Men’s Lacrosse Comeback Falls Short In SoCon Championship Game

Friday, May 7

Richmond, Va.

Noon

University of Richmond

7-6, 5-1SoCon

#2 High Point

8-5, 5-1SoCon

High Point

Richmond

Photo by: Keith Lucas

Men’s Lacrosse Comeback Falls Short In SoCon Championship Game

05/07/2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

RICHMOND, Va. – The 18^th-ranked University of Richmond men's lacrosse program saw its run of Southern Conference Tournament championships come to an end Friday afternoon as the top-seeded Spiders couldn't overcome a big first half deficit seeing their comeback fall short against second-seeded High Point 11-8 at Robins Stadium. The loss by the Spiders ends their run of two-straight SoCon titles in 2018 and 2019 while High Point won it first title since 2015.

Graduate long-stick midfielder Sean Menges (Richmond, Va.), short stick midfielder Tate Gallagher (Ardmore, Pa.) and midfielder Tyler Shoults (Warners, N.Y.) were named to the SoCon All-Tournament team after the loss. Menges led the Spiders defensively Friday with five caused turnovers and five ground balls. He set a new SoCon Tournament record with nine caused turnovers in the two games.

The Spiders (7-6) allowed the game's first four goals and found itself trailing 7-1 midway through the second quarter. The Panthers were on a tear early in the game, getting two goals apiece from Asher Nolting and Dalton Sulver in the opening run.

Richmond started to chip away at the deficit as sophomore Richie Connell (Evergreen, Colo.) scored a man-up goal making it a 7-2 contest. Shoults narrowed the gap to four at the break as he scored his second of the game in the closing minute of a quarter.

The Spiders' run continued in the third quarter when sophomore Dalton Young (Chantilly, Va.) found the back of the net. Senior Mitch Savoca (Newtown, Conn.) added a goal two minutes later and Connell picked up his second off a Ryan Lanchbury (Burlington, Ontario) assist making it a 7-6 game at the 4:58 mark of the third quarter.

High Point (8-5) got a big goal from Kevin Rogers early in the fourth increasing the league back to two. Lanchbury again pulled the Spiders within one with his first goal of the game closing the gap to 8-7. High Point did not let up though as it scored three-straight while keeping the Spiders off the board. Lanchbury added his second of the game and 122^nd of his career late in the contest rounding out the scoring.

The Spiders caused 16 turnovers on the loss, the second most in a single game in program history. Menges led with five while senior Jason Reynolds (Chester Springs, Pa.) added three. Graduate goalie Jack Rusbuldt (Richmond, Va.) made 11 saves in the loss while High Point goalie Parker Green picked up 12 saves.

Richmond struggled at the face-off in the loss, only winning 5-of-22 in the contest. Davis Sampere won 17 face-offs for the Panthers who controlled possession for most of the contest.

The Spiders are the only team in the country that has advanced to its conference championship game for seven-straight seasons. Richmond appeared in one Atlantic Sun Conference championship in 2014 before the last six-straight in the SoCon dating back to 2015.

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