An NCAA Weekend Begins
Tuesday, May 10 2011 by Tim
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about Virginia having a full slate of ACC Championships in one weekend. The ‘Hoos competed in seven championships that weekend, winning two of them (Rowing and Men’s Tennis). That gives Virginia 4 ACC Championships of the 23 that have been contested so far. Only Maryland has more, having won Field Hockey, Men’s Soccer, Wrestling and Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse (you’ll note that three of those were titles that Virginia brought home last year). Of the two remaining (Baseball and Softball), Virginia has a very good shot at winning the baseball title (they stand alone in first place in the regular season right now), but not a great chance in softball.
But before we get to either of those titles, we have an NCA weekend coming up. Virginia will be competing in contests for four NCAA Championships this weekend. Let’s take a look:
Women’s Lacrosse (Saturday, 1pm, Chapel Hill): It was a bit of a surprise that the Cavaliers even made the field, and their draw certainly shows that they were one of the last teams in. They head down to Chapel Hill to take on the host Tar Heels. Carolina eliminated Virginia from the ACC tournament by a crushing 16-5 margin. Earlier in the season, however, UNC only escaped with a one-goal win. So anything is possible. If Virginia were to manage the upset, they’d probably end up traveling to Loyola next weekend for the second round.
Women’s Tennis (Saturday, 1pm, Charlottesville; Sunday, 1pm, Charlottesville): The Cavs had a surprisingly good season this year, beating some very good teams and earning themselves the 11th overall seed in the NCAA tournament. They play host to Army in the first game and, assuming they win, they’ll play the winner of VCU/NCSU on Sunday. A trip to Stanford for the sweet 16 is likely with this team, but having to face (probably) UCLA in their time zone and then (again, probably) a Duke team that beat them twice this year doesn’t seem like an easy road to the final four.
Men’s Lacrosse (Sunday, 3pm, Charlottesville): Virginia is seeded 7th overall, its lowest seed in a decade (other than that one year where we didn’t even get in… but we don’t like to talk about that). But the road to Baltimore for the final four doesn’t look quite so scary. An opening round game in which the Cavaliers host Bucknell (a team that has only been to the NCAA tournament once before) should provide Virginia with an opportunity to continue to build on the Penn win. Should the ‘Hoos win on Sunday, they’ll travel to New York to face Cornell next weekend. Cornell had only two losses this season – but one of them was to Virginia in the Face Off Classic in Baltimore. That should be a fun matchup, with the winner getting to go back to Baltimore for the final four.
Men’s Tennis (Friday, 1pm, Charlottesville; Saturday, 4pm, Charlottesville): Virginia is the #1 team in the country, undefeated, and the four-time-reigning ITA Indoor National Champions. So what is left for them to do? Win an outdoor title. It won’t be an easy road – just ask the last three previous squads, all of which entered the NCAA tournament as the top seed but failed to win any titles. But this is a very strong team, with a lot of depth. Our number 2 and number 3 singles players could easily be number 1 at other schools (in fact, our number 2 is a freshman who is undefeated on the season. At number 2 singles. That’s insane given the schedule we play).
Five of the six possible UVA/NCAA events listed above are being contested right here in Charlottesville. Should be a great weekend. Go Hoos!