No. 1 Virginia Falls to No. 2 Johns Hopkins in Overtime - #UVA #Lacrosse #Hopkins #Lax

No. 1 Virginia Falls to No. 2 Johns Hopkins in Overtime

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Three overtime turnovers by the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers (8-1) set the table for the No. 2 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (8-0) to walk out of Klöckner Stadium on Saturday afternoon with the victory, 11-10, in front of 6,899 fans.
The UVa loss snapped a 14-game winning streak inside Klöckner Stadium, the longest current streak in the nation. It also broke UVa's 13-game winning streak, which was tops in the nation. UVa's senior class is now 27-2 all-time inside Klöckner Stadium.
Johns Hopkins' John Ranagan's split dodge allowed him to unload the game-winning score with five seconds remaining in the overtime period. The loss was UVa's first in overtime since falling to Syracuse, 12-11, in the 2008 NCAA Semifinal round. The loss was the first overtime loss since Syracuse won 18-17 on Feb. 28, 1998.
"You can't give the ball back to a great team that many times and expect to win," said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. "I think that the difference was probably our shooting overall. I thought we created enough opportunities, but we were off the cage or made [Basset's] life too easy.
"It's a team game, and there were things that we could have done better at both ends of the field. I just felt like offensively we let it get away from us. In the first half we could have had more goals, and in the third quarter we let Hopkins climb back into it by not capitalizing on some things on the offensive end. We weren't quite sharp enough."
Virginia started the scoring on a Colin Briggs score via a Rob Emery pass at 10:41 in the first quarter. Emery scored unassisted at 4:24 to give UVa the 2-0 lead in the opening stanza. Mike Poppleton scored unassisted at 4:19 off the ensuing faceoff to cut the Blue Jays' deficit to one goal, 2-1.
Chris Bocklet scored back-to-back goals to give UVa the 4-1 lead with 14:40 left in the second period.
Johns Hopkins made a run in going into the intermission, outscoring UVa 2-1 the rest of the way, as the Cavaliers owned a 5-3 lead at the break. Brandon Benn and Wells Stanwick scored during the spurt.
The Blue Jays started out the second half on a 5-1 streak to take their first lead of the game, 8-6. Back-to-back scores by Rob Guida ended the run with 13:18 left in the fourth quarter.
UVa bounced back to tie the game, 8-8, after goals by Emery and a highlight reel tally by Matt White. The goal by White came on a Steele Stanwick helper in front of the crease, which White deposited behind his head for the score with 11:06 left in the period.
Johns Hopkins bounced back on a Zach Palmer score at 10:14, giving the Blue Jays a narrow 9-8 lead.
UVa was poised to finish regulation on top, scoring back-to-back goals from Steele Stanwick and Ryan Tucker, giving the Cavaliers a 10-9 advantage with 2:44 left in the fourth period.
After a UVa turnover during a stall warning, Johns Hopkins tied the game with 44 seconds left in the fourth period on an unassisted Lee Coppersmith goal, setting up the overtime period and heroics by Ranagan.
UVa won the ground ball battle (30-26) and the faceoffs (13-11). Rob Fortunato made 13 saves in goal for the Cavaliers.
Virginia returns to action on Saturday when it opens ACC play at Maryland. The game will be televised on ESPNU in HD and faceoff is set for noon at Byrd Stadium.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Few games that receive as much hype as Saturday's men's lacrosse matchup between top-ranked Virginia and second-ranked Johns Hopkins actually live up to the advance billing. After regulation and all but five seconds of a full overtime, it's safe to say that the Blue Jays' 11-10 win over the Cavaliers did - and then some.

Johns Hopkins trailed by as many as three in the first half, led by two early in the fourth quarter and trailed by a goal with just over a minute to play in regulation - while playing a man down.
That's when things really got crazy.
Virginia turned the ball over with 11 seconds remaining on its extra-man chance and the Blue Jays needed one timeout and 27 seconds before junior Lee Coppersmith slipped inside a pair of defenders and scored from the high slot with 44 seconds left in regulation.
Failed extra-man chances and turnovers by both teams over the remainder of regulation and the first three plus minutes overtime eventually led to Hopkins isolating junior John Ranagan at the top of the box as the first overtime ticket away. After getting a quick step on his defender, he beat Virginia goalie Rob Fortunato low for his eighth goal of the season and the Blue Jays had exorcised yet another demon they had carried - and heard about - for far too long.
Ranagan's goal lifted the Blue Jays to their first win in Charlottesville against the Cavaliers since 1998. Earlier wins at Princeton and last week against Syracuse had stopped losing streaks against the Tigers and Orange that had stretched to three and five games, respectively.
Winning at Virginia - that was an entirely different monkey on the back; or gorilla as JHU head coach Dave Pietramala has referred to it a week earlier.
That the game went to overtime should surprise few. During the losing streak in Charlottesville the Blue Jays had alternated blowout losses in 2002, 2006 and 2010 with overtime defeats in 2004 and 2008. Eventually one of these had to break Hopkins' way.
After Virginia built an early 4-1 lead on lengthy possessions and back-to-back goals by Chris Bocklet that bridged the first and second quarters, the Blue Jays slowly began to work their way back into the game.
The Blue Jays grabbed the momentum midway through the second quarter as they scored consecutive goals in a three-minute span midway through the period. Sophomore Brandon Benn one-timed home a pass to the crease from junior Zach Palmer to make it 4-2 and freshman Wells Stanwick made it a one-goal game with 4:34 remaining in the first half as he dodged hard to the crease from behind the goal and beat Fortunato from in tight.
A Steele Stanwick goal into an empty net gave the Cavs a 5-3 lead at halftime and the teams traded goals in a 35-second span early in the period to make it 6-4. Nearly 15 minutes would pass before Virginia would score again. During that time the Blue Jays scored four times to build their two-goal lead.
Benn completed his third consecutive hat trick 29 seconds after a Ryan Tucker goal to ignite the four-goal run, which included the first career goal by sophomore Jack Reilly and back-to-back extra-man goals by Rob Guida in a span of just over five minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters.
Virginia, as it does so often, struck back quickly with two goals in a 50-second span shortly after Guida's strike made it 8-6. A Rob Emery extra-man goal drew the Cavs within one at 8-7 and Matt White's highlight-reel behind the back shot from the crease tied it less than a minute later.
If White's shot was destined for play of the game, it was quickly bumped by Zach Palmer's goal 52 seconds later. Working from behind the goal, Palmer drove up the side and scored on a one-handed wrap-around shot from goal line extended that gave the Blue Jays a 9-8 lead with more than 10 minutes remaining.

The one-goal lead didn't figure to hold - and it didn't. Steele Stanwick scored from in tight after defenseman Tucker Durkin lost his footing to knot the game with just over four minutes remaining and Tucker fired home his second of the game with 2:44 on the clock to give Virginia a 10-9 lead.
The one-goal lead held for exactly two minutes, when Coppersmith fired home the game-tying goal that forced overtime and led to Ranagan's game-winner that lifted the final proverbial monkey off the Blue Jays' back.
Benn led the Blue Jays with his three goals, while Guida notched a career-high four points on two goals and two assists. Wells Stanwick (1g, 2a) and Palmer (1g, 1a) were JHU's other multi-point scorers, while freshman Drew Kennedy won 8 of 14 faceoffs and junior goalie Pierce Bassett posted nine saves.
Virginia, which had its 14-game home winning streak snapped, was led by Steele Stanwick's two goals and three assists, while Emery, Bocklet and Tucker added two goals apiece for the Cavaliers, who also got 11 saves from Fortunato.
Johns Hopkins, which figures to take over the top spot in the national rankings when the new polls are released on Monday, will play North Carolina in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic next Sunday night (6:30 pm) at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Lent 4 Sermon - The Rev. Peter M. Carey - Emmanuel, Greenwood, VA

Lent 4 Sermon

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Greenwood, Virginia

When the Israelites were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness, it is likely that they had no idea that they would spend 40 years out there in that tough transitional time.  Did God, or Moses, let them know how long the journey would be…? Most likely not, and one can hardly blame them that they got kinda gripy along the way, even though the story doesn’t give them the benefit of the doubt. 

I remember well, my first field trip as a student teacher.  We were going from suburban Washington up to Baltimore to the Art Museum and the middle schoolers started griping.  A more experienced teacher taught me the “fifteen minute” rule.  Whenever a student would ask, “how much longer, Mr. Jones?” he would say, “fifteen minutes” because, the student would most likely find something to do and get distracted from their impatience, at least for 20-30 minutes until they’d ask again!  I’m not sure, however, if this rule would work when stuck in the wilderness of transition for 40 years. 

The people spoke against God and Moses, and thought they wanted to be back in Egypt.  However they were suffering from forgetfulness.  They had forgotten God in their lives, they had forgotten that God is the one who saves, and that God works in mysterious ways.  “Your ways are not my ways says the Lord.”  So the Lord found this strange way to remind the people that God, himself, was the one who saves, and was the one on whom trust and faith should be placed.  God sent poisonous snakes and then gave Moses the means to save the people when they looked at the bronze snake on a pole.  The story shows the people that God is the one who saves, and also the one who sent them into the wilderness, and ultimately, will bring them to the land of promise.

It can be hard to give thanks while in the liminal state of transition, it can be hard to cultivate prayerful remembrance of God’s power in our lives, but this is our prayer.  “Give thanks, his mercy endures forever, they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he healed them…” “Let them offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and tell of his acts with shouts of joy.” (Ps 107.22) 

In our own time of transition here at Emmanuel, the urge will be for some to move quickly to the Promised Land, however, the time of transition the time of wilderness may be the time in which we really experience and remember that God saves, not us.   There may be an urge to not fully live into this fruitful time of reflection, prayer, examination and love for one another.  This is a time that we should, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6.2

Our reading from Ephesians reminds us that “you were dead, but God is rich in mercy” and that “by grace you have been saved through faith” and that this is a “gift of God,” not a result of our works.  God is the one who gives, and who saves, and who loves us, even in our time of need, even in our time of wilderness, even in our time of transition.

Lord knows many of us do not like change, but change is life.  Lord knows many of us do not like transition, especially when things are not in our control, but transition is life.  God will provide for us, just as God provided for his people in the wilderness, and we should pray to have eyes to see, and ears to hear the ways that God is speaking to us and providing for us.  God provides, and sometimes in creative ways and in ways that we do not expect.  God saves us, in creative and unexpected ways. 

There was a man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town. And that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.

The waters rose up. A guy in a row boat came along and he shouted, “Hey, hey you! You in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety.” But the man shouted back, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.”

A helicopter was hovering overhead. And a guy with a megaphone shouted, “Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I’ll take you to safety.” But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety.

Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. “Lord,” he said, “I’m a religious man, I pray. I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?” God said, “I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowboat. What the hell are you doing here?

God provides, and God saves.  God has given the true bread, and lives in us so that we might live in him.  Remember God.  Remember Christ in our lives.  “God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saves through him,” so be open to the work of God, and expect that God may appear as a guy in a row boat, or shouting from a megaphone, for the Lord works in mysterious and unexpected ways.  And he is with us, and he is in   

UnCensered: Breaking Down No. 1 vs. No. 2 - #UVA #Lacrosse #JohnsHopkins #Hopkins #Virginia #Lax

UnCensered: Breaking Down No. 1 vs. No. 2

by Joel Censer | LaxMagazine.com

John Greeley is an X-factor for second-ranked Johns Hopkins in the Blue Jays' showdown with No. 1 Virginia on Saturday. Can Greeley and Rob Guida become consistent enough scorers so Hopkins can more efficiently play their half-field oriented game?© John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com

Over the past decade, Virginia has owned Johns Hopkins.

Part of the Cavaliers domination could probably be explained by the ebb-and-flow of Division I lacrosse. But even when the Wahoos have been down -- that disastrous 5-8 season in 2004 or when they got bounced in the first round of the 2007 playoffs by Delaware -- they managed to steal games from powerful Blue Jay squads.

Of course, Hopkins did have that moment in the series. You know, "DebrisGate." Where in the 2005 NCAA semifinals -- after an impromptu thunderstorm brought howling winds (and rogue pieces of trash) down to the field level and delayed the game for 30 minutes in the fourth quarter -- the Blue Jays found themselves trailing by a goal with just 13 seconds left.

But Greg Peyser won the next faceoff, rumbled down the field and skipped a pass to Jake Byrne who put a low-to-low slinger through UVA goaltender Kip Turner's legs. During OT, the sun came out, and a JHU freshmen phenom named Paul Rabil found star defensive midfielder Benson Erwin in transition. Erwin, a soft-spoken Baltimore Friends product, deposited the ball the top shelf and made note of his surroundings (the game was being held at the Linc in Philadelphia), by flapping his arms in celebration.

Since snatching victory from near certain defeat though, the lacrosse gods haven't been as kind to the Jays. From 2006 to 2010, Virginia went 6-0 in the series, including a couple demoralizing blowout losses (the curse of Jake Byrne/Benson Erwin, if you will). It wasn't until last year that the Jays exorcized their Wahoo demons, surviving a then entirely dysfunctional Virginia squad in a 12-11 squeaker.

On Saturday, the two Division I superpowers collide in Charlottesville. For the first time since 2003 -- when Tillman Johnson was stoning Kyle Harrison, Adam Doneger, Bobby Benson, Kyle Barrie and Co. in the Mud Bowl -- the Jays and Cavs will be the unquestioned top two teams in college lacrosse. Last year's reigning champions, the 2012 Virginia squad looks coldly efficient, getting opponent's best games (often in hostile environments) and still finding ways to win. For the Hop, the once precocious wide-eyed youngsters have grown up, as Tucker Durkin, Chris Lightner, Zach Palmer and Pierce Bassett have helped lead the Jays to a 7-0 start.

So what we are supposed to expect? Killer mud? Dominant goalie performances? Flying soda cans? Here's your breakdown.

Welcome to the Half-field

We know how Hopkins wants to play. They'll want to slow the game down (while picking their spots in transition), and spit the 'Hoos out the other end of their sharpened, well-honed grinder.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, with Steele Stanwick orchestrating the two-man games from behind the net, and Colin Briggs and Rob Emery (and emerging Ryan Tucker) taking care of split-dodging duties from up top, the Cavs are very comfortable playing settled offense (call it the coach Marc Van Arsdale overhand shooting effect).

While Bassett and Durkin are probably the best players at their respective positions, I still think UVA is better suited than Hopkins for a battle in half-field efficiency.

So the question then is can the Hopkins offense keep pace?

Lost in stories about the Hopkins midfielders -- Mendoza-line shooting percentages make for more compelling copy -- is that JHU has been very innovative on offense. We were always taught midfielders need space. Give a guy like Kyle Harrison or Rabil some room and let him run by a guy. A good shot or a slide was bound to follow.

But in its current incarnation, the Hopkins' offense has Greeley and Ranagan doing scripted flip plays and often running towards each other to act as obstruction for the guy dodging. It's smart, unique and matches the involved personnel perfectly.

Still, the Virginia defensive midfield is an athletic and veteran group. I fully expect the Cavs to double or even triple pole the midfield, and invite Brandon Benn and others to beat them off the dodge. Also worth mentioning, UVA defenseman Matt Lovejoy has been playing like a first-team All American.

Advantage: Slight edge to UVA

Between the 30s

I love Hopkins LSM Jack Reilly. He's tough as nails, hyper-athletic and isn't afraid to match up against anyone. But bumping up from close defense to longstick is a huge adjustment. And as good as he on defense, I do wonder if not having a pole with superior stick skills and moxie between the stripes (think a Corey Harned or Matt Bocklet) is a problem come May. Understudy Mark Pellegrino is talented but a freshman defenseman.

Still the Jays have plenty of athletes to run at you. Marshall Burkhart has been recast as a defensive midfielder and is playing the best lacrosse of his career. Mike Poppleton has slid right into the face-off square, winning 65 percent of his draws. Of course, there's Ranagan, an end-to-end Westchester freight train. If he gets a four-on-four with a full head of a steam; watch out.

As for Virginia, the Wahoos may not be as proficient facing off (58 percent this year), but we know they have a whole stable full of premier athletes and proven commodities who can pick up tough grounders, get up and down the field in a hurry, and take advantage of numbers. Briggs is arguably the best way two-way middie for the Cavs since Chris Rotelli.

Advantage: UVA

Intangibles

The game's in Charlottesville and UVA has a bunch of guys who have won championships. I like where Hopkins is headed, but hard not to chalk this one for the Cavs.

Advantage: UVA

X-Factors

Johns Hopkins: John Greeley, Rob Guida

Since arriving at Hopkins, Greeley has had to deal with injuries (including a torn ACL this offseason), some shooting slumps, and the burden of Homewood expectations. Still, the central New York product looked the part of No. 9 last week, dropping two goals and an assist against Syracuse. Meanwhile, Guida, a sophomore jitterbug with a lethal first step scored a goal and dropped two dimes against the Orange.

Really, I think that's the question for the Blue Jays this year. Can Greeley and Guida (and to an extent Ranagan and Coppersmith) become consistent enough scorers so Hopkins can more efficiently play their half-field oriented brand of lacrosse?

Virginia: Chris LaPierre

You could put sophomore sparkplug Bobby Hill here too. LaPierre's going to have to play some mean short-stick defense. Moreover, the Wahoos are likely going to need to tilt the possession game in their favor, generate some unsettled situations and score a couple timely transition goals. Look for LaPierre, a former football star and Virginia's answer to Ranagan, to fill the void.

Prediction

Last week I proclaimed Denver's offense would buoy them to Foxboro and the Carolina offense would start clicking sooner rather than later. So like always, consider the source. But I'll take UVA in this one. Wahoos, 12-8.

Rowan Williams to step down in 2012

Rowan Williams will step down as Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of 2012 to become head of Magdalene College at Cambridge.

Lambeth Palace has a news release. An extract:

"It has been an immense privilege to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury over the past decade, and moving on has not been an easy decision. During the time remaining there is much to do, and I ask your prayers and support in this period and beyond. I am abidingly grateful to all those friends and colleagues who have so generously supported Jane and myself in these years, and all the many diverse parishes and communities in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion that have brought vision, hope and excitement to my own ministry. I look forward, with that same support and inspiration, to continuing to serve the Church’s mission and witness as best I can in the years ahead."
Dr Williams will continue to carry out all the duties and responsibilities of the Archbishop of Canterbury, both for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, until the end of the year.
The Crown Nominations Commission will consider in due course the selection of a successor.

HERE are some of the posts that I have had about Rowan Williams

Choosing forgiveness

Choosing Forgiveness

Bud Welch

Bud Welch's 23-year-old daughter, Julie, was killed when the Murrah Federal Building was bombed in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

All my life I have opposed the death penalty. Friends used to tell me that if anyone ever killed one of my family members, I would change. But I always said I'd stick to my guns. Until April 19.

The first four or five weeks after the bombing I had so much anger, pain, hatred and revenge, that I realized why, when someone is charged with a violent crime, they transport him in a bullet-proof vest. It's because people like me would try to kill him.

By the end of 1995 I was in such bad shape, I was drinking heavily and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. I was stuck, emotionally, on April 19. I just couldn't get over it. But I knew I had to do something about it. That's when I went down to the bombing site.

It was a cold January afternoon, and I stood there watching hundreds of people walking along the chain link fence that surrounded the lot where the Murrah Building had stood. I was thinking about the death penalty, and how I wanted nothing more than to see Timothy McVeigh, and anyone else responsible for the bombing, fried.

But I was also beginning to wonder whether I would really feel any better once they were executed. Every time I asked myself that question, I got the same answer: No. Nothing positive would come from it. It wouldn't bring Julie back. After all, it was hatred and revenge that made me want to see them dead, and those two things were the very reason that Julie and 167 others were dead....

Forgiveness is a struggle, but it's one I need to wage. Forgiving is not something you just wake up one morning and decide to do. You have to work through your anger and your hatred as long as it's there. You try to live each day a little better than the one before.

Source: The Plough Reader Spring 2001