Spiders Give #12 Virginia a Scare, Fall 14-10 on the Road

Saturday, March 31

Charlottesville, VA

3:00 p.m.

University of Richmond

5-5

Virginia

8-3

Richmond

Virginia

Spiders Give #12 Virginia a Scare, Fall 14-10 on the Road

03/31/2018 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

By: Rachael Overland

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Two goals apiece from three of the leading scorers was not enough fend off the Virginia Cavaliers (8-3) as the University of Richmond men's lacrosse team (5-5) fell in a 14-10 decision in Charlottesville.

Richmond offense generated the tempo of the game in the first three quarters, but fell in their fourth. Seven individual Richmond players tallied goals to put Richmond on the board along with 32 shots – 23 of them being on goal. The defense also put up a great effort with seven saves and eight caused turnovers.

Virginia lead with the first goal of the game off a shot ripped from near the top of the box but Richmond came with an answer eight minutes into the first quarter to tie it up. Off a forced turnover from a hustle play from Ryan Lanchbury, Richmond regained a critical possession and reset up their high paced offense. Tate Gallagher dished a pass to Mitch Savoca who buried a shot into the back of the net, tying the score at one apiece.

Despite a strong showing from the Richmond defense and sophomore goalie, Blake Goodman, making two big saves, Virginia netted two more goals without an answer from the Richmond offense to end the first quarter, putting Richmond in the hole 3-1.

Richmond's offense stayed calm and collected, setting the pace they wanted and racking up quality shots. After a big save by Virginia, Junior Ryan Lee intercepted a goalie clear and took it straight to goal to score his first to cut Richmond's deficit in half.

Two minutes later, Lanchbury decided to tie it up with his second goal of the game off of another failed goalie clear. Not to be outdone, Garrett Smith won the faceoff, tallied a ground ball and netted his first goal of the game just six seconds after Richmond's third goal to make the score 4-3.

After an answering goal from Virginia, Richmond's defense went to work, causing turnovers on hustle plays and transitioning seamlessly into the offensive half. After settling into offense, Teddy Hatfield served a pass from behind the goal to Mitch Goldberg who ripped a shot to put Richmond back in the lead 5-4.

Virginia answered with two goals, but Richmond was not ready to go into the break unanswered. After a critical man-up resulting from a cross check on a Virginia player, Hatfield lobbed a pass across the top of the box to Austin Brown who drilled a shot to the back of the net tying the game up at six all with 49 seconds left in the half.

But the excitement for the half was not over. After a Virginia chance to score and a big save by Goodman, Richmond got the ball with less than 15 seconds to go. In transition up the field, Austin Cates drew a hold call on a Virginia defenseman and Richmond received possession to start the second half in a man-up situation.

Richmond was determined to start the second half with a bang, so 15 seconds out of the gate, Layne Collins recorded his first assist of the game as he dished a pass across to Goldberg who netted his second goal of the game off the man-up opportunity.

Hatfield, not satisfied with his two assists in the first half, wanted to get in on the scoring action just a minute later to tally his 20th of the season from a beautiful pass from Eric Haehl to put Richmond up two for a score of 8-6.

Settling yet again into a measured and collected offense, Richmond continued to put shots on goal and finally one of them paid off. Haehl served a perfect pass over the edge of the crease to a rushing Lee who faked the goalie out with a pump fake low to bury the shot high, making the score 9-7 in Richmond's favor.

Closing out the third quarter, the Richmond defense showed they were just as much in the game as the offense. Goodman directed his defense as Virginia ran strong offense, but Richmond held Virginia to only two goals in the third quarter thanks to the hustle shown by the defensive squad.

Virginia started the fourth quarter strong, racking up 4 goals in the first 8 minutes to lead the game 12-9.

But with some critical ground balls and strong hustle, Richmond proved they were not to be counted out quite yet. With a quick one-two pass, Lanchbury made a contribution to cutting the deficit off of an assist from Savoca. Richmond down two, 12-10.

With two more high-tempo goals from Virginia, Richmond faced a deficit of four. Despite strong efforts from both the offensive and defensive squads, Virginia held on to their lead and Richmond fell in a 14-10 decision.

Richmond will be at home in the Robins Stadium for their next contest against Bellarmine next Saturday (April 7) at 1pm.