Feb. 23 has to feel like a lifetime ago to the Virginia men’s lacrosse team. Probably five lifetimes ago to coach Dom Starsia.
Virginia, playing in just its second game of the season, picked up a 15-7 win on the road at Mount St. Mary’s. Afterward, Starsia said he was pleased with the team’s performance and the overall direction that his relatively young squad was headed.
Tonight, almost three months later, UVa and Mount St. Mary’s meet again — this time in the NCAA tournament, and this time under far different circumstances.
The game will be Virginia’s first since former player George Huguely was charged with first-degree murder in the death of women’s player Yeardley Love on May 3. A day later, the men’s team — with the support of Love’s family and the women’s team — decided to continue their season.
There will be a moment of silence for Love before tonight’s game. In addition, Virginia players will honor Love by wearing a black patch on their jerseys, which has Love’s initials and uniform No. 1 on it.
“It’s hard to put the events of the last week into words,” said Starsia, speaking on a teleconference last Sunday night. “It’s tragic on so many levels.”
Starsia is also trying to cope with the loss of his father, who passed away after a lengthy illness on May 7. Tonight will be the first game Starsia has coached since his death.
Before the Love tragedy, Virginia — the No. 1 seed in the tournament — was the hottest team in the country, having beaten Duke and Maryland in the ACC tournament. How the Cavaliers perform now — after a long layoff and the events of the last 12 days — is anyone’s guess.
Mount St. Mary’s earned an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the MAAC championship last Saturday. The Mount scored at the buzzer to upset Siena, the No. 1 seed.
This will be the Mountaineers’ second all-time trip to the NCAA tournament. They lost to Virginia, 19-8, back in 2003.
But Starsia isn’t expecting any kind of cakewalk today.
“It was a very competitive game there,” he said, alluding to the first meeting. “I remember the boy on the attack, [Cody] Lehrer, had four [goals] against us.
“And the kid in the goal [T.C. DiBartolo] has just been tremendous against us the last couple of years. It was a game that wasn’t decided until late.”
Today’s winner will face the winner of today’s Denver-Stony Brook game in a quarterfinal match at Stony Brook next Sunday.
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