CHARLOTTESVILLE – A phone call to men’s lacrosse coach Dom Starsia never fails to yield a nugget or two, and our conversation yesterday was no exception.

Fall ball is under way, and Starsia has had a chance to evaluate the recruits who entered the program this summer.  U.Va. fans will be delighted to learn that Starsia raved about Ryan Benincasa, a faceoff specialist from Greenwich, Conn.

Faceoffs were a weakness last season for the Cavaliers, and never more so than in the NCAA semifinals.  Syracuse won 19 of 27 draws in that game, one reason the Orange was able to overcome a five-goal third-quarter deficit.  The ‘Cuse forced overtime against U.Va., won in sudden death and then, two days later, beat Johns Hopkins for the NCAA title.

Benincasa should prove immediate help at the faceoff X.  He missed the first two days of practice at U.Va., but when Benincasa finally took the field, “he won every faceoff in practice clean as a whistle. It was a revelation standing there,“ said Starsia, whose contract recently was extended through the 2012 season.

“I would say that we should withhold judgment a little more, but first impressions were eye-opening.”

Another newcomer at that position is graduate student Chad Gaudet, a transfer from Dartmouth, where he won 56 percent of his faceoffs and made honorable-mention all-Ivy League last season.

Gaudet “gives us a nice other option,” Starsia said. “He faces off with a long stick, and he’s a brute of a kid.  He can beat you up at the X.”

Garett Ince and Brian McDermott took most of U.Va.’s draws last season, and both are back, as are two other players with faceoff skills: Nick Elsmo and Joe Dewey.

This U.Va. team could give Starsia his fourth NCAA title.  Ben Rubeor is a huge loss on attack, of course, but the nation’s top-rated recruit, Steele Stanwick, should slide into that spot, and Starsia never has been deeper at long-stick midfielder, where his options include Mike Timms and Bray Malphrus and freshmen Peter Borror and Wyatt Melzer.

“I would say the biggest question mark after a week of lacrosse is the middies,” Starsia said.  “How do we break them up and sort it out?”

One possibility is to run twins Rhamel and Shamel Bratton with Brian Carroll on the first line.  Others in the mix for playing time include Steve Giannone, Ince, Elsmo, George Huguely and John Haldy, a talented sophomore who’s been moved from attack. 

Chris Bocklet probably will be an attackman in 2010, once Danny Glading, Garrett Billings and Gavin Gill leave the program, but Starsia may use him some in the midfield in ’09.

Starsia said the “guys that are going to be players here usually identify themselves early in their career,” and Bocklet, a freshman from John Jay High in New York, appears to be one of those players.

“It may be that he may not play much on attack this year, but you find ways to get guys on the field,” Starsia said.  “Bocklet’s one of the better skilled kids on the team, period.  He just catches and shoots so well.  There’s a sense we’re going to need to find a way to get him out there.”

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Posted by Jeff White in • College Sports • University of Virginia
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