Virginia blitzes Cornell in 2nd quarter

For Virginia, the price of admission to next weekend's Final Four was a quarter. A spectacular, gold-plated second quarter in which the Cavaliers hit the jackpot against Cornell in Saturday's NCAA Tournament men's lacrosse quarterfinal at Hofstra.

How priceless was that 15-minute stretch? No. 7 seed Virginia (11-5) scored seven goals and held No. 2 seed Cornell (14-3) scoreless, capping a 9-0 run that provided a six-goal halftime lead in the Cavaliers' 13-9 win before a noisy Shuart Stadium record crowd of 13,447. Virginia will face Denver in an NCAA semifinal Saturday at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium.

"Quite a remarkable day in many different ways," said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who grew up in Nassau County. "There was a great atmosphere, with kids hanging over the locker-room railing. I couldn't have scripted that second quarter any better. We dominated the ball and we shot the ball very well."

The script also provided a historical footnote for Starsia, who was a Valley Stream Central football star but didn't see his first lacrosse game until he was a student at Brown. Saturday's victory was the 327th of his 29-year coaching career, the most wins in NCAA history by a coach at a Division I school, breaking a tie with Jack Emmer.

"It's an honor to be a part of this," said defenseman Bray Malphrus, who anchored a zone that contained Cornell's all-Long Island attack in the first half. "He's very modest. He never even mentioned it at practice."

But Starsia mentioned more than enough to have the Cavaliers prepared. "They had a great game plan and they executed it early and often," Cornell coach Ben DeLuca said. "In the second quarter, we didn't do a good job off the ground and they capitalized with their athletes."

Best among those athletes was junior attack Steele Stanwick, who enhanced his Tewaaraton Award (the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy) candidacy with a three-goal, four-assist performance. He had one goal and four assists in the second quarter as Virginia took a 10-4 halftime lead. Nick O'Reilly of South Side and Chris Bocklet scored two goals each during the flurry.

"Steele is a phenomenal player. We had a lot of trouble with him," DeLuca said. "He really exploited us off the ball."

Cornell's Long Island connection had a prolific afternoon, but after an initial 4-1 burst, it was never a serious factor in the outcome. Rob Pannell (Smithtown West), also a Tewaaraton finalist, had three goals, giving him 42. But Pannell really is more of a feeder (47 assists), and he was blanked Saturday and forced from behind the net to the perimeter, which slowed the Big Red offense. "He elevates all five other offensive players," Malphrus said. "We knew we had to cover off the ball, match up and not give anyone open space."

Steven Mock (Huntington) had four goals and David Lau (Cold Spring Harbor) added three assists for Cornell. Lau's high school teammate, Cavs goalie Adam Ghitelman, had 13 saves.

"We had a lot of great opportunities in the third quarter,'' Pannell said. "Adam made some great saves. We just couldn't get a run going. We couldn't get into a flow.''

The Big Red was a day late and a quarter short.