No surprise here, but Virginia coach Dom Starsia said this week goalie Bud Petit will likely draw the start for the second straight week.
The fifth-year senior made 13 saves in last week's overtime victory over North Carolina while freshman Adam Ghitelman sat. Ghitelman's season has gone up and down --- hardly a surprise for a first-year player --- but Starsia sensed he was more than just frustrated after the Cavaliers yielded 13 goals in their loss to Maryland to weeks ago.
"He just looked so down and so beat up," Starsia said. "He just needed a little room. ... I had seen that look of 'I've got the weight of the world on my shoulders' a little bit earlier. When we took him out of the Stony Brook game and we'd given up 11 goals at that point, it was less about the shots and more about his shoulders slumped and he looked a little dejected."
"The Maryland game where they score 13, he didn't give up 13 goals in three high school games. Even with the quality of the shooters, there was a feeling like 'I'm the one responsible for this.' He just needed to relax a little bit and get a little more of a look objectively."
In some years, this might seem like a serious problem, but goalie instability (or, at the very least, a goalie situation to speak of) seems a little more common this season. Maryland has two guys splitting time. Navy has Matt Coughlin's hamstring injury. Hopkins sophomore Michael Gvozden has stopped less than half the shots on goal he's faced.
Not everyone has a Jordan Burke, who has pretty much stood on his head for Brown and saved 69.5 percent of his shots on goal. Of the legitimate title contenders, Duke is probably in the best position in cage --- fifth-year senior Dan Loftus carries a 62.8 save percentage.
All of which means a little turbulence is goal isn't going to singlehandedly prevent Virginia from making a deep postseason run. And chances are, Ghitelman --- who Starsia said seemed to enjoy one of his best practice days earlier this week --- will be better off in the long run despite being in flux in the middle of his freshman season.
--- Patrick Stevens
