Four days after his team’s 15-10 loss at Duke, Virginia coach Dom Starsia was still sorting things out.
After all, the Cavaliers hadn’t stumbled since last season.
It has led to a curious balancing act for Virginia (12-1), which notched four one-goal victories before enduring its sixth straight loss to the burgeoning Blue Devils.
“We all acknowledge we need to play better,” Starsia said. “We just are going to get back to work. We have a chance. I don’t know why I’m saying that sentence. ’We have a chance?’ We were the No. 1 team in the country.”
Now it’s No. 2, but the point remains. The Cavaliers still have a potent attack led by seniors Garrett Billings and Danny Glading. They possess arguably the best long pole in the game in Mike Timms. Faceoffs and goalie play, concerns coming into the year, aren’t problem spots.
But the loss still burned a little differently for Virginia, which hosts Dartmouth (4-8) on Saturday. Starsia said his juniors and seniors called a meeting Monday, and that day’s practice featured several older players urging Starsia to send the team through a difficult session.
“For our kids, it is a little sour,” he said. “I actually feel like we wanted to do one-on-ones for an hour. I said: ’Look, fellas, I can’t kill you at this time of year. We have games to play.’ I think everybody’s heart is in the right place.”
It’s nothing a postseason run couldn’t fix. The Cavaliers did win at Johns Hopkins and Syracuse and also defeated Cornell and Maryland to build a formidable resume for next month’s NCAA tournament.
“We’re 12-1, for God’s sakes,” Starsia said. “We still deserve to be No. 1, all things considered. It’s hard to reconcile the two feelings here. People are saying, ’It’ll be a good thing for you,’ but I wish we were trying to deal with 13-0.”
Freshman Vernam thrives
Navy’s close defense looks a little bit different than at the start of the season. Freshman Matt Vernam is a major reason why.
Vernam slid into the lineup in late February, and he has provided the No. 11 Midshipmen (9-3) a physical presence ever since - even if it’s unusual for a first-year player to do so at Navy. The last freshman defenseman to start for the Mids was Chris Stebbings in 2000.
“We recruit these guys for a reason,” coach Richie Meade said. “Matt was a prep school kid, and we felt in the fall he was playing well. We don’t put out hopes in the hands of plebes normally. It’s not something we’re in the habit of doing, but there’s an exception to every rule.”
The 6-foot-2, 209-pounder isn’t the Mids’ only in-season find. Sophomore Tom Mansfield played only twice before April, but an injury to Michael Hirsch thrust him into the lineup two weeks ago. Best left to neutralizing dodgers, Mansfield held Army star Jason Peyer to a goal in last week’s 8-4 victory.
Both will be tested Saturday when Navy attempts to snap a 35-game skid against No. 9 Johns Hopkins (5-4), which shrugged off the loss of two star midfielders to emerge as an impressively balanced team.
“If you want to do a clinic on playing team offense in this sport, this would be a great group,” Meade said.
New place for Hoyas
Missing the postseason on the final day of the season last spring wasn’t fun for Georgetown. This year, though, has turned out to be worse.
The Hoyas (5-6, 1-3 ECAC) are effectively out of contention for an NCAA tournament berth as they visit No. 12 Massachusetts (7-3, 4-0) on Saturday. Coach Dave Urick already has the first six-loss season of his career, and one more setback in the final three games would assure the first .500 or worse year in his 29 seasons.
“It’s an experience relatively new for a lot of us,” Urick said. “We’re trying to play for personal pride and make sure the focus and effort and commitment are there.”
Georgetown is the latest power to stumble through a numbing season, but hope stems from several recent off seasons. Navy (2003), Duke (2004), Virginia (2004) and Syracuse (2007) each endured a rare sub-.500 record, only to reach the national semifinals the next season.
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