In the past four years, the University has won twenty ACC titles.

In 2002, Director of Athletics Craig Littlepage inserted a series of ambitious goals in his ten-year strategic plan. He declared that the University would strive to win seventy conference championships and twelve national championships over the next decade. It now looks that these projections were not as audacious as they first seemed. In the past four years, the University has won twenty ACC titles, the most of any school in the conference, and three NCAA titles, as many as any other league school.

In announcing these goals, Mr. Littlepage's intention was to make public his determination that the University must field consistently strong teams in every sport. The Cavaliers' performance in 2005–06 reveals our progress in achieving this ideal. Virginia won five ACC team championships: in men's cross country, men's swimming and diving (its eighth consecutive ACC title), women's lacrosse, women's rowing (its seventh consecutive conference title), and men's lacrosse.

Indeed, it was an exceptional year for men's lacrosse. The team won its fourth NCAA championship in Philadelphia before a record crowd of 47,000 fans, with a decisive 15–7 win over the University of Massachusetts in the title match. In doing so, it became the only lacrosse team in Division I history to go 17–0 over the season.

Other teams turned in solid performances as well. The football team advanced to a bowl game for the fourth consecutive year, defeating Minnesota 34–31 in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. These bowl appearances benefit the entire University. The Department of Athletics continued its tradition of sharing proceeds from its bowl play with a $50,000 gift to the University. Half of these funds were donated to the Cavalier Marching Band Endowment and the other to U.Va.'s Faculty Senate to support a graduate teaching fellowship. Since the Cavalier football team's first postseason appearance in the 1984 Peach Bowl, athletics has donated more than $930,000 toward academic projects.

Perhaps the best indication of the depth of the University's athletics program was its twenty-sixth-place finish in the final Division I U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings. The Division I Directors' Cup is awarded for excellence in ten men's and ten women's sports. Virginia has placed in the top thirty every year in the thirteen-year history of the program.

A Tradition of Exceptional Talent
The ability to meet Mr. Littlepage's goals was a direct result of the University's success in recruiting exceptional student-athletes and in providing the encouragement and guidance they need to excel. A perfect example is fourth-year student Matt Ward, who this year was awarded the Tewaaraton Trophy, given annually to the top lacrosse player in the nation. He led the Cavaliers with 42 goals, 25 assists, and 67 points. For his achievements, Mr. Ward also earned first-team All-America honors and received the Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Player of the Year.

Other standouts included men's tennis player Somdev Devvarman. At the close of the season, he ranked eighth in the nation and advanced to the final match at the NCAA men's singles championships. Two Virginia student-athletes, Sean Doolittle in baseball and Brielle White in women's swimming, were named the ACC's top performers for their respective sports. Women's golfer Leah Wigger became the first All-American in the program's three-year history, and first-year Jennie Arseneault became the first to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open.

Strong coaching is also critical to meeting Virginia Athletics' goals. This year, four coaches were recognized as ACC Coaches of the Year. This group included men's cross country coach Jason Dunn, men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia (for the seventh time), men's swimming coach Mark Bernardino (for the eighth consecutive year), and women's tennis coach Mark Guilbeau, in his first season at Virginia. Coach Guilbeau replaced Phil Rogers, who retired as the second winningest coach in ACC history. Other first-year head coaches included Dave Leitao, in men's basketball; and Karen Johns, in softball.

Service: A Team Sport
The experience of participating in a team sport, of working together for the greater good, translates well to community service. Accordingly, many student-athletes ultimately go on to careers in public service and with nonprofit institutions. It takes an exceptionally disciplined and committed student, however, to take on the challenge of community service while enrolled, given the demands of competing in Division I athletics at one of the nation's most academically competitive universities—but that's exactly what a number of students accomplish each year.

Last summer, Eric Kelley, camera in hand, spent three weeks walking across Nicaragua, chronicling the lives of people he encountered and raising money for a feeding center at the Nueva Vida refugee camp. A member of the swimming and diving team, Kelley raised $16,000 for the center, enough to feed 200 children twice a day for an entire year. His images can be found at www.walkacross.com.

Men's lacrosse player James King, who is working toward a commission in the Marine Corps, spearheaded a campaign to encourage people to write letters and donate items to a Marine Corps unit in the Middle East. He originally promoted the campaign among his teammates, but he soon expanded his effort to include the entire University community.

Another student-athlete, Kerry Maher, makes time each week to visit patients at the U.Va. Children's Hospital. Tri-captain of the women's rowing team, she spent time in and out of hospitals herself as a child, battling a serious infection. Through her example, she tries to give these children encouragement and hope. Ms. Maher, an ACC honor roll student, is also an enthusiastic participant in the University's Day in the Life program, which pairs University students with local high school students identified as having unrealized academic potential. She spent up to three hours a week for more than a year meeting with a Charlottesville High School student, providing guidance as well as a sense of the possibilities of college life.