May 17, 2008

by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

ANNAPOLIS, MD - Virginia goalie Bud Petit has seen it all. The fifth-year senior has seen the Cavaliers worst season in history, when they finished 5-8 in 2004. He has seen perfection, when Virginia raced to a national championship and a 17-0 record in 2006. But until recently, he saw it all from the sidelines.

"You begin to appreciate a lot more, especially being out here for the first time when I'm actually a real player, other than the last three minutes of a blow out," said Petit, who started for just the seventh time in the Cavaliers' 8-7 overtime win Saturday against Maryland.

Petit played behind All-American goalie Kip Turner for most of his career, and behind freshman Adam Ghitelman for most of this season. But after Ghitelman started struggling down the stretch of the Cavaliers' schedule, Petit was finally promoted to starter against North Carolina on April 5. The longtime understudy has since had a starring role in Virginia's tournament run, contributing eight saves in a first-round win against UMBC, and 14 saves against the Terps.

"It's so much more than I imagined being a starter [rather] than just a back up, even though it's not about playing time. It's about the feeling that every individual feels when they're able to make a big save," said Petit.

Petit knows that a teammate complimented on one of his saves when they were in an overtime huddle, but he couldn't even remember the stop. He was so dehydrated that he was dry-heaving and not stringing his words into intelligible sentences. But he couldn't have been happier about it.

"It's like, it's worth it," said Petit, who redshirted his freshman year with a foot injury.

This summer, Petit had second thoughts about returning for one more crack at the Cavaliers' starting line-up, especially when he considered that he might lose the spot to a freshman. When that exact fear was realized, Petit kept chipping away at his game. The art major took just nine credits his second semester, which allowed him to rest himself mentally and physically.

He spent a lot of time in the studio, too. Petit works primarily in printmaking, a medium in which the artist etches an image on a metal plate, covers the plate in ink and then presses the plate onto paper. It's a long, exacting process and not for someone who wants quick results. Fortunately, Petit is a patient man.

"It's hard to practice every day, especially four and a half years and to watch some of your teammates play out there and there's this huge group of guys on the bench who know they're not going in on Saturday," said Petit.

At the end of that thought, Petit tacks on some standard comments about the last guy on the bench being as important as anyone else. But it's nice to be the star for once.

Now he's headed to the final four, to play before tens of thousands of fans at Gillette Stadium against the winner of tomorrow's quarterfinals. He's elated about the chance to play in lacrosse's premier event, and hopes he gets Tom Brady's locker. Petit is not entirely starry-eyed, though - he has played in an NCAA final at an NFL stadium before, in Virginia's 15-7 blowout over UMass over 2006.

"I played when we won the championship, I think, 40 seconds. I was like, `Coach, we're up six. I'm not going let that many in. Give me a minute and a half,'" said Petit with a friendly eye roll.

Petit can count on plenty of minutes next Saturday.