University of Richmond Athletics
Gameday Central: Spiders vs. #12 Air Force (SoCon Finals)
05/07/2016 | Men's Lacrosse
Quick Hits
• Freshman Teddy Hatfield set a new program record on Thursday night in the SoCon Semifinals with six goals and now leads the team in that category with 20. Hatfield also leads the team in points with 35.
• Richmond's 17 goals in Thursday's was the highest output of the season for the Spiders and the highest in the past 20 games dating back to last season's 20-7 win at High Point.
• Today's matchup pits two of the top three defenses in the country with Air Force ranked second and the Spiders ranked third entering today's game.
• With 28 wins in its first three seasons at the Division I level, Richmond now sits fifth all-time for the most wins in the first three seasons, including the original schools that played lacrosse when the NCAA introduced it as a sport in 1971.
• The Spiders are seeking a third trip to the NCAA Tournament in their three years of existence after winning the Atlantic Sun in 2014. It was the first time in the history of NCAA Men's Lacrosse that a first-year program made it to the tournament since it's inception in 1971.
Honors Abound
Seven different Spiders earned All-SoCon recognition with Brendan Hynes and Alex Hatem both being named to the first team. Ryan Dennis, Austin Cates, Jean-Luc Chetner and Mitch Goldberg all earning second team recognition. Teddy Hatfield was named to the All-Rookie team.
Red-Headed Menace
Brendan Hynes has long been seen as the playmaker of Richmond's vaunted defense.
The past two games has been clear evidence of that with Hynes racking up 17 groundballs and eight caused turnovers in the past two outings.
Hynes is now the first player in program history to reach 200 groundballs as well as the first to reach 100 caused turnovers.
His 35 caused turnovers this year are currently tied for the single-season school record and his 2.20 caused turnovers per game rank him second nationally in that category.
Ravishing Rookie
Teddy Hatfield has been quite an addition to the Spiders this season, even before his record-breaking six-goal effort in the semifinal win over High Point.
He currently leads the team with 35 points, which ranks sixth all-time in a single season. His 15 assists rank fifth all-time in a single-season.
Forester On Fire
2015 All-SoCon performer J.P. Forester is catching fire at just the right time as the junior from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. has piled up eight goals in the past three games, including back-to-back hat tricks entering today's contest.
He currently ranks second all-time with seven career hat tricks, second all-time in points with 96 and second all-time in goals with 68.
The Match-Up
Today is the third meeting between Air Force and Richmond and each time the game has had a little extra meaning.
The two teams squared off in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament with the Falcons pulling out a 13-5 in Colorado Springs.
Two weeks ago, Air Force played right here at Robins Stadium with the regular season SoCon championship on the line.
Today? A conference title and a trip to the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Senior Stepping Up
With a key offensive cog in Mitch Goldberg going down in early April, the Spiders' offense has been looking to find its rhythm and senior Alex Hatem has definitely stepped up, posting four straight multi-goal performances entering this weekend's SoCon Tournament.
Hatem earned All-SoCon First Team honors earlier this week after leading the Spiders with 19 goals this spring.
“Honestly, our offense took a little time to find itself after Mitch went down. We all knew we had to step up, but it took some time for us to really hit our stride,” Hatem said. “It's really been a team effort and you can tell by looking at the box score and seeing how many different guys are contributing points for us.”
