Rhamel Bratton Picks Up Slack for Injured Brother

by Scott Ratcliffe | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online | Game Blog

Virginia midfielders Rhamel Bratton (left) and Brian Carroll celebrate after one of Bratton's four goals in the second-ranked Cavaliers' 11-10 victory over top-ranked Syracuse. © Matt Riley

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- With his twin brother Shamel nursing a leg injury and still not at full strength, Virginia midfielder Rhamel Bratton had the game of his life Sunday against the nation’s top-ranked team.

The Huntington Station, N.Y., native scored a career-high four goals to lead the No. 2-ranked Cavaliers to a thrilling 11-10  win over No. 1-ranked Syracuse in front of 7,501 fans at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville. Virginia knocked off the two-time Division I champs for the second straight year when the Orange was the only team ahead of it in the polls.

Bratton recorded a hat trick in the first half alone, as the Cavs stormed back from an early 5-2 deficit. The explosively quick junior playmaker -- who has often been overshadowed by his brother, Shamel, a first team All-American -- was an offensive force. UVA rattled off seven unanswered goals against one of the nation’s stingiest defenses.

“[Rhamel] has been one of our most improved players since September,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “I would have described his play up until today as consistent... Today, he was close to spectacular.”

Bratton, a two-time high school All-American, started the scoring just over a minute in on a pretty assist from Chris LaPierre, but Syracuse took advantage of UVA penalties by scoring five extra-man goals, four in the first quarter. The Orange (2-1) was 83 percent for the day on such opportunities.

“The one thing you don’t want to do against Syracuse is play them man-down,” admitted Starsia, who has won nine of 16 against Syracuse coach John Desko since Desko took over the program in 1999. “I felt that we just lost our minds in the beginning of the game, in the first quarter of the game. That’s as close as I’ve had the top of my head blow off in some time, but I thought then that we settled down.”

The Cavaliers bounced back thanks to the play of Rhamel Bratton, Brian Carroll and Chris Bocklet. Each scored twice during a 7-0 eun, as Syracuse spent a lot of time on defense, thanks in large part to UVA winning 10 of 15 faceoffs in the first half.

“We were up 4-2 in the second quarter and I remember thinking we hadn’t even had the ball, and the reason for that was they did a tremendous job on the faceoff,” Desko said. “It gave them all those possessions and kept the pressure on our defense. We played a lot of defense. We did force things a little bit, but we had good fast-breaking opportunities. It’s hard to say no if we’re running a 5-on-4 break, to say pull it out.”

Rhamel Bratton has already tallied eight goals this season after battling a midseason injury himself in his sophomore campaign. Starsia has seen his share of talent, and believes that Rhamel is hitting his stride at just the right time.

“When you’re talking about the real middies in our sport, you’re talking about the middies that make plays that are covered by the pole,” Starsia said of Bratton’s performance. “With Joel White on him, he was still able to make some plays.”

Syracuse made a late run after almost going scoreless in the third quarter. Jovan Miller scored with eight seconds left to stop the bleeding. The run continued into the fourth quarter, as the Orange scored back-to-back goals within five seconds of each other. Syracuse trailed by one with 5:21 remaining.

Virginia’s defense, led by Ken Clausen, clamped down from there. The Cavaliers did not allow anything easy in the box and held on by a single goal in a series that has been decided by the same margin in the previous three contests.

Chris Daniello, Jeremy Thompson, Tim Desko and Stephen Keogh each had two goals to lead the Orange, whose 11-game winning streak (the longest in Division I) was snapped. Syracuse will look to bounce back Saturday back at the Carrier Dome against Georgetown.

With Shamel Bratton banged up and such a young offense left to produce in his stead, Starsia admitted that he wasn’t sure where the scoring was going to come from in Sunday’s big tilt. When asked if Rhamel could continue to step up while his twin is banged up, Starsia offered an alternative.

“It may be that he’ll help his brother heal a little bit by playing like that,“ he said with a chuckle. “When you lose a player like Shamel, everyone knows that they’ve got to pick it up a little bit, and Rhamel has given every indication that he understands what’s going on here, and is ready to take that next step.”

The next step that the Cavaliers (4-0) will likely take is claiming the nation’s top ranking when the polls come out Monday. They only stand to get better with Shamel Bratton's return to good health, especially if his brother continues to excel. Virginia hosts VMI on Tuesday night.

Notes & Quotes

Syracuse goalie John Galloway looked solid early on, but Virginia found kinks in his armor. The junior finished with 18 saves. His counterpart, Adam Ghitelman, didn’t have his best day, but managed seven saves.... Said Desko: “We showed our heart in the second half, got a little smarter in the fourth quarter, looked a little bit more like ourselves. I think we grew up a lot today. We also learned a lot about ourselves in game situations...” Virginia now leads the all-time series 14-12, with UVA taking seven of the last eight. Eleven of those meetings have been decided by a single goal… With two goals and an assist on Sunday, Steele Stanwick now has 15 points on the year, tied with Bocklet for the team lead.