University of Richmond Athletics
No. 20 Richmond Faces Furman In SoCon Semifinal
04/29/2015 | Men's Lacrosse
After capturing the top seed and hosting honors for the Southern Conference Championships, the No. 20 Richmond Spiders will get to work on Thursday, hosting fourth-seeded Furman in the first semifinal of the Championship, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 5 p.m. at Robins Stadium.
Richmond finished an undefeated conference season with a 10-5 win Saturday against Mercer. The win gave Richmond its first-ever four-game winning streak and its first 10-win season (10-4). Three of the Spiders' four losses came against teams ranked in the Top 20 at the time of the contest. Richmond is the first of the programs that added men's lacrosse since 2009 to reach 10 wins by its second season. Bryant reached 10 wins in its first year of lacrosse in 2009, but the Spiders can surpass that with a win Thursday.
With the perfect 6-0 Southern Conference season, Richmond earned the right to host the SoCon Championships, beginning Thursday at Robins Stadium. The Spiders will be matched up against Furman at 5 p.m., which they beat 8-2 back on April 4, holding the Paladins to their lowest offensive output of the season. The Spiders are 2-0 in the all-time series, also defeating the Paladins 13-10 in South Carolina for the first road win in program history.
The winner of this game faces the winner of the Mercer-High Point semifinal, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. The Championship is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Richmond is second in the country in defense, allowing just 7.36 goals during the regular season. The Spiders are also tops in the country with a .921 clearing percentage and sit fourth in the NCAA with a scoring margin of nearly five (4.93) goals better than opponents on average through 14 games.
The Spiders are also seventh in the country in caused turnovers per game, at 8.21. Richmond's defense is anchored by sophomore goalie Benny Pugh (Powhatan, Virginia / Woodberry Forest School), who is fourth in the country in goals-against average (7.40) and save percentage (.597), leading the SoCon in both categories. He has won SoCon Men's Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week three times this season.
Richmond's other defensive star is sophomore defenseman Brendan Hynes (Mahopac, New York), who has won four of the last five defensive weekly SoCon honors, and a National Defensive Player of the Week honor, by the USILA. He is 12th in the country this season with 1.71 caused turnovers per contest.
Offensively, the Spiders present a balanced front, with four players scoring 20 or more goals, led by sophomore J.P. Forester (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan), who leads the team with 27 goals and 19 assists for a team-best total of 46 points. He is third in assists and points per game, while fifth in goals per game. Redshirt senior Mickey Hofmeister (Williamsburg, Virginia / Jamestown) is one spot below Forester among the league's goal-scorers. He has 26 for the season. Sophomore Mitch Goldberg (Damascus, Maryland) is one back of Hofmeister, with 25 goals. He is eighth in the league in goals per game.
Those three represent Richmond in the Top 10 in points per game in the SoCon after the conclusion of the regular season.
Hynes was selected as the league's Defensive Player of the Year, while Forester, Goldberg and Pugh joined Hynes on the First-Team All-Conference list. Midfielder Alex Hatem (Syracuse, New York), defenseman Ryan Dennis (Peapack Gladstone, New Jersey) and faceoff specialist Peter Moran (Reston, Virginia / South Lakes HS) all made the Second-Team, while freshman attackman Eric Haehl (Bellevue, Washington) was named to the league's All-Rookie Team. Richmond head coach Dan Chemotti was named the league's Coach of the Year.
Furman got into the Championships by virtue of its 11-7 win Saturday at Jacksonville for the third league win over the season. The Paladins are 4-8 overall, 3-3 in the SoCon this season. Furman defeated VMI and Jacksonville in the final two weeks of the season for the Paladins
Paladins goalie Reilly McDermott was named the Southern Conference's Rookie of the Year. He made 130 saves in 11 starts, allowing eight or fewer goals in seven of his starts. He made a career-high 14 against Richmond during the regular season.
Midfielder Kenny Meinsen was Furman's other First-Team selection. He led the Paladins with 26 goals.
Last season, the Spiders won back-to-back games for the first time in the conference tournament, taking down the two conference co-champions to capture the NCAA bid in their first year of varsity play and NCAA eligibility, the first lacrosse program to earn a bid in their first year the 44-year history of the tournament.
Furman would be the first team the Spiders could win a third game against when they meet Thursday.
