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   SabreMail - Sept. 8, 2008
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Virginia Hands Out Extensions

The University of Virginia Athletics Department had a busy week of announcements last week as several current coaches received contract extensions.

On Friday, head men's soccer coach George Gelnovatch's new four-year contract extension was announced. Gelnovatch's deal runs through June of 2012.

Gelnovatch, a two-time ACC Coach of the Year, is in his 13th year as the Cavaliers' head coach and has compiled a 185-69-21 record. The men's soccer program has won three ACC Tournament titles and two regular season ACC Championships during his tenure. In 2007, the Cavaliers extended the nation's longest active streak and made their 27th-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

"I have always considered it to be a privilege to be a part of the University of Virginia, both as a former student-athlete and as a coach," said Gelnovatch. "To continue working as a part of the University's athletic department is an honor. I have never been more motivated than I am right now by the current group of young men that we have in the program. This group is talented and exciting, and has the potential to do great things."

Read the full news release.

One day earlier, it was announced that head men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia had agreed to an extension of his current five-year contract that will keep him at UVa through the 2012 season.

In addition to winning three NCAA championships in eight seasons, UVa has reached the title game twice, the semifinals five times and the quarterfinals three times. Overall, Virginia has advanced to the final four 10 times under Starsia. He is the winningest coach in UVa and Atlantic Coast Conference history with a 184-61 (.751) record. Starsia has been named the ACC Coach of the Year a record seven times, while directing the team to five conference championships.

"I am about to start my 17th year here at the University of Virginia," Starsia said. "The time has come and gone in a heartbeat. My family and I have always felt the respect and appreciation of everyone in the athletic department and it has been a mutual admiration from the first day. It did not require a contract extension or public recognition to strengthen those feelings. My life has been full of blessings and this relationship with the University and the Charlottesville community is one of which I am most grateful. Many thanks to Craig Littlepage and Jane Miller, Marc Van Arsdale, Hannon Wright and all those who have been consistently supportive of our efforts."

Read the full news release.

Rounding out the contract news, head men's tennis coach Brian Boland's new five-year contract was announced Wednesday. The new contract will keep Boland at Virginia through the 2013 season.

Boland, the 2008 ITA National Coach of the Year, has led the Cavalier program to a 169-41 record in his tenure. Last year, Boland led Virginia to the best season in school history. The Cavaliers finished the year 32-1 and reached the NCAA Semifinals for the second consecutive season. In February, the Cavaliers won the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, the first national team tennis title in ACC history.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to extend my tenure as the Virginia men's tennis coach," said Boland. "The University and I share the same goals and ideals about building a top tennis program, and I am honored to coach at a school that is so committed to the success of student athletes both on and off the court. My family and I love the Charlottesville community and we are thrilled to be part of this excellent institution. Although I am pleased with the teams' success over the past seven years, I am even more excited about the future of our program. We have a talented group of new recruits coupled with a strong nucleus of returning players who will continue to make Cavalier fans proud. I want to thank Athletics Director Craig Littlepage and his staff for their professionalism and their commitment to being the best that college athletics has to offer."

Read the full news release.

Note: Information compiled from Virginia Athletics Media Relations news release. Read more at Virginiasports.com


   Recruiting News

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Image: Josh HairstonTropical Storm Hanna certainly did not help Virginia men's basketball on the recruiting front. 6-8 forward Josh Hairston, one of the top prospects in the 2010 recruiting class, did not make a previously scheduled unofficial visit to Virginia. Hairston, who had been to UVa several times previously, had planned to visit Charlottesville on Saturday but did not make the trip due to the weather.

Hairston lists a top five and could have a decision sometime in the near future. Up next on his schedule is an unofficial visit to Duke set for this coming weekend. He also would like to get down to Virginia Tech sometime soon. Hairston would like to reschedule his trip to Virginia, but there is a possibility he could make a college choice without heading back to Charlottesville.

Today, be sure to check out the article on Courtland (Spotsylvania, VA) junior forward Josh Hairston. We'll also try to have something on another potential 2010 class recruit later in the week. According to sources, 6-3 junior point guard Will Spradling, a standout out of Shawnee Mission South High School in Kansas, will make an unofficial visit to Virginia on the weekend of Sept. 19.

Kansas State, UNLV and Stanford are among the other programs pursuing Spradling, who earned first-team all-league honors last season as a sophomore.


This week on the football front ...

We will check in with Philadelphia defensive end commitment Justin Renfrow. The Penn Charter star is one of three defensive end commitments for UVa in this 2009 class. Also, we hope to have more on New Jersey OL Cody Bohler and Virginia OL/DL Kory Gough. According to Liberty head coach Tommy Buzzo, Gough has picked up three new offers this month, including one SEC offer. Virginia has expressed interest in both prospects but has yet to offer either.

In addition to the above articles, we hope to get in touch with Hun School (Princeton, N.J.) defensive end Anthony LaLota. LaLota is one of Virginia's top overall targets in this '09 recruiting class, but, according to this report, two Big 10 teams may have the edge currently.


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 ...

Metheny Ready for Senior Season
Image: Ross MethenyThirty-three and five as a starter in his varsity football career, Sherando (Stephens City, VA) quarterback Ross Metheny is ready to take the field for his senior season. The 6-3, 190-pound lefty signal caller's last actual game was last year's Group AA, Division 4 state championship game, in which he left early on after suffering a broken fibula.

Brown Yet to Narrow List of Schools
Top wide receiver recruit Justin Brown has had a busy week, and not just on the field in preparing for his team's regular season opener. The 6-3, 205-pound Concord (Wilmington, DE) standout has already received double-digit phone calls from college recruiters this week, which is the first week Division 1A coaches may phone 2009 recruits this fall

Bolling Talks UVa Visit, Updates Standing
Image: Devin Bolling6-5, 270-pound Brookville (Lynchburg, VA) offensive lineman Devin Bolling attended Virginia's regular season opener on Saturday, making the trip along with teammates Logan Thomas and Zack McCray. He discussed the experience as well as whether or not he knows more about his standing in terms of landing an offer from the Cavaliers.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...


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   News, Notes, and Fan Discussion

UVa Bookstores' You Pick Em Contest

Pick'em is simple. The first contestant who picks the winner and comes closest to predicting the final score wins. In case of ties, the earliest entry will be awarded the prize. Entries must be received by 12:00 a.m. EST game day. Entries received after 12:00 a.m. (midnight the night before the game) are ineligible. Limit one entry per person.

Each week we'll pick a new winner, so bookmark the page and come back weekly to give it a try. Results will be posted by Noon the Monday following the game (excluding holidays). Please note that we will not be playing the mid-week games this season. Get the complete rules and enter this week's contest at UVabookstores.com.


License Plate section is up in Wahoowa!

A few weeks ago, SabreMail made a request for anyone who had license plates that reflected your status as a Hoo fan. The responses have started to trickle in and the Plates Photos are up and running the Wahoowa! section of the site. The Wahoowa! section of the Sabre is dedicated to all things associated with UVa Fan-dom. There are various fan-related areas including desktop wallpaper, Fan of the Week photos, V-Sabres Worldwide, and more. If you have suggestions for new and interesting things in the Wahoowa! section, please email us at [email protected] with the header: Wahoowa! suggestion.

We'd like to keep adding photos to the section so if your license plate shows that you're a Hoo fan, let us know so we can include you in our gallery. All you need to do is snap a picture of your license plate and email a jpeg version of the photo to [email protected] with the email header: License Plate Photo.


Blog Banter: Notes from the Upper Deck

A minor injury left me slightly limping around all week. But that wasn't going to keep me away from the first game of the year. Especially a game against a top-5 team. Those words from Nils from many years ago echoed in my head: "What if we win." Well, I wasn't going to miss the possibility of watching the most impressive upset in Virginia history! No limp was going to keep me away from the game. I mean, I was sure Virginia was headed for defeat, but I was wrongly sure of that when Nils convinced me to go to that sure loss against FSU is 1995.

And, with that, I convinced myself to attend in person UVa's biggest blowout loss since God-knows-when. I wasn't the only one limping around the stadium that day.

Traffic: Let's get my annual the-traffic-on-29-sucks post out of the way. The traffic on 29 sucks. Specifically, there are a few lights that VDOT needs to configure to allow game day traffic to move more smoothly, rather than allow vehicles to back up for a mile because of red light patterns that make sense on any other day. Apparently, UVa (a state institution) still hasn't bothered to touch base with state officials about facilitating game day traffic.

Priorities: Speaking of Nils, he texted me from his Hawaii honeymoon to let me know that he was posting up at a hotel bar at 9 a.m. to watch the game. The man lives by those "What if we win" words of wisdom.

Check out the full entry! Make sure to check out the The Good Ol' Blog after each football game for notes from the past week's game.

Rob Mahini (Vandy-Hoo)
The Good Ol' Blog


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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

  • Virginia Surges Past Hofstra, 4-2: Tony Tchani scored two goals and the Virginia men's soccer team topped Hofstra, 4-2, Sunday night at Klöckner Stadium. Chris Agorsor and Matt Mitchell also netted goals for UVa (2-2-0), which won its second straight game.
  • Virginia Women's Soccer Ties Auburn 1-1: The No. 7 Virginia women's soccer team remained unbeaten on the season, tying Auburn 1-1 Sunday at the Georgia Nike Invitational. The Cavaliers, who defeated host Georgia on Friday, got a first half goal from Amanda Stewart, but a late penalty kick gave the Tigers the draw.
  • Cavaliers Down In-State Rival ODU, 2-0: The 11th-ranked Virginia field hockey team won its fourth consecutive game, a 2-0 win over No. 8 Old Dominion, on Sunday on the University Hall Turf Field. The win marked the first for the Cavalier program over Old Dominion since 1996; the Monarchs had previously claimed the last 11 meetings between the two teams. Rookies Paige Selenski and Michelle Vittese tallied goals for the Orange and Blue.
  • UVa Men's Golfers Finish Seventh at Maryland Intercollegiate: The Virginia men's golf team finished seventh in the weather-shortened Maryland Intercollegiate at the River Marsh Golf Club in Cambridge, Md. The event, that featured 18 teams, was shortened to 36 holes Sunday due to Tropical Storm Hanna. Cavalier freshman Ben Kohles led UVa with a 13th-place finish. He shot 75 during the morning round and then carded a 4-under 67 in the afternoon to finish at even par 142 in one of the best debuts ever by a Virginia freshman.
  • Cavalier Women Golfers in 2nd Place at Fall Preview: The 14th-ranked Virginia women's golf team stands second in the 15-team field at the Duramed Fall Preview taking place at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. The Cavaliers shot rounds of 1-over 289 and 6-over 294 for a 36-hole total of 583. No. 9 Georgia enters Monday's final round at 579, four shots ahead of UVa. Cavalier senior Jennie Arseneault leads the field at 6-under 138. She shot a career-best 4-under 68 during the morning round and came back and fired 2-under 70 during the afternoon. She has a one shot lead over Auburn's Candace Schepperle. G
  • Cross Country Teams Win Lou Onesty Invitational: Despite the effects of Hurricane Hanna, Virginia's men's and women's cross country teams opened their seasons Saturday morning at Panorama Farms with matching victories. In head coach Jason Vigilante's first appearance with the Cavaliers, both squads swept the top-three spots. Junior Trey Miller claimed first place for the men's team, finishing the 8K race with a time of 24:53.80 to win his first-ever collegiate race. For the women, senior Lauretta Dezubay seemed unaffected by the rainy weather, starting off her last season with UVa by taking first place in the women's 5K race with a time of 17:55.01. Dezubay's finish was 15 seconds faster than her previous personal record and resulted in her first-ever collegiate victory.
  • Eskind Hired as Track and Field Assistant: Virginia announced the addition of Michael Eskind as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers' track and field program. A former Wake Forest student-athlete, Eskind returns to the Atlantic Coast Conference after spending the last two years as an assistant track and field coach at Boston University. He was responsible for working with the sprints, vertical jumps, multi-events and throws. "I know that this is a special place and that special things can happen here. I am looking forward to being a part of such a great university and athletics department," Eskind said.

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


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   SabreMail History

Issue No. 274 - January 8, 2007

This Week In Recruiting

Matt Conrath

As reported on the EDGE last week, Matt Conrath, 6-8, 255-pound DE/OT out of St. Rita High School (Chicago, IL), verbally committed to the University of Virginia. Conrath chose the Hoos over offers from Duke, Miami (OH), Purdue, Stanford, and Vanderbilt.

Conrath's commitment gives Virginia a total of 22 verbal commitments for the 2007 class. He will likely start out at defensive end at Virginia but could easily end up at offensive tackle.

With only a few spots remaining and less than a month until Signing Day (February 7, 2007), the 2007 class is coming to an end. Stay tuned to The Sabre for the latest on the 2007 class, including the 'Countdown to Signing Day' feature which will be released each Wednesday. CTSD is a guide to everything you need to know about the 2007 class and what remains until Signing Day '07.

   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 soon:

  • Looking Back At Richmond: The Sabre brings you a column from JHoo as well as Sabre analysis from Kris Wright and Greg Waters.
  • UConn Up Next: The Sabre will also take a look at this weekend's showdown with Connecticut.
  • The Hawk's Nest: Ahmad Hawkins' weekly column is a can't-miss feature during football season.


In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

View From The EDGE: Richmond Postgame
Thanks to The Sabre for the opportunity to write this article. As I said on The EDGE on Friday, I live in Southern California. This will probably be the only game that I will attend this year. And one wink and a nod to LakeRidgeHoo: no all-caps on this article. I found a keyboard that actually works ... so on to this View from the EDGE.

Running On E
Image: Mikell SimpsonSimply put, the Virginia football team is struggling to run the football. And it's not just because the first opponent of the year ruined the average because it happened to be Southern California. No, the Cavaliers' running game is M.I.A. because they're missing blocks, lacking physicality, and struggling to create enough holes. Look no further than Saturday's 16-0 win over Richmond for proof.

Defense Leads Cavaliers To Victory
Image: Chase MinnifieldIn the spirit of the "Retro Day", the Virginia defense brought back their patented "Orange Crush" defense in grand style on Saturday. A week after uncharacteristically surrendering 52 points against USC, the defense showed up to play. Series after series, Virginia's defense came up big. Two blocked field goals, six sacks, 10 tackles-for-loss, and three very big turnovers late, the Cavaliers' defense almost single-handedly pushed UVa past Richmond 16-0. It's the first time the Spiders have been shut out since 2005.

Quick Take: Vic Hall On Richmond
Image: Vic HallThe Virginia football team plays its second game of the season Saturday when its neighbors from Richmond come to town. Mike London, UVa's former defensive coordinator, leads the 1-0 Spiders into Scott Stadium for the 3:45 p.m. contest. What do Vic Hall and the Cavaliers expect from London's team? Hall sat down with the media earlier this week and answered questions about London, UR, and moving on after USC.

Koch Catching On As Senior
Image: Cary KochGrowing up in Baton Rouge, hurricanes, afternoon rainstorms, and humidity are nothing new for Cary Koch. So don't expect Koch to blink at the thought of playing in the rain this weekend as weather associated with Hurricane Hanna could be passing by the Charlottesville area. Much of his football life has been conducted in wet conditions. Besides, you have to be focused to catch the football no matter what. "I mean it's always tough to catch the ball whether it's dry or wet," Koch said.

View From The EDGE: Richmond
Image: Coach Mike LondonThe Virginia football team is back in action this weekend when Richmond visits Scott Stadium for the first time since 2001. Former UVa defensive coordinator Mike London is in his first season as the head coach of his alma mater's football team and UR picked up a win in his first game last week. The Sabre's new "View From The EDGE" series continues this week as GunnyHooway takes a pre-game peek at the Spiders.

Richmond Scouting Report: Defense & Punting
In 2007, Russ Huesman's defensive unit started eight freshmen or sophomores, but ranked among the CAA leaders for much of the season in scoring defense, sacks and rushing defense. The defense picked up right where it left off as Richmond limited the high-powered Elon offense to 10 second-quarter points last week, just 235 yards of total offense, and a meager 22 yards on the ground.

Tuesday Press Conference Notes '08 - Richmond
Image: Aaron ClarkThe ACC injury report on Monday indicated that Virginia linebacker Aaron Clark is scheduled for surgery with a knee sprain and will miss the remainder of the season. He had made five tackles, including one tackle for loss, in Saturday's loss to Southern California before exiting the game in the third quarter. UVa coach Al Groh said the team feels bad for Clark, but the next man up theme would have to be the focus moving forward.

Richmond Scouting Report: Offense & Kicking
Image: Richmond SpidersIn 2007, Richmond won a school record 11 games (11-3), reached the NCAA Semifinals (falling to eventual National Champion Appalachian State), won the CAA Football Championship, and finished with a school-record No. 4 national ranking. Coming off the most successful season in school history, the Richmond Spiders opened the 2008 season where the magical 2007 run ended - in North Carolina with a 28-10 victory over then 15th-ranked Elon.

Inside The Game - USC
Image: Jared GreenBeyond giving his father's Hall of Fame introduction speech, UVa wide receiver Jared Green managed to fly under the radar for much of the preseason. That quickly changed in front of a record Scott Stadium crowd on Saturday. Green made his debut for the Cavaliers with 3 catches for 40 yards, which tied Cary Koch for team-high honors against the Trojans.

Real Evaluations Begin This Week
Image: Jed WilliamsWe got it all wrong. In the seemingly endless weeks and months leading up to Virginia's clash with vaunted Southern Cal - didn't every day feel a bit like a Times Square New Year's Eve countdown, with Pete Carroll and Joe McKnight replacing Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest? - so many of us (self included) misconstrued the USC ballyhoo. We made it into a referendum game on both the state of the program and the progress of a radically rebuilt team. Why? Because that's what we do. What we should have done was postpone any conclusions - or early assumptions - another seven days.

Cavalier Call-In Highlights '08, Show 2
Image: Dave KoehnOn last week's Cavalier Call-In show, the "Voice of the Hoos" Dave Koehn made many references to the anticipation and excitement that was building for the showdown between the Cavs and the mighty Trojans of USC. After the 52-7 loss handed out by the football powerhouse, the only bit of anticipation we as fans had remaining was to see what coach Al Groh had to say about his team's performance. Coach Groh was given that opportunity on this week's call-in show.

JHoo's 10 Things I Learned ... USC
Image: Byron GlaspyIn one sense, the USC game is the type of game that you want to put behind you as fast as possible, whether you are a coach, a player, or a fan. Still, there was a lot to learn from the game, both in terms of how it was handled by the staff and how the players executed in the face of the most talented opponent they are likely to face this season. So before we move on, it is worth the time to take a quick look back.

Greg's Stock Report '08: USC
Image: Al GrohIn Saturday's postgame press conference coach Al Groh said of Virginia's overall performance against USC: "It wouldn't be right for me or anybody to say that anybody played well today." In Virginia's worst loss (52-7) in more than two decades, ironically to another USC team (South Carolina 58-10 in 1987), the team's effort was marked by a lack of execution, a lack of tackling, and a lack of urgency.


   Sabre Edge

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