Cornell Upsets Top-Seed Virginia in the Semifinals

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., May 23 -- Penalty flags accumulated in the final minutes of Virginia's loss to Cornell in Saturday's men's lacrosse semifinals, as much an indication of the Cavaliers' frustration as the Big Red's dominance. Virginia could do little against Cornell for much of the afternoon, and the penalties only illustrated a team that had reached its boiling point.

Cornell charged to the center of field when the clock finally expired on its 15-6 win over the Cavaliers. The result had long been determined. Virginia Coach Dom Starsia stood just inside the playing field, watching his team slowly console each other after a season that ended prematurely. It is Cornell (13-3) -- and not Virginia (15-3) -- that will meet Syracuse in Monday's national championship.

"I'm at a little bit of a loss to explain what happened to us today," Starsia said. "We were well prepared coming into the game, a couple good days of practice. But we just seemed a little gassed early and Cornell was carrying the plate to us."

Virginia arrived here as a juggernaut, winning its first two games of the postseason virtually by halftime. Players, coaches -- and even opponents -- acknowledged that the Cavaliers were playing their finest lacrosse of the season and fulfilling the promise of a roster that brimmed with all-Americans.

Excitement developed about the championship possibilities. Syracuse knocked the Cavaliers out of the postseason in 2008. Duke was the only team to beat Virginia this season. The question among lacrosse fans was often whom the Cavaliers would need to top to win the championship -- and not whether they would reach the final game.

But Virginia needed to advance past Cornell first -- a task that proved more difficult than it appeared. The Big Red's defense stymied a Virginia offense that averaged more than 13 goals before Saturday. Cornell limited the Cavaliers' possessions. When the Big Red built an early lead, Virginia started to panic in its possessions. Turnovers became commonplace, lazy passes frequent and momentum ever elusive.

"One of the most difficult things in sports is to maintain your patience and discipline on offense when you haven't seen the ball in a long time," Starsia said. "You feel like, from our perspective, we're still in the game. You're down 1-nothing, 2-nothing, 3 to 1. But [Cornell] was comfortable with what they were doing early on, and they were capable of being deliberate through the game."

Trouble appeared early, when Cornell held Virginia scoreless for 17 minutes 32 seconds. Senior Danny Glading (Georgetown Prep) said the team lacked patience to take good shots in the first quarter.

"We just seemed almost incapable of making a pass offensively in the first half," Starsia said. "There just wasn't enough urgency at that end of the field."

Long-stick midfielder Mike Timms said Cornell's offense did not present anything unexpected or any tactics that were not used when Virginia beat the Big Red, 14-10, on March 8 -- but Cornell simply executed better. Their deliberate playing style troubled Virginia's defense, which was often able to halt Cornell's first attempt at scoring but were outdone by Cornell's patience.

Freshman Rob Pannell's three goals and three assists led Cornell. Virginia's top scorers were Steele Stanwick and Glading, both of whom scored two goals and had an assist.

Still, Virginia felt a late surge was on the verge. The Cavaliers are capable of scoring in bunches and a six-goal deficit in the fourth quarter was not insurmountable. But a sequence of failed attempts epitomized the afternoon: Glading scored a goal but was charged with sneaking his foot into the crease, and Stanwick ricocheted a shot off the crossbar.

"I really actually felt we were going to start playing better -- up until even a couple minutes into the fourth quarter," Glading said, before recognized the misfortunes. "That's just kind of the way things were going today."

In the locker room after the game, tears flowed from one direction. Hugs of appreciation for a senior came in another direction. The gestures symbolized the finality that occurred one game sooner than anticipated. "We were ready to play," Glading said. "We just didn't play."

-- SYRACUSE 17, DUKE 7: The Orange (15-2) used an offensive onslaught in a dominating win over the Blue Devils (15-4). The 10-goal victory was the biggest margin in a national semifinal since 2003. Seniors Pat Perritt and Kenny Nims each scored four goals for the Orange. Syracuse outshot Duke, 48-38, while also winning the ground ball and face-off battles. The Orange will try to defend the national title in the program's 15th championship game.