University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
7-2, 3-0
High Point
4-5, 0-2
Spiders Lock Down High Point In 7-3 Win
03/27/2016 | Men's Lacrosse
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Not even the sneaky Easter Bunny could have gotten by the defense of the University of Richmond men's lacrosse team on Sunday afternoon.
The Spiders locked down the potent offense of High Point in front of a great crowd at Robins Stadium for a 7-3 win to improve to a perfect 3-0 in Southern Conference play.
“I use this word a lot, but every conference game is a dogfight. This conference continues to get better with each year and this is no different. High Point is an outstanding team that can challenge you in several ways and our guys did a great job of locking in and really executing the game plan,” Head Coach Dan Chemotti said.
The Panthers entered the day with the league's second-most potent offense, averaging over 10 goals a game and having scored in double figures in six of their eight games this season.
Richmond's defense was spectacular, limiting HPU to just 23 shots (12 below their season average) and racking up 10 caused turnovers led by three from Austin Cates and two from Brendan Hynes and Ryan Dennis. Junior Henry Buonagurio was outstanding in his first career start, finishing the day with 11 saves.
Offensively, Jean-Luc Chetner led the way with a four-point afternoon with a hand in four (one goal, three assists) of the Spiders' seven goals on the day. Austin Brown and Alex Hatem both tallied multi-goal performances with two goals apiece.
“Coach has talked to me for a while now about being ready when my number was called and that everyone in the program had all the faith in the world in me, that's what gave me the confidence going into today. I knew that our defense would play well in front of me and I wanted to hold up my end of the deal,” Buonagurio said.
Chetner got things started just over four minutes in, breaking through the Panthers defense and firing one into the back of the net to give Richmond a 1-0 lead at the 10:50 mark of the first quarter. Less than a minute later, Mitch Goldberg made a great pass to Brown, who ripped a shot past the HPU keeper for a 2-0 advantage.
After the Panthers got one back, a beautiful play by the Spiders ended with Chetner setting freshman Teddy Hatfield for a goal and a 3-2 Richmond lead after the first stanza.
HPU would get within one with a goal at the 8:46 mark of the second, but once again Chetner would set up the Richmond offense, this time setting up a goal from Dan Ginestro to give the Spiders a 4-2 cushion at halftime.
Both defense would lock down in the third quarter, limiting each side to just six shots apiece and Buonagurio was huge with four saves in the frame.
The Spiders blew the game open to start the fourth with Chetner setting up Hatem for a man-up goal three minutes into the final quarter. Brown and Hatem would both score over the course of the next four minutes to put the game out of reach at 7-2.
HPU would score with just over eight minutes left in the contest, but Richmond's defense would once again lock down to secure the 7-3 win.
The Spiders return to action on Saturday, April 2 when they host ACC power Virginia. Game time at Robins Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
