University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
11-4, 6-1SoCon
High Point
9-6, 5-2SoCon
Spiders Roll Into SoCon Championship With 17-6 Defeat Of High Point
05/06/2016 | Men's Lacrosse
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Three years. That's how long the University of Richmond men's lacrosse has been in existence.
Three times. That's how many times the Spiders have played for a conference championship and a bid to the NCAA Tournament after Richmond (11-4) dominated rival High Point (9-6), 17-6 on Thursday night at Robins Stadium in the SoCon Semifinals.
“I really thought our guys came out with a ton of energy and played a great game for a full 60 minutes tonight,” Head Coach Dan Chemotti said. “High Point is an incredibly talented team and we really challenge each other every time we step on the field and tonight our guys were able to do a really good job of sticking to our game plan on both sides of the field.”
Freshman Teddy Hatfield was the story, scoring a program record six goals on the night, as well as dishing out his 15th assist of the season for a game-high seven points. Junior J.P. Forester posted his second consecutive hat trick with three goals and an assists, while freshman Adrian Nash and junior Jean-Luc Chetner each added two goals apiece.
“Honestly, it really was a team win for us. Our defense did an incredible job of limiting their attack and Peter really dominated the face-off circle all night long,” Hatfield said. “Offensively, my teammates did a great job of finding me and giving me good opportunities to score and once the first few went in, the net got bigger and bigger to me.”
Defensively, the Spiders were once again outstanding, limiting the league's most potent offense (HPU came into the game scoring over 11 goals per game) to just six goals on the evening. The Panthers had 20 turnovers on the night, 12 of which were caused by the Spiders. Once again, Brendan Hynes was outstanding, finishing with nine groundballs and four caused turnovers. Classmate Ryan Dennis added four caused turnovers of his own.
“Defensively, I thought we did a good job of taking away their strengths and really keeping them from getting clean looks at the net,” Chemotti said. “It's really no surprise because that's what our defensive unit has been doing all year.”
High Point got on the board first with a goal less than three minutes into the contest. That's pretty much all the momentum the Panthers would have all night.
Hatfield struck with his first goal of the night off an assist from Dan Ginestro with 7:09 to play in the first quarter.
The Spiders would take the game over with a three-goal spurt in just 18 seconds, the final coming off a face-off win from Peter Moran and a dish to Forester to put Richmond up 4-1.
HPU would get within one at 4-3, but Richmond scored four unanswered to close out the first half, including a last second buzzer-beater from Chetner off a dish from Hatfield to send the Spiders into the break with an 8-3 cushion.
Hatfield made a great move and found the back of the net for the fourth time less than two minutes into the second half and the Spiders would add two more in the third to hold a 11-5 advantage heading into the final period.
Richmond would score two goals in the first two minutes of the quarter to really put the nail in the Panthers' coffin. The Spiders would add three more goals over the final 10 minutes to round out the 17-6 victory.
The 17 goals is the highest output of the season for Richmond and the most in 20 games, dating back to a 20-9 win over High Point in the regular season last year.
Richmond now advances to take on 12th-ranked and top-seeded Air Force in Saturday's SoCon Championship. Game time is set for 12 p.m. on ESPN3.
