, currently working in commercial real estate in Baltimore, didn’t blossom on the field until his senior season. While not as athletic as his older brother, his skills enabled Starsia to have a multi-pronged offensive attack that was centered around former All-American John Christmas.
Brendan was a member of the 2003 National Championship squad. As a senior, he tied for third on the team with 16 assists. His numbers weren’t as gaudy as Conor’s, but that wasn’t what his game was all about.
In 2006, Gavin arrived on grounds. On the championship-winning team, he finished fourth among ACC rookies with 10 assists. As a sophomore, he battled injuries but still managed some highlights, including a goal and two assists in the ACC Tournament finals against Duke.
Gavin says that over the years he has incorporated pieces of both Conor and Brendan’s game into his.
Last season was Gavin’s best to date. He set career-highs in goals (10) and assists (11).
This season, Gill has seven goals and six assists.
Gill’s success has hardly come as a surprise. In high school, he was a two-time first-team Baltimore Sun All-Met selection. He was also the recipient of the Martin D. Tullai Head Coaches Award for character and integrity.
While Gill has enjoyed some nice individual success the last couple of years, he says being a part of the 2006 championship squad is still his fondest memory.
“I didn’t get as much playing time my freshman year — I’ve had more of a significant role in the three years following,” Gill said, “but that was definitely the best thing that has happened in my athletic career — sitting on the field in Philadelphia and just knowing what we had accomplished with all of those guys.”
The Gill brothers have always pulled for each other over the years and have helped each other develop on and off the field.
The three remain in constant contact, sharing stories and doing their best impressions of Starsia.
“We talk about the little things in the program — joking about the coaches and that sort of thing,” Gavin said. “We don’t really talk about the X’s and O’s but more of the stuff outside of that.”
Starsia, like he has with many of his former players, has stayed in close touch with Conor and Brendan, even attending Brendan’s wedding.
“It’s a family that I know as well as any that I’ve been involved with in my 35 years of coaching college lacrosse,” Starsia said. “It’s just been a joy to get to know them all.
“You could just never imagine that 11 years could just go away and pass so quickly. It’s hard to imagine a Virginia lacrosse game without Gary and Laurie Gill on the sidelines and one of the Gill boys in uniform.”
One of the great things about the whole experience for Gary and Laurie, who also have a daughter, Meghan, has been the friendships they’ve made with parents through their kids over the years.
“It’s been truly amazing,” Gary said. “I feel very spoiled from it all — to have three kids attend the University of Virginia and have them all play on separate national championship teams … I think if someone told me that when Conor was 6 years old, I would not have believed it.”
Gary says it will be an emotional moment for him and Laurie when the final horn goes off at the end of this season. “It will be sad,” he said. “I’ve got some Irish in me, so I expect I’ll have a tear in my eye.”
This season, Gavin can do something that neither of his two older brothers were able to accomplish — win his second NCAA championship.
“I think we’ve all been really blessed to have won one [championship],” Conor Gill said. “Nothing would make [us] more happy than to see him get another one this season.”