Dear Old U.Va.

Ward Lifts Alumni Over Wahoos 13-12

Friday, October 03 2008 by Tim

Former Virginia All-American Matt Ward’s goal with seven seconds left gave the lacrosse alumni a 13-12 victory over the Cavaliers. The alumni scored first and held a 9-4 lead in the 3rd quarter, but the Hoos stormed back to take an 11-10 lead by the time the fourth quarter started. The teams traded goals a few times in the fourth quarter until the Hoos missed a chance in the final minute and Ward capitalized at the other end.

Kip Turner played an impressive game in goal for the alumni, making some fantastic saves look easy. It’s pretty obvious that he continued to get better after graduating and he looked great in goal. On the current Cavalier goalie front, Adam Ghitelman played the first half and looked decent, though not great. Mark Wade handled the third period and, in my opinion, looked like the best Cavalier goalie. Rob Fortunato had the misfortune of taking the fourth quarter and having to face Ward’s last minute heroics.

Sophomore Shamel Bratton (pictured right) scored three goals for the Cavs including an awesome low shot to tie the game at nine. Senior Garrett Billings also had three goals while fellow senior Danny Glading added back to back goals during the third quarter.

I noted in my preview of this game that there was one player on the alumni team who was a decade older than the rest. Well, much to the delight of several of his former teammates and the older alumni in the crowd, 1992 All-American Perry Frazer got on the scoreboard for the alumni.

The alumni certainly didn’t shy away from physical play. I don’t think I’d be too far off if I said that they were actually more physical than the Cavs on this particular night. There were several hard hits by the alumni, including one by Ward on Sophomore Bray Malphrus and a two-man hit on freshman Chris Bocklet.

Adam Fassnacht, former Cavalier face-off man took all of the face-offs for the alumni. I’m not sure what the numbers were, but the current Cav FO crew held their own. On one occasion, though, Adam took the face-off all the way to the net unassisted for the alumni’s sixth goal.

Ken Clausen had two fast breaks all the way from the defensive end. The first one, he took all the way to the goal and scored the Cavaliers’ third goal. On the second, he ran nearly the same route up the field, then dished to Danny Glading for his second goal.

Overall, I’m pleased with what I saw tonight. That was an insane crop of alumni players our current players just went up against. And they certainly held their own, even with Starsia substituting liberally and getting a lot of players into the mix. Lots to look forward to in ‘09 for this team.

I took some pictures with a new camera tonight. I’m still getting used to it, but go check out the pictures. They’re a slightly better quality than the ones from the soccer game last night.

Random Notes:

• In a move that got some laughs from the crowd, Dom Starsia called a stick check on Chris Rotelli. The stick was legal.
• Highly touted freshman Steele Stanwick did not play tonight due to an ankle injury.
• A word of advice to players who have to do their business at halftime – go a little further beyond the fence before you stop…