Friday’s edition of The Baltimore Sun will include a feature on Cavaliers junior midfielder Brian Carroll, who is part of an offensive juggernaut that has helped Virginia outscore Johns Hopkins and Villanova by a combined 37-14 in the NCAA tournament.

The explosion has muted the whispers about the Cavaliers’ season-ending stretch of two losses in the final three games – both to Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke – but coach Dom Starsia acknowledged that even he has been surprised by his team’s performance.

"There was a little different edge in practice, but you don’t always know how that’s going to play out," he said. "And I don’t think anybody saw this coming, particularly in the last game against Hopkins. ... I would say we were relentless in our approach to it. And even though Hopkins carried the play in the first couple of minutes by winning the first couple of faceoffs and getting some shots and keeping the heat on us a little bit, it seemed like we got every ground ball and just kept attacking the goal and did what we needed to do. If we continue to do this, we’ve picked a good time to play our best lacrosse."

Virginia gets a rematch with Cornell, which dropped a 14-10 decision to the Cavaliers on March 8. But Starsia said the team is not resting on that result.

"It’s do-or-die here," he said. "We have to be successful. We have to persevere here no matter what advantage Cornell may have or Hopkins may have had because we happened to beat them the first time around. At this time in the season, more often than not, we’re playing somebody that we played earlier. So whether we beat them or lost to them back in February, March or April, we need to figure out a way to beat them right now or we’re not going to be able to achieve that goals that we have in mind."