UVa alumna follows lax from afar

If it’s a game day for the Virginia men’s lacrosse team, it means that somewhere in the Middle East, Naval flight officer Caroline Darney, a 2007 UVa alum, is hunched over a laptop, alternately cheering and agonizing over every Wahoo save, groundball and goal.

That is — when she isn’t lamenting her excruciating slow Internet service.

“It’s the most painful sport to watch via update,” said Darney, during an interview on Skype on Monday. “I think it’s because of how fast-paced [lacrosse] is.

“You hang for these updates. You’re like, ‘OK, did we get the clear?’ You don’t even know who has the ball...it’s extraordinarily painful.”

Welcome to Darney’s world. It’s one that revolves around serving her country by day and cheering her alma mater on by, well, quite frankly, at all times — seven-hour time differences be damned.

When Darney was a senior at Virginia, she served as vice president of the Hoo Crew (the university’s student-run fan group).

Her fanaticism has yet to subside.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Pamela Darney, Caroline’s mother. “I think she intimidates a lot of guys because of her knowledge of sports.”

Darney follows all sports with vigor, but UVa lacrosse is her passion. Stationed around the world for the better part of the past four years, Darney never misses a game.

The 26-year-old, who has blogged for Inside Lacrosse and, more recently, The Daily Progress, is a lax junkie. She can just as easily describe, in detail, a save that backup Virginia goalie Mark Wade made in a win over Maryland two years ago as she can a play from last weekend’s loss to the Terps.

From wherever she happens to be, Darney follows the games on InsideLacrosse.com and VirginiaSports.com. Then Darney has her father, Ken — a former lacrosse player at N.C. State in the 1970’s — send her postgame recaps to help her fill in some of the blanks.

On occasion, depending on how her Internet is working, Darney is able to watch the games live, via Skype. For that special treat, she enlists her mother, Pamela, who positions the TV in their Northern Virginia home in the direction of her computer.

“I don’t know if it’s pathetic or awesome,” said Darney, laughing, “but it’s worked a couple of times.”

Mom is glad to help out.

“Just setting up the TV — she’s like, ‘A little to the left. No, tilt the screen a little more. Perfect!’” said Pamela Darney.

Growing up, Darney was the quintessential military brat. She lived in Maine (her birthplace), Colorado, England, Germany and Northern Virginia.

During her time in Colorado, Darney learned lacrosse from her father, a former Air Force pilot who was also an assistant coach for the Academy’s men’s team. Ken Darney had grown up in the Towson, Md. area and had always admired Virginia’s lacrosse teams.

“I saw them play in the 1972 semifinal game,” he said. “I didn’t get to go to the championship game because I was in high school, but I’ve been following UVa’s lacrosse team since then.”

When the family lived abroad, Caroline’s enthusiasm for the sport remained high — even though she could no longer play it. Pamela Darney recalls Caroline waking up in the middle of the night to watch games on television. 

After the family moved back to the states, Darney played lacrosse at Potomac Falls High in Sterling, Va., for three years, then decided to follow her older sister, Meghan, to UVa.

While in Charlottesville, Darney played on the school’s club lacrosse team — and attended as many Virginia sporting events as humanly possible.

“I’ll always remember that [Duke basketball] game — the Sean Singletary shot heard around the world,” said Darney, referring to Virginia’s win over the Blue Devils in 2007. “That was incredible.”

At UVa, Darney was a member of the Navy ROTC. After graduating with a sociology degree, she attended flight school in Florida. She’s served all around the world ever since.

“I enjoy it,” said Darney, who is now based in Seattle and has four years of military service remaining. “It’s a fun job. It’s challenging.”

If you’ve ever seen the movie, “Top Gun,” Darney is, essentially, “Goose,” the character played by Anthony Edwards, the in-flight navigator for Tom Cruise’s character “Maverick.”

“I always joke around that it’s the best job for a girl,” Darney said, “because I get to sit in the back and tell the guys where to go.”

Whenever Darney flies, she wears a pair of Virginia lacrosse shorts underneath her flight suit. On the front of her suit is a patch with the school’s sabre logo.

Members of Darney’s squadron get a kick out of her dedication.

“Caroline is the only person I know who likes lacrosse,” wrote Nick Lunsford in an e-mail, “but if I ever meet another person that does, I doubt they will like it as much as Caroline.”

Fellow squadron member Ryan Chapman may have summed up Virginia’s super fan best.

“If you want to know more about [Darney],” wrote Chapman in an e-mail, “I’m pretty sure there’s a local Virginia alumni chapter/support group near you where lacrosse fans can share their feelings in a controlled, non-threatening environment that have heard of her!”

So what does the Middle East’s biggest UVa lax fan think of Virginia’s performance this season? (The Cavaliers have dropped two straight entering Saturday’s game against North Carolina.)

“I hate to sound negative because I have the utmost respect for Dom Starsia,” said Darney, referring to the UVa coach. “He runs a classy program and is a classy guy and a great coach. But we’re just having too many turnovers and are just kind of beating ourselves — dropping balls and sloppy passes and mental-error type stuff.

“But we’re definitely not out of it yet. I think we still have the ability to beat anybody on any given day if we put our minds to it.”