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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

UVA notebook: OT men's lacrosse thriller worth a 2nd look

Almost two days after the longest Division I lacrosse game ever played, Virginia coach Dom Starsia still had not seen a replay of the winning shot.

"I finally got to see it this morning," Starsia said Monday. "We usually get a DVD after the game and my wife always TiVos the games that are on TV, but both of them ran out of space on the tape."

A game scheduled for a noon faceoff didn't end until 3:19 p.m., when Brian Carroll's goal with one minute elapsed in the seventh overtime lifted Virginia past Maryland 10-9.

By the time the Virginia-Maryland game had ended, an NCAA hockey game slated for the 2 p.m. time slot on ESPN2 was nearing the end of the second period.

"I hear they also cut away from one of the women's [NCAA] games," Starsia said. "Between the women's basketball and the ice hockey, we had a chance to make a lot of new lacrosse fans."

Starsia also learned that the UVa-Maryland game had been declared an "Instant Classic" and would be aired by ESPN Classic on Monday from 10 p.m. till 1 a.m.

"I don't know if I'll be staying up for that," Starsia said. "I'm still kind of drained."

It was the third one-goal victory of the season for No. 1-ranked Virginia (11-0) but the first that had gone into overtime.

The Cavaliers played in five overtime games last year, winning four of them before falling to eventual national champion Syracuse in the NCAA semifinals, 12-11, in double overtime.

That was one of five overtime losses Starsia has suffered either in the final or semifinals. He also has won three NCAA titles.

"Earlier in my career, it felt like [overtime] was very unfriendly territory to be in," Starsia said. "I remember very particularly thinking to myself, 'These things tend to even out over time,' and I hope I'm here long enough to see that."

There were tie games in college lacrosse until the mid-1970s, when overtime was instituted, but it wasn't sudden-death overtime.

"In 1976, when I was still at Brown, we hosted the NCAA finals and Cornell beat Maryland 16-14 in overtime," Starsia said. "What people don't realize is that Maryland actually scored the first goal in overtime. In those days, you played the period out."

Other sports, like ice hockey and soccer, have gone to shootouts once overtime has reached a certain point.

"The reason you don't need a shootout [in lacrosse] is that, in our sport, goals are scored relatively quickly," Starsia said. "I think, in a soccer game, you literally could play forever."

Indeed, Virginia was involved in an overtime game that changed the face of college soccer. The NCAA men's soccer champion was by penalty kicks for the first time in 1990, one year after UVa and Santa Clara had been declared co-champions after four overtimes in frigid East Rutherford, N.J.

Each of the lacrosse overtimes last four minutes, and Starsia and his Maryland counterpart, Dave Cottle, each used all of their allotted timeouts in the first six overtimes.

"Every time Maryland called timeout, I'd meet with our defense and tell them, 'Do what I told you the last time,' " Starsia said. "Since [the Terrapins] weren't scoring, I would have been crazy not to."

Baseball

Virginia (22-4) will make its first appearance at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium since 2004 when the Cavaliers face Radford (10-10) at 6 p.m. tonight

UVa coach Brian O'Connor, whose Cavaliers play host to the Highlanders on April 15 in Charlottesville, said the trip to Roanoke stemmed from his friendship with second-year Radford coach Joe Raccuia.

"When he got the job, we made an agreement that we would come down there and play at the pro ballpark in Salem in hopes of drawing a good crowd," O'Connor said. "And, it's a good experience for our players to play in a minor-league ballpark and play on the road."

The Cavaliers, who were unranked after the loss of six players who were selected in the 2008 Major League Baseball draft, won their first 21 games this season before dropping two of three games in back-to-back series with No. 4 Miami and No. 5 North Carolina.

"It's unfortunate that we lost four games the last two weekends but I don't care who you are, I think anybody in the country would take 22-4," O'Connor said. "Of our four losses, three are by one run and the other is by two runs. When we find a way to win more of those games, I think we have a chance to be pretty special."

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