Virginia hopes to avoid another near miss

Several Virginia shots clanged off the post during last spring’s double-overtime loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament semifinals in Foxborough, Mass.

A few millimeters to the left or the right and UVa may have won its fifth national title.

Instead, the Orange won the game and went on to beat Johns Hopkins for its 10th championship.

Tonight at the Carrier Dome, roughly eight months later, Syracuse and Virginia — the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country — square off again.

“There is still some sting from last year,” admitted Virginia senior Danny Glading, “but it’s a new group of guys and a new season.”

Virginia (4-0) looked impressive in its first three games of the season, but is coming off a lackluster performance versus Mt. St. Mary’s on Tuesday in which it could muster only 10 goals on 60 shots.

Syracuse (2-0), meanwhile, is coming off a 17-6 win over Army last week.

Both teams have changed a lot since they last met. Virginia graduated leading goal scorer Ben Rubeor, fifth-year goalie Bud Petit, defensive middie Will Barrow and starting middie Peter Lamade. The Orange lost Tewaarton Trophy recipient Mike Leveille — the team’s offensive leader who finished with 49 goals and 34 assists — midfielder of the year Steven Brooks and All-American faceoff specialist Danny Brennan, among others.

Virginia coach Dom Starsia wasn’t buying the notion that his team’s subpar effort on Tuesday would force his team to tighten things up for tonight’s clash.

“If my not sleeping somehow improves our chances against Syracuse, then it accomplished what we needed it to,” Starsia quipped, “but I would rather that we played our best every night.”

Virginia had won five straight games in the series before last spring’s loss to the Orange.

“I think this game is always meaningful,” Starsia said, “but I think both programs are mature enough to know that it’s still only February.

“But I think our kids remember that we didn’t win the last game against them. That sticks in our craw a little bit.”

The game, as usual, figures to be a high-scoring one. Both teams like to push the ball as much as possible. “The team that actually generates a little greater discipline usually carries the day,” Starsia said.

That’s not always the easiest thing to do when you factor in the emotions that have always gone hand-in-hand with the rivalry.

“It’s going to be a great experience and a great game,” said Glading of Virginia’s first trip to the Dome in four years. “It’s always something that you dream about when you’re a little kid — playing in a rivalry like that.”

Ground balls

WINA AM 1070 is broadcasting the game in the Charlottesville area. John Freeman, Doug Tarring and Jamie Leachman call the action.