niversity of Delaware men’s lacrosse coach Bob Shillinglaw still can see the images vividly flashing through his mind. To him, one of the sport’s sweeter Cinderella stories never gets old.
Shillinglaw laughs as he recalls 2007, the year things suddenly came together for the once-struggling, injury-riddled Blue Hens in a wild and crazy playoff ride. There they were, the unseeded Blue Hens, who had been on postseason life support just a few weeks earlier, dealing an incredible knockout blow
to defending national
champion Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
There was Alex Smith, the best faceoff specialist in the land and part of a core of excellent seniors that included midfielders Jordan Hall and Dan Decklebaum, sucking the life out of UVA by winning draw after draw in a shockingly one-sided second half.
There was red-hot junior goalie Tommy Scherr sealing off the cage, while run-and- gun Delaware ran No. 2 seed Virginia out of its own stadium with seven straight goals to punctuate a 14-8 rout that ranks among the most stunning upsets in tournament history.
And one week later, there was Delaware, defeating fellow upstart UMBC — which had shocked Maryland in College Park a week earlier — in the quarterfinals to earn its first and only trip to Memorial Day weekend as a final four team. “It started with Alex. He had a phenomenal year,” Shilllinglaw said. “He gave us the feeling that we were always
a threat not only to win the faceoff, but to score off of it. We had an outstanding goalie. We had big, athletic middies that could play offense and defense, a great finisher in [freshman attackman] Curtis Dickson. And we had great leadership. I remember going to Virginia, and everybody felt like we’ve got everything to gain, nothing to lose. “We started beating them to ground balls early. The defense was clicking. Tommy made some unbelievable saves. Alex started winning faceoffs. And our shooters got going. All of the chemistry that had started jelling a month earlier just came together. I wish I could bottle that.”
Chris Pieczonka (Navy 2004)
Sean Morris (UMass 2006)
A Publication of US Lacrosse
May 2012 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 55
©JOHN STROHSACKER (ALL)
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