Virginia hits its stride

After a somewhat disappointing end to the regular season and a quick exit in the ACC tournament, things didn’t seem all that promising for the Virginia men’s lacrosse team — even after UVa was tabbed as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The forecast has changed rather quickly, though.

First was an 18-6 thrashing of Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Then came a 19-8 dismantling of Johns Hopkins in front of a national television audience on Sunday that earned UVa a trip to the Final Four in Foxborough, Mass., this weekend.

Virginia has announced its presence to the college lacrosse world — with authority.

“[They] just seem to be on a tear right now,” Duke coach John Danowski said during a teleconference on Tuesday. “They’re relaxed and loose, and playing great.”

Virginia (14-2) will be meeting Cornell in the semifinals on Saturday. If UVa can get past the Big Red (12-3), it would face the Syracuse-Duke winner in the championship game on Monday.

Earlier in the season, Virginia defeated Cornell at Klockner Stadium, 14-10. That game, however, seems like ages ago.

“We’re just really proud and humbled to be heading back to the semifinals again,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “It’s been a long season for us. Our kids have been through a lot. We clearly have been playing a little better these first two playoff games and hope that we can continue with that trend as we move forward here.”

With the win over Hopkins on Sunday, Starsia became just the fourth coach in history to win 300 games. Starsia, whose 27 NCAA wins are the most all-time, has taken Virginia to the Final Four in five of the last seven years, including the last two in a row.

Having coached 10 years at Brown, Starsia is very familiar with Cornell.

“I have great respect for the Cornell program, always have,” Starsia said. “I will tell you frankly that in a lot of ways, I may have modeled how I would like my teams to play after those Cornell teams in the mid-70s. I always enjoyed those teams.”

Cornell, which defeated Hofstra and Princeton on its way to the Final Four, is no stranger to NCAA success. The Big Red won three titles in the 1970s, including the first-ever championship in 1971.

In 2007, Cornell made it to the semifinals before losing to Duke, 12-11.

Big Red coach Jeff Tambroni, like Danowski, has been very impressed by Virginia’s recent play.

“They seem to be playing with a lot more urgency right now,” said Tambroni, whose team lost to Ohio State in the tournament last season. “They really seem to be playing well together. I think the chemistry of this group is something that really stands out.

“The offensive and defensive ends of the field seem to be feeding off each other … looking for each other on offense and sliding on defense. They seem to be playing their best lacrosse at this time of the year.”