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   SabreMail - April 28, 2008
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Women's Lacrosse Adds Another ACC Title

The Virginia women's lacrosse team has probably given coach Julie Myers a lot of gray hair over the past year. After all, the Hoos are starting to make furious comeback wins look like routine parlor tricks. Less than a year after rallying from a nine-goal margin against Duke in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals, UVa erased two huge deficits in this year's ACC Tournament en route to the team title. Virginia overcame an 8-3 score against both Duke and Maryland to win a pair of 10-9 games. It is the third consecutive ACC Championship for UVa and the fourth in the last five years. The victory also was the 200th career victory for Myers.

In Sunday's title contest against Maryland, Virginia rallied to force overtime where Ashley McCulloch delivered the game-winning goal. Along the way, Virginia goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty, who was voted the tournament's Most Valuable Player, made eight saves in 66 minutes to earn the win. Claire Bordley, Jenny Hauser, Brittany Kalkstein, Megan O'Malley, and McCulloch joined McBrearty on the all-tournament team for Virginia. Bordley, McBrearty, and MucCulloch were also All-ACC honorees from the regular season; sophomore midfielder Kaitlin Duff joined the trio on that list.

Virginia (14-3, 4-1 ACC) earned the conference's automatic bid into the national tournament and will await the NCAA Selection Committee's announcement of the 16-team field for the 2008 tournament.

The women's lacrosse team's title gives UVa 6 ACC Championships this athletic year. Men's tennis and women's rowing eared conference crowns a week ago while men's cross country, men's swimming, and women's swimming picked up trophies during their seasons as well. The six titles match the school record, which was set in 2003-04.

For more Hoo news or to read full releases, check out Virginiasports.com.

Kris Wright
Editor
TheSabre.com


   Recruiting News

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Football recruiting

In case you missed it, UVa gained commitment #6 last week. The Cavaliers stayed in-state in landing its first offensive line commit of the 2009 class, earning a pledge from 6-6, 260-pound Centreville (Clifton, VA) offensive tackle Luke Bowanko.

Bowanko committed to Virginia last Thursday, four days after receiving an official scholarship offer from head coach Al Groh. UVa was his only offer, but Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech were among the programs expressing serious interest. Most of those other programs requested that Bowanko come to summer camp before an offer would be extended, but the first-team All-Concorde District selection had seen all he needed to see from Virginia to feel comfortable in making a commitment.

A typical Al Groh offensive line recruit, Bowanko, who has played on the varsity basketball squad each of the past two seasons, is a good athlete. He has the frame to carry 300-plus pounds and keep his athleticism. He is being recruited by Virginia as an offensive tackle, but offensive guard could be a possibility as well. Bowanko is a solid start in the recruiting of a position of need. Look for the Hoos to try to sign four or five offensive linemen next February.

Speaking of offensive line targets, another key one made a visit to Charlottesville last week. 6-5, 265-pound Brennan Williams, a star OL/DL out of Catholic Memorial (West Roxbury, MA) made unofficial visits to Duke, Maryland, Virginia, and Wake Forest last week.

Williams, who boasts 10 Division 1A scholarship offers, discussed the visits and where he stands in his decision making process in an interview last night. Check out today's Sabre EDGE for more.

Bowanko's commitment came just a day after UVa lost out on another key in-state target in Stone Bridge (Ashburn, VA) defensive end Zach Thompson. Last Wednesday, the 6-5, 250-pound Thompson committed to Wake Forest over offers from Boston College, Maryland, N.C. State, Syracuse, Virginia, and West Virginia. The decision likely came down to Wake and Virginia, but Wake won out and now has two Stone Bridge rising seniors committed. Linebacker Mike Olson had committed earlier this month.

Recruiting certainly seems to start up earlier and earlier in recent years, and this year is no different. To date, 16 rising seniors from the state of Virginia are already committed and the Spring Evaluation Period only began a week-and-a-half ago. All six of Virginia's commitments call the state of Virginia home. West Virginia is second right now with three commits.


Basketball recruiting

Grant (Portland, OR) point guard Paul McCoy and Berkmar (Lilburn, GA) wing forward Wesley Witherspoon appear to be Virginia's only remaining targets in the 2008 recruiting class.

McCoy, a 5-11, 175-pound prospect who averaged 16 points and six assists per game as a senior, is reportedly down to Kentucky and Virginia. He made official visits to both schools this month and reportedly is trying to make his decision. We'll continue to try to get the latest on the talented point guard this week, as a decision presumably could come at any time.

The 6-8, 215-pound Witherspoon made an official visit to Memphis this past weekend. He has also taken official visits to Colorado, LSU, Texas, and Virginia. Witherspoon is expected to announce his college choice this Thursday, May 1.


Chris Horne, our resident recruiting expert, provides updates throughout the week for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please check out the Sabre Edge Sign Up and Information Page. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week ...

Athletic OL Becomes UVa's Latest Commitment
Offensive line is one of the more pressing needs for the University of Virginia in the 2009 class, and today the Cavaliers landed its first offensive line commitment in Centreville (Clifton, VA) offensive tackle Luke Bowanko. The 6-6, 260-pound prospect pledged earlier today, four days after scoring an official scholarship offer from head coach Al Groh.

Norman a Top In-State Athlete
Image: Theron Norman6-3, 185-pound Theron Norman, a smooth, athletic safety/wide receiver prospect out of Hermitage High School in Richmond, Virginia, sits at four official Division 1A scholarship offers at this point in his recruiting process. Intent on building upon last year's success both individually and team-wise, Norman is focused on preparing for his senior season but he has also made some college visits to explore potential suitors.

Morgan Moses Talks VT, UVa Visits
Image: Morgan MosesMeadowbrook (Richmond, VA) star offensive lineman Morgan Moses, considered one of the top overall prospects in the state of Virginia's 2009 class, attended Virginia Tech's Spring Game this past Saturday. We caught up with the 6-7, 340-pound prospect, who discussed the overall experience at Tech and provided the latest on his recruitment.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...


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   News, Notes, and Fan Discussion

Blog Banter: Leftovers ... More From Spring Football

As The Sabre's Editor, I have started putting leftover quotes on the Good Ol' Blog so Hoo fans can read them. I put some more leftovers from spring football there this week. Here's part of the post:

Rashawn JacksonAl Groh on Rashawn Jackson:

"He's one of our more versatile offensive performances. He catches the ball out of the backfield well. He's a good inside runner. He's got to be our main two-back personnel blocker."

Scott Deke on the tight ends:

"The tight ends at this school, it's obviously what you hear about when you think Virginia just because of the people that have come before them. But they're just filling those shoes if not busting through them. Guys like John Phillips. Joe [Torchia] has really come into his own. Andrew Devlin had a lot of great catches [in the Spring Game]."

Read some of Peter Lalich's thoughts in the entire entry here and check out more on The Good Ol' Blog.

Kris Wright
TheSabre.com


NFL Draft Features 2 Hoos In Top 15

Virginia defensive end Chris Long and offensive lineman Branden Albert were selected Saturday in the first round of the NFL Draft. Their selection continued a run of 25 straight years that UVa has had at least one player drafted and just the second time two Cavaliers have gone in the first round; in 1997, James Farrior (8th) and Jon Harris (25th) both were first round picks. On Sunday, tight end Tom Santi joined the Cav draftee list when the Colts called his number.

Long became the second highest draft spot by any player in Cavalier history when the St. Louis Rams called his name at No. 2. The only player to go higher was Bill Dudley, who was the top pick in the 1942 draft. Long's selection continued an ACC streak as well. As the first defensive player selected, it marked the third straight year the ACC had the top defensive player selected. Overall, the ACC had seven players taken in the first round. Albert

Albert, meanwhile, landed in Kansas City as projected ... but not with the No. 5 pick when LSU's Glenn Dorsey slipped to the Chiefs early in the day. Instead, KC traded up to the 15th slot overall (from 17) to select Albert. While he played offensive guard at Virginia, Albert is expected to be a tackle on the Chiefs' offensive line.

Santi became the third Hoo to be drafted when Indianapolis chose him in the sixth round. An excellent pass-catching tight end, Santi seems to be a good fit for the offensively gifted Colts.


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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

  • Virginia Golfers Repeat as Cavalier Classic Champions: While Virginia's men's golf teams had won five of the previous 20 Cavalier Classic tournaments, none successfully defended the title ... until this year. After jumping out to a five-shot lead following Saturday's opening round, the Cavaliers shot 5-over 293 for a 36-hole total of 575 to finish three shots ahead of runner-up Augusta State. The 21-team tournament was held at Birdwood Golf Course. Senior Greg Carlin led UVa with his second place finish at 4-under 140.
  • Cameron Home Run Lifts Virginia Over BC: Second baseman Kierstie Cameron hit a one-out solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Virginia softball team (15-37, 6-15 ACC) past Boston College (29-27, 5-13 ACC) 2-1 Sunday in the final game of the regular season at Commander Shea Field, but the Cavaliers still lost the series to the Eagles two games to one.
  • No. 1 Miami Defeats No. 16 Virginia in Series Finale: No. 1 Miami struck early for three first-inning runs and got a home run and six RBI from Mark Sobolewski in notching a 10-0 win over No. 16 Virginia Sunday afternoon at Mark Light Field. After earning one-run wins in the first two games of the series, the Hurricanes finished off a three-game sweep.
  • UVa Wins Three Races Against Yale, Harvard: Virginia came away with victories in the Second Varsity Four, Third Varsity Four and Second Novice Eight races Saturday against Yale and Harvard. The Second Varsity Four (Taylor Gilmore, Diane Leigh, Shalane Carlson, Jessica Streufert, Schafer Bomstein) earned a first-place finish with a time of 8:24.3, compared to Yale's 8:28.5. The Third Varsity Four (Sarah Pichardo, Summers Nelson, Pamela Baylor, Hannah Jordan, Mariana Lima) was also victorious over the Bulldogs with a time of 8:36.4. In the Second Novice Eight race, the crew of Laura Hendrie, Hannah Jenkins, Ariane Casper, Colleen Beichert, Lieve Pitts, Christina O'Neill, Alyssa Smith, Brittany Moore and Haley Pack defeated Harvard by more than 20 seconds with a time of 8:12.8.
  • Ayeni Wins Discus Title at Prestigious Penn Relays: The men's field team performances were highlighted by Yemi Ayeni's first-place finish in the discus with an NCAA Regional qualifying throw of 57.65m. The last time a Cavalier won an event at the Penn Relays was Anne Crouse in1999 with a victory in the javelin. Ayeni was the first on the men's squad to win an event since Frank Fuller won the 110m hurdles in the 1940 relays.
  • Relay Team Takes Title at Penn Relays: The Cavaliers' women's 4x200 meter relay team of Talia Wise, Janne'a Bridgeford, Kristina Chapman and Rashawnda James highlighted the final day of the prestigious Penn Relays, as the quintet was the first to cross the line in the 800m relay. Finishing in a time of 1:36.00 and qualifying for the ECAC Championships on May 16-18, the four Cavaliers combined for a time that was less than a second shy of the event record (1:35.19) set by Pittsburgh in 1999.
  • Four Cavaliers Earn VaSID All-State Honors: The Virginia Sports Information Directors Association (VaSID) announced the 2007-08 University Division Women's Basketball All-State Teams and individual awards. Virginia's Monica Wright was named to the first team, Lyndra Littles was a second team selection and Sharneé Zoll and Aisha Mohammed were given honorable mention nods. James Madison's Tamera Young was named the Player of the Year and teammate Dawn Evans took home Rookie of the Year honors while Old Dominion's Wendy Larry earned the Coach of the Year accolade.
  • Three Cavaliers Named to All-ACC Men's Lacrosse Squad: The University of Virginia placed three players on the 11-man All-Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse squad announced by the conference office. The All-ACC team is determined by a vote of the league's four head coaches. Leading the way for the Cavaliers is senior attackman Ben Rubeor, selected for the third year in a row. Junior attackman Danny Glading joins Rubeor as a repeat selection from last season. Sophomore midfielder Brian Carroll is a first-time all-conference honoree.
  • Schwimer Named to Dick Howser Trophy Watch List: Virginia senior relief pitcher Michael Schwimer has been named to the watch list for the Dick Howser Trophy, presented by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and given to the top player in college baseball. The midseason watch list is comprised of 50 candidates.

For more Hoo news or to read full releases, check out Virginiasports.com.


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   SabreMail History

Issue No. 293 - May 21, 2007

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Football recruiting ...

Ras-I Dowling

According to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, former Deep Creek (Chesapeake, VA) standout Ras-I Dowling has qualified. The 6-2, 185-pound DB/WR, who signed with Virginia this past February, is considered one of the top incoming recruits and could potentially see playing time as a true freshman.

Dowling originally signed with UVa in the class of 2006, but needed to go to Hargrave Military Academy for one year to raise his standardized test score. He had a breakout year for Hargrave's postgraduate football squad, starting at cornerback throughout the season.

Moreover, the athletic Dowling, who has been timed at sub-4.5 seconds in the 40 and has posted a 40-inch vertical leap, played through the season without injury. Throughout his career at Deep Creek, Dowling was plagued with nagging injuries.

Dowling projects initially as a defensive back and he will likely get looks for safety and cornerback. Assuming Dowling is all set, only one 2007 class recruit, Ballou (Washington, D.C.) offensive tackle Lamar Milstead, has work to do to qualify. The 6-5, 270-pound Milstead just needs to improve on his SAT score, but he is confident he will make the grade.

   What's New on TheSabre.com?

Coming Soon

The Sabre has you covered when it comes to Hoo news. Here are a few of the articles to expect on the site in the coming days:

  • Men's Lacrosse Photos: Mike Ingalls photographed the ACC Tournament and photos are headed your way!
  • Spring football: The Sabre continues to look at the football team's spring. This week, look for a Q&A with linebacker Aaron Clark.
  • FanWatch: The Sabre FanWatch series returns this week with another look at a long-time Hoo and Sabre fan.
  • Around the Horn: After being swept in Miami, the baseball team tries to right the ship. The Sabre's Greg Waters takes his weekly look at the Cavs.


In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Devils Dispatch Hoos Again
Image: Bud PetitTwo weeks ago, the Duke men's lacrosse team defeated Virginia like a snakebite - a swift and lethal flurry of goals ended things quickly as the visitors injected 10 unanswered goals in 11 minutes. Sunday in the ACC Championship Game, the Blue Devils' 11-9 victory was more like Novocain - a steady dose of goals left the Cavaliers numb and by the time it wore off, it was too late to recover.

Billings' Early Boost Propels Hoos
Image: Garrett BillingsGarrett Billings jumpstarted the offense twice on Friday night and the Virginia men's lacrosse team never trailed as a result. Billings scored four of his team's first five goals and the Hoos eventually pulled away to defeat Maryland 11-8, setting up a rematch with Duke in the ACC Championship Game on Sunday. Billings' fast start helped erase a recent personal slump and boosted the Cavaliers' collective confidence at the same time.

Around The Horn: Big Fun For Davis In 2008
Image: Neal DavisOne of Miles Davis' most unique compositions was released in 1974. It was entitled Big Fun. Neal Davis, who pitching coach Karl Kuhn nicknamed "Miles" has been having "Big Fun" this season and, along with fellow sophomore Matt Packer, has emerged as a middle relief ace for the Hoos.

Sabre Roundtable: Spring Football 2008
Image: Virginia CavaliersThe Virginia football team wrapped up spring practice earlier this month and now the long wait for Southern Cal trickles toward summer. For all the news-thirsty fans out there, don't worry. The Sabre is breaking out a roundtable to quench your thirst. Jeff White of The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Melinda Waldrop of The Daily Press join Sabre Editor Kris Wright to answer some questions about the Hoos.

Bradley Shined This Spring
Image: Landon BradleyWhen offensive lineman Landon Bradley joined Virginia's 2007 class of signees, Sabre.com Recruiting Analyst Chris Horne pegged him as "the potential sleeper" of the class. The redshirt freshman may be on his way to proving that prognostication correct. After all, Bradley had a strong spring practice period that ended with him being named one of the Rock Weir award winners for most improved players in the spring.

Best Seat In The House: Starsia, O'Connor Call-in 3
Coach Dom Starsia and goalkeeper Bud Petit from the Virginia lacrosse team as well as coach Brian O'Connor and pitcher Andrew Carraway from the Virginia baseball team joined Jay James on The Best Seat in the House on Monday night for The Best Seat Call-in Shows again this week. The show airs every Monday through June from 6 to 8 p.m. live from the Wild Wing Cafe in Charlottesville. Have a question for the Cav coaches? Call in to the show at 800-688-9462 or 434-977-1070. Audio highlights from the show will be available on The Sabre.

JHoo: The Don'ts Of Spring
Image: Scott DekeSpring practices are done and the Spring Game is in the books. What does that mean? For me, it means that I have no good excuse to get out of all of the spring cleaning jobs I have been putting off as long as possible. All over the house and yard I go, Mrs. JHoo only a half-step behind, tackling one task after another instead of watching linebackers do the tackling. So with Mrs. JHoo's "don't do that ..." and "don't do that other thing either ..." comments ringing in my ears, I think it would be somewhat therapeutic for me to throw out a few "don'ts" of my own. Since I am much too smart to direct any of those "don'ts" at Mrs. JHoo - read, JHoo is a coward - I figured I would toss a few your way, football style. Or more precisely, spring football style.

Photo Gallery: Virginia 11, Dartmouth 7
Image: Danny GladingThe Virginia men's lacrosse team picked up its 11th win of the season over the weekend by defeating Dartmouth 11-7 at Klockner Stadium. Ben Rubeor and Danny Glading led the offensive charge by combining for 7 goals and 4 assists in the contest. Check out 110 images from the game in this EDGE photo gallery.


   Sabre Edge

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