University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
10-5
High Point (Semifinals)
9-7
Spiders To Play In Tenth-Consecutive Conference Title Game With 11-10 Semifinal Win Over High Point
05/02/2024 | Men's Lacrosse
Amherst, Mass. — The No. 18 University of Richmond men's lacrosse team will be making its tenth-consecutive trip to a conference championship game after it defeated High Point in a thrilling 11-10 decision Thursday night at UMass' Garber Field during game two of the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal. The second-seeded Spiders will play top-seed Saint Joseph's at 1:00 p.m. Saturday to vie for its sixth conference championship and sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Lance Madonna led the Spiders in the back-and-forth contest as he erupted to match a career-high seven points via four goals and three assists that both came as a season-high for the senior.
The Spiders (10-5) jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the first quarter thanks largely to Madonna. He scored the first two goals of the game with the first coming off a feed from Dalton Young, then scored another off a pass from Aidan O'Neil. Madonna recorded his first assist of the game, this time aiding a Joe Sheridan goal to go up 3-0 by the 8:40 mark of the opening frame.
Lukas Olsson, who would go on to score the eventual game-winner, ended the night with a pair of goals on just three shots and scored his first with 1:35 left in the opening quarter off a pass from Young.
The second quarter belonged to High Point (9-7) as the Panthers tallied half their goals between the 14:00 and 4:08 mark to go up 5-4, then O'Neil scored an unassisted goal at the 2:10 mark to stop the scoring run.
From there, both teams traded goals as High Point took over the lead at 6-5, 7-6 and 8-7 while the Spiders kept them in reach with goals by Jeff Nugent, another from Madonna off a feed from Luke Grayum, and an unassisted goal from Gavin Creo.
With the game tied at eight apiece, Henry Alpaugh gave Richmond its first lead since the score was 4-3 at 5:36 in the second when he took a shot from range off a pass from Madonna at the 8:51 mark of the final quarter. A quick 44 seconds later, High Point added another score to make it 9-9, then Madonna found Olsson for the would-be game-winner with 1:54 left in the game. Madonna scored his final of the night on an open cage with 14 seconds left to play, then High Point scored shortly after the ensuing face off to pull back within one, but it wouldn't be enough as Richmond secured the semifinal victory.
Hunter Smith led the Spiders defense with three caused turnovers, while Zach Vigue made 10 saves in cage and tied a career-high with six ground balls.
Saturday's title game comes as a rematch of the regular season finale from a week ago when Saint Joseph's narrowly escaped the Spiders, 10-9.
