UVa Gives Starsia 300th Win, Advances Past Hopkins

From UVa Athletics Media Relations' Official Release

Shamel Bratton scored a career-high five goals to lead Virginia's men's lacrosse team to a 19-8 win over Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship before a crowd of 12,142 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Sunday. UVa improves to 15-2 this season with its fifth win in a row over Johns Hopkins.

The Cavaliers face Cornell in one national semifinal on Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. This is their second consecutive appearance in the national semifinals and fourth in the last five seasons.

The win is the 300th of Virginia head coach Dom Starsia's career as he became only the third coach in Division I history to win 300 games. He is tied with former UMass coach Dick Garber for third all-time.

Senior Garrett Billings, who scored four goals in a 1-goal win over the Blue Jays earlier this season, scored four times and had three assists, while freshman Steele Stanwick scored two goals and assisted on five more. In two playoff games, Stanwick has tallied 12 points (5g, 7a). Adam Ghitelman was outstanding between the pipes with 14 saves in 53 minutes of action to highlight a dominating performance by the Cavalier defense.

"We certainly never expected the game to quite play out like that," said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia after the game. "I thought they carried the play in the early going. We were very relentless in our approach. We talked before the game about winning the ground ball battle decisively, we thought that was going to be a key element and I thought we really never gave that away today.

"We've had very good focus in practice the last couple weeks. You can never know how that is going to manifest itself, but today it did. It was a little bit unexpected against a team like the Jays. I am really proud of my team. We've been through a lot this year and this is just another part of this adventure, so hopefully we can keep it going."

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

UVa has offered two rising senior prospects out of Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati, Ohio, and we'll post an update today on one of those prospects. Virginia is right in the thick of the race to land Moeller standout outside linebacker/defensive end prospect Marcus Rush, who boasts double-digit Division 1A offers.

The 6-3, 225-pound Rush made an unofficial visit to UVa in February and plans to return soon, though no date has been set. He'll also visit the University of Michigan in June for Michigan's BBQ at the Big House. Both visits will be key as both programs are very high on Rush's list of schools. He has been offered by both programs.

Rush, who is one of the top defensive prospects in the state of Ohio, wants to make a college decision this summer. His teammate, quarterback Andrew Hendrix, is another high target of Virginia's. At last check, Hendrix, who also visited Virginia in February, expressed a desire to visit Virginia this summer as well.

Stay tuned for more later today.

Virginia has offered two top Virginia Beach rising senior prospects within the past few weeks, including Green Run defensive end/outside linebacker Jamal Wallace and First Colonial safety/linebacker Nick Dew. We'll have more with both prospects this week, including an update on Dew later today. Virginia Tech is the favorite to land Dew, while Virginia has a much better chance with Wallace, a 6-3, 210-pound prospect.

Wallace, who also boasts offers from Duke and Louisville, attended the Nike Camp in Charlottesville on May 3. He and his mother toured around Charlottesville after the camp and came away impressed by what they saw. Wallace wants to return to Virginia for another visit, but no date has been set.

Stay tuned for more from Wallace this week.

We also plan to reach Virginia 2010 running back commitment Kevin Parks for an update this week. The super-productive back, a standout at West Rowan (Mount Ulla, N.C.) since his freshman year, is Virginia's first and only commitment of the 2010 recruiting class. West Rowan is coming off of a state championship season, so we'll check in with Parks to see how next year's team looked in spring practice, among other things.

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 ...

UVa Recruits Excited to Play for USA
Two University of Virginia rising freshman, offensive lineman Oday Aboushi and safety Corey Lillard, will represent the United States in the inaugural International Federation of American Football Junior World Championship this summer in Canton, Ohio. Both prospects are excited about the opportunity on several fronts.

Top CB Louis Young to Begin College Visits
6-0 1/2, 195-pound Louis Young turned in a fantastic junior season, tallying 34 tackles, 14 pass break-ups and five interceptions on the year. The Good Counsel rising senior, one of the most highly recruited cornerback prospects in the East, looks to his sophomore season as the time when he began ascending at the cornerback position.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• UVa One of Two New Offers for Wallace
• Offer Profile: Speedster RB/WR Alex Kenney
• PA LB/DE Schedules Return Trip to UVa
• Baublitz Beginning to Narrow List

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Join us! Call 866-765-2646.

Blog Banter: It's not goodbye ...

Sabre intern Bailey Stephens finished up her term at The Sabre and her Virginia degree this month. Check out this farewell blog post:

It's goodbye for now. Well as much as I've tried to avoid it, it's almost that time. Graduation is a week and a half away and my time at The Sabre.com is almost up. In fact, after a tennis feature scheduled to run later this week, I am done. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you.

Around this time last year, I took a very generous offer from Kris for a one-year internship on the site. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the passionate readership I was about to inherit.

Little did I know what was to come in the year ahead. What an incredibly humbling experience! As Kris and I have joked many times, I interned in the arguably the worst back-to-back major sports seasons in recent memory. As I've been reminded many times this season, anyone can find a great story in a winning team but the real challenge is to write three stories a week on a losing team.

But I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. I have learned much more in the last year than I ever thought possible. The Sabre.com and the unique role you all play on the site, has pushed me to grow as a journalist and as a person. You all have been an incredibly accepting, supportive and at times yes, a constructively critical audience. I appreciate every word of feedback and for allowing me to grow as a writer during my year at The Sabre.com. The ultimate thank you must to go to Kris and Mike who treated me like a professional from day one, always valuing my input and appreciating my hard work.

I'm moving on to yet another internship, this time at MLB.com. I hope some of you (baseball fans) will continue to check out my work there. [On a related side-note: If anyone is feeling super generous and wants to give me a job in August, I'd be eternally grateful ?]

As a life-long Cavalier, I'm not really going anywhere. I will still be a Sabre contributor and I'll see you all around the boards, I'm sure.

Thanks again for a great year of memories!

Wahoo Wa!

Bailey

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Virginia Wins Team Title And Three Races At South/Central Regionals: Led by victories in the Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Novice Eight, the 11th-ranked Virginia rowing team won the overall South/Central Regional Championship and the South Region Championship Sunday at Melton Lake. Virginia has now won the South Region six times in the last seven years (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009) and the South/Central team championship five times in the last six seasons (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009).
• Taye Wins 1500m at Tar Heel & Aggie Classic: The Virginia track and field distance runners competed Sunday evening in the distance carnival section of the Tar Heel & Aggie Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C. Freshman Sintayehu Taye won the 1500m in 3:47.50.
• Briggs Wins ECAC Javelin Title; Other Cavs Post Wins Too: Junior Meghan Briggs closed competition for the Virginia track and field teams at the 2009 ECAC/IC4A Championships on Sunday by winning the ECAC javelin title with a mark of 162'4". Senior Caitlin Kelly won the discus (167'2") ahead of teammates Billie-Jo Grant and Amy Bilmanis. Senior Yemi Ayeni won his fourth-straight IC4A discus title and junior Stephanie Garcia won her second-consecutive ECAC steeplechase title. Ayeni broke his own meet record, throwing 196'7".
• Cavaliers Fall to USC in NCAA Quarterfinals: The No. 1 Virginia men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season, falling to No. 8 USC 4-0 in the NCAA Quarterfinals at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The Cavaliers end the season with a 32-1 record for the second consecutive season.
• Brackets Announced for ACC Baseball Championship: The Virginia baseball team will open the 2009 ACC Baseball Championship at 8 p.m. Thursday against No. 3-seed Clemson in Durham, N.C., at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The sixth-seeded Cavaliers also will play No. 2-seed North Carolina at 8 p.m. Friday and No. 7-seed Duke at 8 p.m. Saturday. Under the pool-play format, each team will play one game against each of the other three opponents in its division Wednesday-Saturday (May 20-23). The two teams with the best records within their respective division brackets will advance to the title game next Sunday with the winner earning the ACC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
• Hultzen, Parker Named to USA Baseball National Team Trials: Virginia pitcher/first baseman Danny Hultzen and outfielder Jarrett Parker have been invited to compete at the 2009 USA Baseball National Team Trials. Thirty-six college players have been invited to the trials.
• Gosselin Triple Ignites UVa Rally, 6-4 Cavalier Win: Phil Gosselin hit a bases-clearing triple in the seventh inning to lift the No. 10 Virginia baseball team to a 6-4 victory over Virginia Tech Saturday at English Field. Virginia Tech won the series after taking the Thursday and Friday games.
• Cavalier Golfers Advance to NCAA Championships: For the second year in a row the Virginia men's golf team made an incredible run at an NCAA Regional event to earn a berth to the NCAA Championships. Unranked and seeded ninth in the 14-team field, the Cavaliers finished fourth among 14 teams to earn one of the tournament's five spots into the national tournament. Virginia shot 16-over 300 during Saturday's final round to finish the three-day 54-hole tournament at 889. The Cavaliers were led at the regional by freshman Ben Kohles, who finished 11th overall at 221, including a 5-over 76 during the final round.
• Collins Wins Carolinas Amateur Championship: Virginia redshirt freshman Eleana Collins fired a 2-under par 70 to win the 83rd Women's Carolinas Amateur Championship by one stroke at 217.

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

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Issue No. 334 - March 24, 2008

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Basketball recruiting ...

UVa recruit Sylven Landesberg will play in Wednesday's McDonald's All-American Game. The 6-6, 195-pound Holy Cross (Flushing, N.Y.) standout is excited about the experience as he discussed it in last week's "Q&A" on the Sabre EDGE (see the links below).

The McDonald's All-American game will take place at 9:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday and will be televised by ESPN. The Powerade Jam Fest takes place today, but it will be televised on ESPN2 on Tuesday night at 11:30.

Including Virginia's Landesberg, a total of eight ACC recruits are expected to play in Wednesday night's game. Six will play for the East squad, with two playing for the West.

Football recruiting ...

The Virginia Cavaliers are off to a terrific start in the 2009 class. On Saturday, 6-2, 185-pound Orange High School (VA) standout Quintin Hunter became the fourth high school junior to commit to the staff.

Hunter, an outstanding athlete, is a two-time All-Jefferson District performer at defensive back. He exploded onto the recruiting scene at quarterback this past season, though, totaling more than 3,000 yards of offense and 30 touchdowns. He will get a chance to play quarterback at UVa, but wide receiver is the position he likely will end up playing.

One of the top rising high school seniors in the state of Virginia, Hunter boasted scholarship offers from Georgia, Maryland, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia before choosing the Hoos. For more information on his commitment, check out the Sabre EDGE article posted on Saturday night.

Check Out SabreMail #334.

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:

• Photo Weekend: The Sabre's Mike Ingalls took his trusty camera out to the NCAA games for men's lacrosse and men's tennis. Stay tuned for photos from the events!
• "Tuesday's 10": The Sabre's Kris Wright tries out a new series for EDGE subscribers.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Q&A - Adam Ghitelman
Goalies in sports have to be a little bit fearless. How else can you explain throwing yourself in front of a moving object in the name of the team? Even more so in lacrosse. College men routinely fire the ball in excess of 70 or 80 miles per hour while the keep wears very limited protection. So, yes you have to be bold, something UVa goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman knows. Check out why in this Q&A with TheSabre.com.

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