Sports Shorts

The Comeback Kids

The women’s lacrosse team fell just short of capturing the program’s fourth NCAA Championship, losing in the title game to Northwestern 15-13. The Cavaliers advanced to the final by staging the largest comeback in NCAA Division I Championships history. Virginia defeated Duke 14-13 in the semifinals, rallying from down 13-4 with 20 minutes remaining by scoring the final 10 goals of the game. The team finished with a 19-4 record and won its second consecutive ACC Championship.

Coming Home

Eileen Schmidt was one of the best softball players in Virginia history. Now she’s back in Charlottesville to coach her alma mater’s team after a three-year stint as Kentucky’s head softball coach. Schmidt was the first Cavalier softball player to earn All-ACC honors three times, was Virginia’s first softball All-American and was ACC Player of the Year in 1993. “Virginia has always been my dream job, the place where I wanted to finish my career,” says Schmidt, who succeeds Karen Johns as coach.

Lucky No. 13

Virginia finished 13th in the final 2006-07 U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup competition, which ranks the overall success of Division I schools’ athletics programs. UVA is one of 15 schools to rank in the top 30 of the final Directors’ Cup standings in each of the 14 years of the program’s existence.

The 13th-place finish ties for the school’s second highest ranking in the competition. Virginia finished eighth in 1999, and finished 13th in 2005, 2000 and 1998. UVA was one of four ACC schools to finish in this year’s top 15.

Baseball Draft

A total of six Virginia baseball players were chosen in the Major League Baseball draft, the most draft picks in UVA history. The players chosen, in order picked, are: Sean Doolittle (Athletics), Brandon Guyer (Cubs), Casey Lambert (Cubs), Beau Seabury (Rockies) and Pat McAnaney (Pirates). The Cavaliers finished the 2007 season with a record of 45-16, including a 19-9 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia had a school-record five All-ACC selections in 2007, including three players named to the first team.

Cross-Country Scholar

Four years ago, Andrew Dumm joined Virginia men’s cross country/track as a walk-on. By the time he finished his career, he was an all-region runner and a member of ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-America team. A Fulbright Scholar, the 2007 graduate will study in Jordan, focusing on the relationship between the Jordanian media and U.S. foreign policy. Armed with a political science major and fluency in Arabic, Dumm plans to interview Jordanian citizens about their views of America and how they are influenced by the media.