Briggs leads Virginia to lacrosse title

BALTIMORE -- When Virginia coach Dom Starsia told his team before Saturday's semifinal game against Denver that he was benching high-scoring midfielder Colin Briggs for what he termed "a team matter," goalie Adam Ghitelman thought: "Oh, great. Here we go again. We won't have our friend, our leader, our second-team All-American."

Then Ghitelman, a senior from Cold Spring Harbor, had another thought: "This is what we've been doing all year. Next man up. If we win this thing, we'll have Colin on fresh legs."

On a 96-degree day with stifling humidity, Briggs' legs did indeed provide a breath of fresh air for the Cavaliers. The junior from Narragansett, R.I., scored five goals to lead Virginia to a 9-7 victory over Maryland Monday in the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse championship game before a crowd of 35,661 at M&T Bank Stadium.

"It was tough. The day before [Friday], not knowing if I'd play. Then not knowing if it would be our last game," Briggs said.

He scored three goals in the second quarter to help Virginia (13-5) take a 5-3 halftime lead and nailed the clincher on a slick feed from behind the cage from Nick O'Reilly (South Side) with 1:50 left for a 9-6 lead.

"For sure, I felt like I let the team down,'' Briggs said. "I felt like I owed them something."

On a day when the team's leading scorer, Steele Stanwick, was held to one assist and the team's leading goal- scorer, Chris Bocklett, saw his goal-scoring streak end at 35 games, Briggs paid his debt.

Ever since star defenseman Matt Lovejoy went down with a shoulder injury and star midfielders Shamel and Rhamel Bratton (Huntington) were dismissed from the team, someone has come up big for Virginia. Monday, it was Briggs and sophomore O'Reilly (a goal and four assists) who were the unlikely stars.

"I don't know if it was that he had more energy or that he was more motivated," O'Reilly said of Briggs.

Coach John Tillman of Maryland (13-5) called Briggs' performance "turning a negative into a positive. He was the only guy out there who didn't play Saturday and he looked a little faster than everyone else."

Neither team looked fast in the first quarter, with Maryland's Grant Catalino (two goals, one assist) scoring the only goal. But Maryland appeared to have more scoring opportunities early, when Ghitelman was at his sharpest. "Their goalie was dynamite," Tillman said.

Ghitelman exploded with joy as the final seconds ticked down, knowing he had reached the pinnacle of his sport in his final college game. It was the 50th victory of his career, placing him at No. 3 on the all-time list.

"It's almost like we were chasing the unicorn," Ghitelman said of Virginia reaching the Final Four in each of his four seasons but failing to win it all until Monday. "But for us to lose some of our best players and stick together the way we did makes this really special. It's unreal."

O'Reilly, who had 10 points in three playoff games after totaling only 11 in the regular season, called Monday's triumph "the best feeling ever. Not just to win but to contribute. You dream of this, to be the last one standing on Memorial Day."