Shooting barrage lifts UVa to victory

Virginia coach Dom Starsia didn’t even want to hear the end of the question. On a chilly Tuesday night against Mount St. Mary’s at Klockner Stadium, an irate Starsia didn’t have time for it.

There was practically fire protruding from his head, which was covered by a hooded jacket.

The question: “Was it understandable that his team may have been looking ahead to Friday’s game at Syracuse?”

“It’s unacceptable,” said Starsia, loudly enough for a few of the remaining players on the field to hear. “It’s unacceptable. I told [the team] — especially Danny [Glading], Garrett [Billings] and Steele [Stanwick] — that we were just too casual early on in the game.

“We have always run our offense through the attack. They get the bulk of the credit when things go well and they have to bear the burden for when we don’t perform.”

Virginia won the game, 10-2. However, UVa fired 60 shots at Mountaineers goalie T.C. DiBartolo. When you do the math on that, you can see why Starsia was so upset as his team heads into its first test of the season at the Carrier Dome.

“We threw a bunch of cream puffs at him,” Starsia said. “I mean, the kid’s a good goalie, but we threw a bunch of cream puffs at him at the same time.

“It’s not OK. We have to shoot better. We have to be sharper. If you’re not scoring, you have to work your [butt] off, and it just didn’t feel like we were prepared to do that in every instance tonight.”

Junior Brian Carroll got No. 2 Virginia (4-0) onto the board just 38 seconds into the contest when he beat DiBartolo for an unassisted goal. The midfielder tacked on the next two goals for a 3-0 lead. UVa, which scored 20 goals in a win over Mount St. Mary’s last season, led 5-0 at halftime.

“I think we came out a little flat,” Carroll said. “We probably could have played better. I think our defense played well.”

Billings, who tied a school record with eight goals in the win over Stony Brook on Saturday, didn’t score but notched two assists.

Seven players scored for Virginia, which won the groundball battle, 49-32, and claimed 11 of 16 faceoffs.

“We didn’t shoot well today,” Carroll said. “You always want to shoot well, but I don’t think it will be that much of a problem. Shots will fall.”

Starsia pinned much of the lackluster performance on his attack.

“I love those guys,” said Starsia, referring to Glading, Billings and Stanwick. “There couldn’t three sweeter kids in the entire world, but I just don’t feel like we played, coming out of the blocks, like we’re capable of.”