University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
1-2
Virginia
2-0
Fourth Quarter Cavalier Surge Too Much as #3 Virginia Slips Past #17 Spiders
02/17/2024 | Men's Lacrosse
Richmond, Va. – The No. 17 University of Richmond men's lacrosse team fell at home against No. 3 Virginia Saturday, 14-10.
"Just didn't think we executed," said Head Coach Dan Chemotti. We've got talented players, we were ready physically and mentally for this one, but I felt like our fundamentals were not great. A lot of bobbled catches, a lot of arched passes. Those things make a difference and every inch matters in a team that's as athletic and long as Virginia."
"Going into the fourth it was a one-goal game and we had some momentum, but I feel like we stalled out that quarter. Our possessions were not of great quality and very short in the fourth," Chemotti added.
Richmond (1-2) got off to a two-goal lead by the 9:29 mark of the first quarter thanks to a Luke Grayum goal off a feed from Dalton Young before Young added his first goal of the day just under three minutes later to give the Spiders the early advantage. With his five points from the game, Young now sits at 203 career points and becomes just the third Spider ever to eclipse 200.
Virginia (2-0), responded with two goals of its own before sophomore Jack Ricciardi scored the first goal of his career off an assist by Aidan O'Neil during the first of Richmond's five man-up opportunities at 2:39 in the first. The Cavaliers were called for five penalties throughout the contest while the Spiders played a man-down on two instances.
The Cavaliers then went on a streak of four unanswered goals from 1:57 in the first quarter to 8:39 in the second before Young put an end to the run with an unassisted goal at 7:42 in the second. Virginia added another tally followed by Joe Sheridan's first goal of the season at the 4:50 mark of the second to make it 7-5 game going into the break.
Just 20 seconds into the second half, the Cavaliers scored on a successfully executed hidden ball trick, then Richmond added it's second man-up goal, this one coming from Lance Madonna off feed from Young, then Aidan O'Neil found the cage to bring the Spiders within one at 11:45 in the third. Both teams would add a pair of goals to make it a 10-9 game headed into the fourth with Richmond's coming from an unassisted Young goal and Hunter Smith's first goal the season and second of his career. Smith's first career goal came against Virginia last year when the team's met during the regular season.
Virginia scored two more goals to open the final quarter before Tommy Stull scored his first of the season at 11:12 in the fourth. The Cavaliers defense held the Spiders to just three more shots over the remainder of the game as Virginia pulled away with the win. Richmond turned over the ball 19 times on the day compared to Virginia's 12, with eight Spiders turnovers coming in the final frame.
The Spiders (27) and Cavaliers (29) were nearly even on ground balls, while Virginia held the upper hand in clears at 24-25 and the Spiders went 21-27. Jared Chenoy took all 26 face off attempts, winning 11 and picking up five ground balls.
On the defensive end of the field, the Spiders came up with five caused turnovers led by Jake Kapp with three. Zach Vigue came up with 17 saves, the third most of his career and seventh most ever by any Spider goalie.
The attendance number from the game – 4,012 – is the second highest ever for the Spiders. The highest came on Feb. 8, 2014 when 4,249 fans came to watch the program's first ever game, also against Virginia.
Up next, the Spiders look to bounce back when they host St. John's at noon on Saturday, Feb. 24.
