University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
4-1, 1-0
VMI
1-4, 0-1
Strong Second Half Leads Spiders Past VMI, 11-6, In SoCon Opener
03/06/2016 | Men's Lacrosse
LEXINGTON, Va. – It doesn't matter what sport or what conference, one thing always stays the same. Conference games are always a different type of challenge.
That was on display on Saturday evening on the campus of VMI where the University of Richmond battled to an 11-6 victory over the Keydets in the Southern Conference opener for both squads.
Juniors Mitch Goldberg and Dan Ginestro each had three goals apiece to lead the offensive attack for the Spiders, while senior Alex Hatem found the back of the net on two occasions. Ginestro has now had multi-goal performances in four of Richmond's five games this year.
“Conference games are always grind it out type games and tonight was no different. Credit to VMI, they came out with great energy and really challenged us in the first half. We were able to make some adjustments on both ends of the field in the second half and fight our way to the win,” Head Coach Dan Chemotti said.
The Keydets got on the board first thanks to John O'Donnell, who gave VMI a 1-0 with 9:01 to play in the first period.
Richmond responded with four unanswered goals started by a beautiful goal from Goldberg off a great feed from freshman Teddy Hatfield. Austin Brown scored his first goal of the year and Ginestro followed with back-to-back goals to push the Spiders lead to 4-1 with 10 minutes to play in the first half.
VMI would close out the stanza strong with two goals in the final four minutes to send Richmond into the break with a 4-3 advantage.
The Spiders came alive in the third quarter. Hatfield struck less than two minutes into the third period, followed by back-to-back goals from Goldberg and Ginestro in the next four minutes to give Richmond a 7-3 lead with nine minutes to play in the third.
VMI got a goal back, but once again the Spiders responded with goals from Goldberg and Hatem to give Richmond its largest lead of the contest at 9-4.
With Richmond leading 9-5, the Spiders were dealt a challenge, having to kill a man-down situation for the first 3:30 of the fourth, but the defense held strong, keeping the Keydets off the scoreboard. Hatem and classmate Cory Palmer added insurance goals in the fourth to secure the 11-6 victory.
Richmond has a quick turnaround, facing fourth-ranked Duke on Monday in Durham. Game time on ESPN3 is set for 7 p.m.
