Syracuse vs. Virginia MLAX Quotes - March 5, 2005
Virginia senior attackman John Christmas:
“We were 2-0 coming in here and this is the first quality team we’ve played. It feels good to get a win.”
Sophomore Goalie Kip Turner:
“We’re playing really well right now. Last year we came in and were not mature enough, but we did have the confidence and I think the key to running our midfield is the confidence – to feel comfortable with the ball and to feel comfortable with each other. That’s the main thing right now, just knowing where people are going to be, getting an open shot and having the confidence.”
Turner on playing against Jay Pfeifer:
“It’s tough playing against him. He’s been there before. He’s been to the National Championship twice. I was just glad to play against him. It’s a big deal.”
Junior attackman Matt Ward:
“Coming in, we knew most of their experience was on the defensive side because they’d lost a lot of their offense. We knew if we were going to beat them, we would have to do it on our offensive side against their experienced defense. We came in knowing that if we had contributions from our midfield, we’d be able to put up some points. Our offense is pretty efficient when it gets going.”
“Getting a three-goal lead, especially up here, is kind of relaxing. But, you know Syracuse is going to put a run together and they did.”
Ward on SU raising the 2004 National Championship banner before the game:
“They’re the national champions and they have the right to do whatever they want. Raising that – good for them. But our concern was getting off to a fast start, not worrying about pre-game stuff. They’re national champions still and we just have to continue to play well.”
Head Coach Dom Starsia On playing against Syracuse:
“I know that our kids really look forward to playing this game. Even when they come up here, I try to impress on them that this is the kind of thing you should be looking forward to in your life. When I first got to Virginia, I would tell our administrator that I wanted to add Syracuse to the schedule if we could. It took a couple of years to make that happen. I didn’t envision that we’d have a string of ten years like this with these kinds of games. But I think listening to the kids on both teams talk about this game, there’s a certain buzz about it.”
“I don’t know what Syracuse thinks exactly. I don’t know how this is going to unfold in the polls, but coming into the Dome and winning a game up here against these guys – a game that goes back and forth – is a quality win.”
Syracuse junior attackman Brian Crockett on losing possession on an out-of-bounds shot in the final minute:
“I thought I got there. When the ball went out, I thought I was ahead of my man. It’s hard when you’re in the struggle to see who’s ahead when the ball goes over the line, but from my perspective, I thought I got there.”
Junior attackman Brett Bucktooth on the UVA goalie:
“I think towards the end of the game he had some good stops for them. He played a good game and stopped a lot of our shots. We have to practice taking better shots and finding the open net. We eventually got a few goals, but it was hard.”
Senior midfielder Geoff Keough on sharing time at the faceoff with Danny Brennan:
“You have to go on a run, and it’s whoever has the hot hand. Last week Danny had the hot hand, this week I had to go in there and help him with a couple.”
Head Coach John Desko on the defensive unit:
“I thought they did a pretty good job today. What I thought hurt us were our mistakes – a couple of times trying to take the ball away in unsettled situations and getting beat. We did use the zone again today, which was a nice change for us. John Christmas was terrific. Kyle (Guadagnolo) did a very good job today and got some great experience as a freshman. And Steven (Panarelli), a sophomore, went up against Christmas. So, I thought they did a very good job. There were a couple of mistakes, especially in the first half. Their goaltender did a great job of making saves today.”
Desko on senior goalie Jay Pfeifer:
“I thought he had a great week last week. He played great against Army. He had a good week in practice and played well against (Virginia) early. I’m sure he’d like to have a couple of those back, but they have some tremendous shooters. When they wind up, it’s got to be going 95 mph and it’s just tough to see out there, They have some terrific players who were getting shots at the doorstep, too. You can’t do that against these types of guys.”
Desko on what his team can take away from this game:
“We’re disappointed, obviously. It’s in the Carrier Dome and this is a great one to win because I think Virginia is going to win a lot of lacrosse games this year. What we take out from this is that we were down by a couple of goals a couple of times and came back. Guys like Geoff Keough stepped up on big possessions. Especially in a tight game, you need faceoffs and possessions because it’s just one more opportunity. I think we executed better in the second half. We ran like we had some fire in our bellies and got after some ground balls. We have a good group – they’re very athletic.”
