Matt Ward is a former All-American attackman who helped Virginia capture NCAA championships in 2003 and 2006 and won the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2006 as the sport's top player. In the first of a two-part interview, Ward, an analyst for ESPN, discusses – among other topics – two top-10 teams dealing with personal hexes, a disappointing program that almost made waves in last year's NCAA Tournament and his pick to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament this weekend.
Question: How would you explain No. 6 Duke's eight-game winning streak against No. 2 Virginia?
Matt Ward: "It's tough to say. Some people would say that Duke is in Virginia's head, but I just think that Duke outhustled them and has outhustled them when they've played. Look at the groundballs stats. Going into last week's game, Virginia was the No. 1 team in the country and they got taken to the hopper in groundballs [Duke, 31-23]. That's what's going to win those close games against the best teams, and Duke has just done it better. I think they match up pretty well against Virginia. I think their midfielders – for whatever reason – like to dodge against Virginia's short-stick d-middies whereas some other teams don't. And when you have [seniors] Max Quinzani and Ned Crotty on attack, you can beat any team. And Duke's a team that doesn't put a whole lot of stock into how they're playing early on in the season. They're a team that likes to go at their own pace, and they continue to get better. Virginia plays them late in the season. If you look at Maryland and UNC, they play them early on when Duke's not necessarily clicking on all cylinders. Then Duke kind of gets into the comfort zone of their schedule. They start winning, they start getting confidence, and then they go in and play Virginia while they're pretty fresh. Virginia has played three straight ACC games. So it's tough to keep up with that type of competition three weeks in a row, and then you have Duke, which is kind of going through the easier portion of their schedule every year into the Virginia game. That has to help them. They're probably a little more fresh, but at the end of the day, they're just playing better lacrosse against Virginia."
Q: On a related note, does No. 10 Cornell feel snakebitten after following up last year's overtime loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament final with another one-goal loss to the No. 1 Orange on a last-second goal in regulation?
MW: "It's got to be frustrating. The last two games have been very close. But I think the difference is that in last year's championship game, they outplayed Syracuse. I thought they were the better team and kind of handed the game away. This year, they did have the lead against Syracuse, but if you look at Cornell's goalie, he [freshman A.J. Fiore] had 20 saves. It's got to be frustrating for them to lose two games like that, but the fact that they're such a young team this year and that they're competing with the No. 1 team in the country, their coach [Jeff Tambroni] has got to be happy."
Q: What team outside of what many consider the elite group is deserving of one of the top eight seeds and a first-round home game in the NCAA Tournament?
MW: "Right now, I think it's Loyola. They are in the top 10, so they're getting respect nationally, but they're a program that's on the rise. Coach [Charley] Toomey has done a great job. He's got a good core of players, a great attack. I really like the way they play. They're kind of the perfect combination of players. You have [senior attackman Collin] Finnerty who is a great shooter and the two quick guys on attack [senior Cooper MacDonnell and junior Matt Langan] who like to take the ball to the cage and are good feeders. They complement each other so well, and right now, I like the way Loyola is playing. So if they can get past Johns Hopkins – which I think they have a very good shot at doing – they're going to be a seed with a home game during the tournament."
Q: Which team among Brown, Hofstra and Massachusetts has been the bigger disappointment?
MW: "I'm going to go with Brown. Hofstra's still in the mix for the [Colonial Athletic Association] tournament, and UMass started well, but they're young and you're going to go through some growing pains there. But Brown came back with a team that took Hopkins into overtime in the first round [of last year's NCAA Tournament]. They did graduate their goalie [All-American Jordan Burke], but brought back a great attack, and I really thought some of those guys would step up and help them win the big games. They've had tough-fought games this year, but they haven't come out with wins in the end, and that's got to be disappointing for them and coach Lars Tiffany."
Q: Which four teams will be playing in the Final Four on Memorial Day weekend?
MW: "Syracuse and three of the four ACC teams. Who that is, I don't know. I think it will come down to who gets to play who. It's going to come down to the [Nos.] 4 and 5 seeds. That's why I think the ACC Tournament this weekend is huge. That's going to determine who is going to play each other in the quarterfinal round as opposed to playing in the semifinals. I think Syracuse is a team that's playing well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They're just a team that is so slick that they can compete with and beat anyone. But I really believe that these ACC teams can also beat anyone. So it's going to be interesting to see how that kind of breaks down."
Q: So who do you like to win the ACC Tournament this weekend?
MW: "I think it's Duke. I had them as the preseason No. 1, and they kind of faltered early on, but that didn't really scare me away from them. I thought they're a team that's loaded with talent, they're getting better, and Crotty and Quinzani are two of the best. They get to play Virginia [in the semifinal round], and if Virginia shows up the way they did on Saturday, I've got to give that nudge to Duke, and I think Maryland and North Carolina could really beat each other up in a physical battle. I think North Carolina's kind of a little banged up anyway, so I think I see Duke playing Maryland in the championship game, and I like Duke to win that."