May 31, 1999

VIRGINIA

Head Coach Dom Starsia: "I am really happy for our team. These kids worked really hard all year. The effort and commitment they made was unique in college sports. To them, I am greatly appreciative that we have been able to have shared all of this together."

Starsia, on today's game: "I felt we were ready to play. The kids were bouncing off the walls before the game. We played smart and strong in the first half. We knew they'd come out and pressure us and in the second half, we knew we had to continue to go north-to-south and not just sideline-to-sideline."

Conor Gill, on his game-winning goal: "They were rushing out on me, but I got the opportunity (to shoot) and made the most of it. I didn't even see the ball go in."

Gill, on Syracuse's fourth-quarter rally: "I thought we were still keeping the pressure up, even though we didn't score. We tried to slow down the tempo of the game but we weren't trying to stall."

Tucker Radebaugh, on the expectations facing Virginia this season: "There was definitely pressure on us because we have always been a high-scoring team. This year, however, was different. The old saying that defense win championships definitely held true today."

SYRACUSE

Head Coach John Desko on Virginia Coach Dom Starsia: "I know how hard Dom has worked over the years. I can remember our first championship in '83 and the feeling, and he deserves it. He's a class act and I'm very happy for him."

On the game: "We wanted to stop (Virginia) from getting out to a fast start like they did against (Johns Hopkins on Saturday). I think we did a fairly good job with it although we weren't able to respond how we wanted to scoring-wise. And then as the game went on, I think our defense settled down a little bit and we stopped them and generated a few more shots that we thought we could've capitalized on in the first half. Even to start the third period, we got the shots, we got tight to the goal. I think we had three or four 1-on- 1's on the goalie and just couldn't capitalize on those."

On playing man-to-man defense: "At some point we were going to go into the zone, it's just with the healthy lead that they had, we felt they'd really hold the ball and be very patient offensively. And at that point in time, we were playing a little bit more aggressively defensively man-to-man. The ball started to shake free and we started to pick it up and go the other way with it."

Rob Mulligan on his play in goal: "They were getting good looks at the cage and I wasn't on my game in the first half. I don't think I made a save in the first half [he had two]. Then in the second half, I obviously turned it around a little bit. And it kind of picked up the emotional level of the team once I started making some saves. We just started our run too late. I didn't show up in the first half. It happens."

Matt Cutia on Syracuse's fourth-quarter comeback: "I think we had our transition game working. Robbie (Mulligan) made a couple big saves on the defensive end. Sum We got our fastbreak working. We had a lot of unsettled situations. I think that was the biggest difference in our comeback.