University of Virginia Library

Lannigan Field Contest

Stickmen To Battle Tar Heels

By FLETCHER THOMPSON

Virginia's Lacrosse Team Goes Into Action Today Against UNC

North Carolina, a team
which has elicited only yawns
from lacrosse fans in the past,
invades Lannigan Field at 3
this afternoon with the
17th-ranked team in the
country and an attackman who
is being touted as   tops in
the land.

"Bruce Ledwith is
undoubtedly the best senior
attackman in the country,"
says Tar Heel assistant coach
Paul Doty. He also feels that
this year's edition of the Heel
stickmen is the finest in UNC
history.

Mr. Doty's enthusiasm
aside, most astute lacrosse fans
don't expect the Chapel Hill
crowd to be anything more
than a stepping stone for the
Cavaliers on their way to
Saturday's contest with Johns
Hopkins. The Cavs, who had
wrested the top spot from the
Blue Jays in last week's USILA
poll, fell back to second as
Hopkins recorded a 176-174
vote edge in the latest rankings.

Still, the rules say the Cavs
will have to do more than walk
out on the field to win, even
though their opponents have a
19-1 drubbing to Maryland and
a 10-9 loss to lowly
Washington College en route to
a 9-2 record.

To go along with Ledwith,
who had piled up 20 goals and
32 assists through ten games,
the Heels will throw attackman
Don Fraser (22 goals) and Rob
Beran (16) and midfielder Bert
Fett. (17) at the Wahoo
defense.

In the nets for Carolina will
be Dave Schreiner, who had
stopped 120 shots in ten
outings.

While many University
students were enjoying Miami,
Nassau and other spring break
Meccas, the stickmen visited
the less scenic towns of
Baltimore and Durham and
added two more victories to
up their record to 6-0.

Towson State was the Cavs'
first victim, going down 13-9
on March 31 in a contest that
was at times as sloppy as the
playing field.

The Tigers tallied on a Tim
Havens goal after two minutes
of the first period, but their
ascendancy was momentary.
Ahead 4-2 at the quarter, the
'Hoos stretched the margin to
9-3 over their befuddled hosts
before halftime.

An early second-half
Virginia lapse allowed the
Bengals to pull within four
before attackman Tom
Duquette decided to end what
suspense there was and fired
three shots past pudgy Towson
goalie Carey Greenberg in the
space of five minutes.

Another third-period
Cavalier tally sent Greenberg
to any early shower in favor of
Jeff Jones who shut out the
'Hoos the rest of the way while
his teammates scored four
times to achieve a small
amount of respectability.

Duke's Blue Devils provided
the Wahoos with their first
conference killing last
Saturday, Virginia ran up an
8-1 halftime score on its way
to a 15-6 victory in which it
dominated every statistical
category.

Leading point man for the
afternoon was attackman Rick
Bergland, who pitched four
shots into the nets besides
contributing three assists.
Second-year goalie Scott Howe
started his first game of the
year and came up with ten
saves.