Switching Fields, Virginia's M. Kelly Still Stands Out
Star Running Back In High School Had Considered Football in Big Ten
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Saturday, May 17, 2008; Page E03
When Virginia defenseman Matt Kelly was in high school, he figured he had as good a chance to play Big Ten football as ACC lacrosse, and when he first took to a lacrosse field, he was wearing an outdated panel helmet.
"It was my older brother's equipment from eight years earlier," Kelly said. "Only one other guy on the team was wearing one."
But a strong showing at a summer lacrosse camp before his junior year of high school changed Kelly's athletic prospects, and since his modest entry into the game, he has ascended to a starting role on defense for the second-seeded Cavaliers (13-3), who face No. 7 Maryland (10-5) in an NCAA quarterfinal at noon today at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
The Maryland-Virginia game is part of a doubleheader. In the second game, unseeded Navy will face No. 5 Johns Hopkins. The games are expected to draw a record crowd of 20,000.
Kelly's road to the game began at the Top 205 camp in Baltimore in late June 2004, thanks to his father's insistence.
"I kept telling him I wasn't going to know anyone, and I didn't want to go," Kelly said. "I thought it was a waste of time, but my dad wanted me to try it."
And Peter Kelly had to wonder in the hours after his son returned exactly what had happened at the camp.
The camp ended June 30. The next day was the first that NCAA rules allowed coaches to contact high school juniors.
By the time Matt Kelly got back to the family's home outside Chicago, coaches from two top college programs had left him voicemail messages. Another had sent a handwritten note to the house via overnight mail.
The initial phone conversation between Virginia Coach Dom Starsia and Kelly left an impression on both. At that point, Kelly was a standout running back at New Trier (Ill.) High.
Kelly had heard of Virginia's program from one of his older brothers who attended Duke.
Meantime, Starsia had seen Kelly in the camp's all-star game and was impressed. Starsia recalled that one statement Kelly made stood out in particular.
