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FOXBORO - They are walking around with a target on their backs, the No. 1 seeded team, the favorite to win the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse championship.

But, don't tell that to Cornell University - their foes in the semifinal round - or to Syracuse, the defending national champions, or to Duke University, who beat them twice in two weeks.

"We had been punched in the nose and knocked back on our heels," related University of Virginia coach Dom Starsia, the former Brown University mentor of his Cavaliers (15-2), who meet the Ivy League champion Big Red at 2 p.m. Saturday at Gillette Stadium in one of the Division I semifinal round matchups.

The Cavaliers may have beaten Cornell, but that was just 14-10 and back in March. The Cavaliers lost by 15-10 and 16-5 margins to Duke, the latter in the ACC Championship match.

"There was no waving of a magic wand, we had a chance to catch our breath," added Starsia, whose Cavaliers, in turn, routed both Villanova and Johns Hopkins, outscoring their first round and quarterfinal round foes by a 37-14 margin. "We had a different edge in practice, we needed to get back to work." The Cavaliers are, perhaps, the most prolific offensive team in Div. I this season, outscoring foes 121-62 during the first half, while limiting nine opponents to seven goals or less.

Senior Dan Gladding (30 goals, 30 assists), senior Garrett Billing (37 goals, 20 assists),

freshman Steele Stanwich (34 goals, 21 assists), sophomore Shamel Bratton (30 goals, 11 assists) and junior Brian Carroll (29 goals, 10 assists) give the Cavaliers firepower from everywhere on the field.

"I have a veteran team, quality older guys, I like the personality of this team," said Starsia, whose Cavaliers are making their fifth national semifinal appearance over the past seven seasons. "If you look at any one of the (Final Four) teams, you have to have balanced scoring. We need to attack you from every position.

"People want to compare us to the 2006 (the last for the Cavs' four national title teams) team, but we're not as deep, we don't have as many lead guys."

Starsia has been a leading man in his own right, since leaving the East side of Providence, coaching Brown from 1983-92. He has been named the national Division I Coach of the Year twice, an eight-time ACC Coach of the Year and his 300 career wins tie him for third on the NCAA all-time list with UMass' Dick Garber.

He surpassed former Cornell coach Richie Moran (257 wins) and relishes the matchup from his Ivy League days, as a long-stick defender at Brown, then as coach. "I have great respect for Cornell, I modeled my teams after those Richie Moran teams in the 1970s. It's (Cornell) a team that gets our players' attention."