University of Richmond Athletics
Gameday Central: Spiders Return to SoCon Play to Host Mercer
04/08/2017 | Men's Lacrosse
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Since the start of the 2017 season, there has been one focus for the senior class of the University of Richmond men's lacrosse program: a championship.
The Spiders quest for a championship continues today when they return to Southern Conference play to host the Bears of Mercer University.
Richmond is looking to keep pace with Air Force and Furman, who are both 3-0 in SoCon play as well.
| 2017 SPIDER MEN'S LACROSSE GAMEDAY CENTRAL - vs. Mercer |
|
| Who | Mercer Bears (4-5, 1-2 SoCon) at #14 Richmond Spiders (8-2, 3-0 SoCon) |
| When | Saturday, Apr. 8, 1 p.m. |
| Where | University of Richmond, Va. |
| Venue | Robins Stadium |
| Video | SpiderTV |
| Live Stats | Click Here |
Series vs. Mercer (Richmond leads 3-1)
Today's showdown is just the second-ever meeting at Robins Stadium in the series between the two school.
The Bears one the first-ever regular season meeting in 2014, but the Spiders toppled Mercer in the Atlantic Sun Tournament later that spring and have won both meetings since, including a 12-6 win in Macon last spring.
Grit and Determination
Austin Cates is the Spiders' star long stick midfielder, an all-conference player and even better student.
SpiderVoices featured Austin's unbelievable grit and determination in its latest feature.
Watch Here
Getting Defensive
The Spiders have long been known for their lockdown D and that's continued this spring with Richmond allowing only 5.44 goals per game, the fewest in the entire country.
Benny Pugh, who is a four-year starter in goal for the Spiders, leads the country in save percentage and goals against average (5.19).
The Spiders rely on seniors Brendan Hynes, Ryan Dennis and Ryan Berning, who have played together for four years now. Hynes and Dennis both rank in the top-five in the country in caused turnovers per game.
Three Musketeers
To go along with the stifling defensive unit, Richmond boasts a potent attack line, which ranks among the country's best.
The Spiders starting attack line of Teddy Hatfield, Dan Ginestro and Ryan Lee have combined for 80 points this season, which ranks fifh in the country for total points by a starting attack line.
Lee ranks in the top-25 in the country with his 19 goals this season.
Laying the Foundation
This year's senior class was the first-ever recruiting class for Coach Chemotti and his staff. It's the first class to go all four years for the Spiders.
Here's their journey: Laying the Foundation
More Hats!
Sophomore Ryan Lee is enjoying a breakout start to his second season at Richmond, combining for 13 goals and five assists in the Spiders' first four victories.
The South Salem, N.Y. native made history last Saturday against Marquette becoming the first player ever to post four consecutive hat tricks.
Teddy's The Talk Of The Town
Hatfield's four goal, four assist performance in the season-opening win not only set a program record for a single game point total, it also earned him EPOCH Magazine and US Lacrosse's National Player of the Week honor.
In 20 career games, Hatfield has 30 goals and 23 assists.
Spider Sweep
In addition to Hatfield's national honor, he also helped Richmond sweep the first SoCon weekly awards of the season by earning SoCon Offensive Player of the Week, while senior goalie Benny Pugh was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week.
Pugh had 15 saves and limited the potent Fairfield attack to just three goals, the second fewest allowed by any team in the country over the first two weeks of the season.
Boasting About Brendan
Senior Brendan Hynes is the only player in Richmond history with 200 ground balls and 100 caused turnovers and his play backs up those stats.
Hynes, who has been named to the all-conference teams in each of his three seasons with the Spiders, earned Preseason Honorable Mention All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse.
He's the first Preseason All-American in Richmond history.
Sensational Six
Hynes wasn't the only Spider earning preseason recoginition as he was one of six members of this year's squad to earn Preseason All-SoCon honors.
Joining Hynes on the preseason squad was Mitch Goldberg, Ryan Dennis, Austin Cates, Peter Moran and Jean-Luc Chetner.
