It has been several months since my time at UVA came to a close and henceforth my career as a Virginia Lacrosse player. I walked away from the University of Virginia with two National Championships, two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships, a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies, and a Master’s Degree in Social Foundations.

What an amazing trip it was to be a part of Mr. Jefferson’s public institute. The University of Virginia is most definitely a place dedicated to producing America’s political, economic, scientific, and entrepreneurial leaders not to mention one of the best athletic programs in the country. It is the latter of which I would like to concentrate on, specifically Virginia’s Lacrosse program coached by Dom Starsia, a team I spent half a decade playing on between 2002 and 2006...

Playing for Virginia is every lacrosse player’s dream come true. Everything in the program is provided for: workout uniforms, warm/cold gear outfits, wet/dry outfits, T-shirts, tight/loose fit shirts, running shoes, dry turf shoes, wet turf shoes, screw in cleats, molded cleats, all the needed lacrosse gear, multiple helmets, several different style lacrosse heads, shafts, and even personal trainers (both athletic and medical). But all of this comes at a cost; Virginia Lacrosse players must put all their concentration in to playing Lacrosse and winning games. And why not when everything else is taken care of. How awesome it is to be freed up to think about one thing, winning that next Lacrosse game! And so that is exactly what Virginia Lacrosse players do; we show up on game day and play our hearts out in front of thousands of people.

Klockner

Klockner stadium is our (Virginia’s) stomping ground. During my time at Virginia I had the honor of being part of a 19 home game winning streak at Klockner Stadium. Klockner is a beautiful stadium that packs in close to 8,000 fans. The field itself has the presence of a golf course fairway and comes with an irrigation system beneath the soil. All I can say is that it is the best place to play in the country on a rainy day because of the water absorption system underneath the soil. It is also the best place to play Lacrosse in the country on any day, period!

I will never forget the many memories of games I played at Klockner. One of which comes to mind was in 2004 when we beat John’s Hopkins, who was #1 in the country at the time, in over time. It was a night game and the crowd was absolutely electrified. After we put in the winning goal the fans rushed the field. The game to this day goes down as one of the greatest battles and victories for Virginia Lacrosse. Stepping back several years, there was the thriller against Princeton when Chris Rotelli, Connor Gill, and John Christmas absolutely dominated to put the Cavalier’s ahead at Klockner Stadium. Stepping ahead to 2006, our senior class was challenged to keep the home winning streak alive to create a school record for most consecutive home wins at Klockner. The last home game of the 2006 season was a thriller against Notre Dame in the first round of the 2006 NCAA tournament. Notre Dame played close in the 2006 tournament and fought hard. We, though, sought to keep our home streak alive and hopes of winning a National Championship going. We clinched the 19th consecutive win at Klockner Stadium over Notre Dame to make the new school record.

As one can imagine, Klockner stadium is quite possibly the hardest place to come into and play as an opponent of us Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia Lacrosse players cherish Klockner. It is our home as a Virginia Lacrosse player. We will forever carry an extra chip on our shoulder when playing there knowing the opposing team even has the audacity to come and play us on that field.

The crowds at Virginia (Klockner) are absolutely incredible to play in front of, not to mention hard on the opposing team. We, Virginia Lacrosse players, chomp at the bit to step on to Klockner and play in front of our Virginia fans. Furthermore, we love to put on a show demonstrating the finesse, speed, skill, intellect, and power within our program. Virginia lacrosse fans are an integral part of Virginia Lacrosse and their support does not go unnoticed. I will never dismiss the wonderful opportunity I had to play at Virginia’s Klockner stadium in front of an incredible fan base, with flags waving high commemorating our country, school, and the National Championships Virginia Lacrosse has won over the years.

2006 Season

So everyone asks what it was like to be a part of such an amazing program and one of the greatest, if not the greatest, seasons a Division One Lacrosse program has ever put together. Well, it was quite an adventure. Adventures, as you may or may not know, are absolutely astonishing and yet very hard. Adventures have peaks and valleys, climaxes and troughs. This 2006 season was amazing, fun, hard, and an incredible climactic end to a wonderful career, both for my classmates and me. Yet, what made it so amazing was the mere fact that 75% of this team was part of the Virginia program in 2004 when we did not make playoffs. Not making the NCAA tournament in 2004, just one year after we (Virginia) had won the National Championship in 2003 was depressing, humiliating, and a gutter to be in. But, it was our own fault. This year’s team started preparing for the 2006 season in 2004, when we did not even make playoffs. So, winning the National Championship this season was incredible and brought about a strong sense of accomplishment, not to mention euphoria, because of the many seasons it took to create one great season, 2006.

Leadership

We won because 12 veteran seniors led Virginia. This year’s senior class was a part of the 2003 season when we won the National Championship, part of the 2004 season when we did not make playoffs, and part of the 2005 season that lost to Johns Hopkins in overtime. What is more, Matt Paquett and myself, who played in 2002 as freshmen, were part of the Virginia team that lost to Syracuse in overtime. In both 2002 and 2005, when Virginia lost to Syracuse and Johns Hopkins, both teams went on to win the National Championship. So, the margin for error and the understanding of what it takes to win a National Championship was deeply rooted in the hearts of the 12 seniors that led Virginia to the National Championship this year. The 2006 Virginia Lacrosse team was led by a group of seasoned and mature seniors that knew what it took to win a National Championship and we succeeded in attaining that goal. I am and will forever be honored to have been a part of the 2006 senior class that led Virginia to the National Championship.

Success For A Team Comes When Everyone Knows Their Role

The 2006 Virginia team was successful because everyone bought into Dom Starsia’s philosophy. Everyone asks and ponders Coach Starsia’s coaching philosophy. To tell you the truth, he has several core philosophies. One of the key ones that he reiterated to us over and over is, “a team will be successful when everyone knows their role and stays within it.” To this I strongly accredit our team’s success. The senior class knew that in order for Virginia to be successful this year, every individual on the team would have to stay within their given role - which is actually the gifting of the athlete. We modeled this every day in practice and every Saturday on game day. The following are descriptions of the roles several seniors had. JJ Morrissey’s job was to play defensive middie and clear the ball. His job was not to play offense. Ironically, because he concentrated so hard on being one of the greatest defensive middies in the country and on clearing the ball as quickly as possible, he became one of the most feared transition middies because of the offense he created. Matt Ward’s role on the team was to first set up the offense, keep it flowing, and as a result he then scored an unbelievable amount of goals. He eventually went on to be the Player of the Year. Matt’s job was not to play defense or tell our defense how to play. He stayed within his role and made sure everyone else did the same. The same goes for Kyle Dixon, who was the Midfielder of the Year, Matt Poskay, who scored an insurmountable amount of goals, and myself.

I will never forget one night after practice during the 2005 season when our head assistant coach Mark Van Arsdale came up to me while I was shooting and asked me to come back for my fifth and final season. Coach Van said the following, “Jared, if you come back for your fifth and final season, we (Virginia) have a chance of having two powerful midfield lines and a great shot at winning the National Championship again.” What coach Van Arsdale was doing was asking me to come back and lead Virginia’s second midfield line for another year, so that we could have a second line with the punch of a first line. For most athletes this probably would have been a blow to their ego. I mean, who dreams of playing Division One Lacrosse for one of the greatest teams in the country and having to play a supporting role in the process? I didn’t. I had dreams of All-American, Player of the Year, etc. I had dreams of being the big dog. But that was not my role at Virginia. My role was to lead the best second midfield line in the country and to make sure we were just as much an offensive threat as the first midfield line. There were several games, though not many, when our first midfield line was either catching their breath, getting a slow start, or had gone several minutes without scoring. These were moments when the second midfield line flourished. Coach Starsia would just give me the look or say, “Jared be smart out there,” and I knew it was a crucial moment for our team and that he needed my line to do something. It is so powerful for a team when the second and third midfield lines are on the field and can be a threat because of the fact that they value their role and the significance of it. Depth is always a good thing.

Conclusion

The 2006 Virginia Lacrosse team will forever be remembered as one of the greatest teams to play the game. We had a ubiquitous playing style, we were seemingly anywhere and everywhere at all times. If the ball hit the ground we were like savages with one thing on our mind, pick up the ball. If one person slid and we got someone in a bind, you can bet our whole team was coming to support one another. Our middies were great at getting the ball to our attackmen, our attackmen were great at scoring, and our defense was great at preventing goals. We were fast, intelligent, and very supportive of each other. Lastly we were all successful and thus held together because we all bought in to our Coach’s philosophy, to stay within our role and the natural divisions of labor.

I will end this note with a quote buy the philosopher John Dewey. “A society is a number of people held together because they are working along common lines, in a common spirit, and with reference to common aims. The common needs and aims demand a growing interchange of thought and growing unity of sympathetic feeling. Upon the playground, in game and sport, social organization takes place spontaneously and inevitably. There is something to do, some activity to be carried on, requiring natural divisions of labor, selection of leaders and followers, mutual cooperation and emulation.” So the 2006 Virginia Lacrosse team was successful because we bought in to the cooperative element that we must all stay within our roles and we reached the pinnacle of the Lacrosse world.

Virginia Lacrosse is the 2006 National Champions!!