Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Seven overtimes. Eighty-five minutes. A coach who ran out of things to say.
Virginia’s top-ranked men’s lacrosse team outlasted No. 9 Maryland 10-9 in a seven-overtime thriller Saturday — history’s longest Division-I lacrosse game.
After his team rallied from three goals down late in regulation and withstood more than 30 extra minutes of play, Virginia coach Dom Starsia had a simple request of his offensive coordinator: Let them play.
Virginia didn’t bother calling any more timeouts once the ball was in their offensive end. Actually, Starsia told reporters afterward that he had simply run out of things to say. Instead, in the first minute of the seventh overtime, junior midfielder Brian Carroll whipped a left-handed shot that finally, mercifully, hit the inside net of the goal.
What makes this story even more remarkable is how close it became to not being much more than a box score. See, nine seconds into the first overtime Maryland notched an apparent game-winner that seemed to end Virginia’s undefeated streak.
But a mistaken whistle from a referee, who thought Maryland had called for a timeout, negated the goal and altered the course of events sevenfold.
Jayhawk lacrosse
Men’s lacrosse is played at Kansas as a club sport. The Jayhawks compete in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association, a national organization of non-NCAA college lacrosse programs. The MCLA’s Web site, www.MCLA.us, describes itself as operating in the United States and Canada with 213 teams in two divisions across 10 conferences.
The team’s next home game is against Missouri at 2 p.m. on April 11 at the Shenk Sports Complex.
March Sadness Required Reading
For those not quite ready to revisit a NCAA tournament now devoid of crimson and blue, let’s stick with today’s topic in our latest required reading.
Titled “Spin Right and Shoot Left,” John McPhee’s March 23 essay in the New Yorker is a perfectly crafted account of lacrosse for novices and seasoned fans alike.
McPhee illustrates the vast parallels between America’s original pastime and its siblings: basketball, soccer, hockey and water polo. James Naismith — the father of hoops — played lacrosse a decade prior to inventing the sport we all get mad about this time of year.
Also duly noted is hockey legend Wayne Gretzky’s obsession with lacrosse and football great Jim Brown — considered by many the greatest modern lacrosse player — being a lacrosse player who played football and not the reverse.
Those seeking further details of the game’s strategy and the intricacies of the equipment — today’s sticks are made of patented aluminum alloys, weapon’s grade titanium and various other elements — will be well served giving this essay a look.
And who knows, maybe any more essays and epic overtime battles may find the uninitiated lacrosse fans mirroring McPhee’s Irish cabdriver.
Escorting the writer to a game, the driver picks McPhee’s brain on all there is to know about the sport. Upon arrival, he adds that he’d like to stay around and watch.
— — Edited by Carly Halvorson
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