Men's Lacrosse Stages Furious Comeback, Falls Just Short at Notre Dame, 11-7

Saturday, February 24

South Bend, Ind.

12:00 p.m.

University of Richmond

2-2

Notre Dame

2-0

Richmond

Notre Dame

Men's Lacrosse Stages Furious Comeback, Falls Just Short at Notre Dame, 11-7

02/24/2018 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

By: Matt Moretti III (@Moretts13)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Richmond men's lacrosse team (2-2) put a scare into the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0) on Saturday afternoon, erasing a, 5-0, halftime deficit by the middle of the third before ultimately dropping an 11-7 decision on the road.

Ryan Lee, who scored twice and handed out an assist for his three points, led the Spider charge. Freshman Mitch Savoca scored twice more while his classmate Ryan Lanchbury continued his stellar debut campaign with another goal and an assist. Layne Collins and Tyler Shoults each added goals as well. Super senior Mitch Goldberg handed out a pair of assists, as did Teddy Hatfield who was held without a goal for the first time this season.

"Today we didn't get it done. We only played one quarter of a lacrosse game," head coach Dan Chemotti said. "That doesn't cut it at this level no matter who you play and especially against a team like Notre Dame. We were lucky to be tied going into the fourth quarter, but we failed to execute down the stretch, consistently shooting ourselves in the foot. Conversely Notre Dame made the plays in the fourth they needed to make to win."

The Spiders struggled to find a rhythm in the first half, all the while Notre Dame was rolling on its home field. By the end of the second quarter, the home side had built a 5-0 lead. But Richmond was far from out of this game against one of the nation's top programs.

Mitch Savoca got the Spiders on the board early in the third with his first goal of the game followed closely by fellow freshman Ryan Lancbury finding the back of the net to quickly make it 5-2 with 13:52 to play in the quarter. Mitch Goldberg assisted on each of those first two scores.

The onslaught continued with a Tyler Shoults goal at the 12:39 mark, assisted by Ryan Lee who was just getting started in this one. Savoca made it 5-4 at the 7:47 mark and just 37 seconds later Lee scored the first of his back-to-back goals to tie the game at five. At the 6:11 mark, Lee gave Richmond its first lead, 6-5.

While all this was going on, Richmond goalie Blake Goodman was doing his part to keep the Irish at bay, making 10 saves by the middle of the third quarter. Notre Dame scored to tie the game before the end of the third then took the lead once again at the 12:52 mark in the fourth.

Layne Collins scored the last goal for the Spiders with 11:15 to play, tying the score at seven but that would be all for Richmond in this one has the home side was able to put the clamps down. By the end Notre Dame would add four more scores to create the difference in this one.

After a true test on the national stage, the Spiders will now turn their attention to the nation's top team, Duke, on the road next weekend (Mar. 3). That game is set to begin at 1 p.m.