University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
1-0, 0-0
Virginia
1-0, 0-0
No. 8 Spiders Use Scoring Surge, Goaltending to Take Down No. 13 Virginia
02/14/2026 | Men's Lacrosse
Richmond, Va. – The University of Richmond men's lacrosse team entered — and exited — Saturday's game against in-state rival Virginia the same way.
On top.
For the first time in the series, which dates to Richmond's inaugural game in 2014, the No. 8 Spiders entered the matchup as the higher-ranked team and secured an 18-12 win over the No. 13 Cavaliers in front of a packed crowd of 3,896 fans at Robins Stadium.
The victory marked Richmond's third win over Virginia and second at home, and its first home win in the series since 2022. It also marked back-to-back wins over the Cavaliers for the first time after a 13-10 road victory in Charlottesville last season.
"In the second half I thought we continued to make some plays. We scored on some back-to-back possessions early. That can provide some great momentum for one team and really frustrate another team," head coach Dan Chemotti said.
Richmond used a seven-goal run spanning the second and third quarters and a career-best 18-save performance from goalie Connor Knight to pull away and improve to 2-0. Virginia fell to 1-1.
Aidan O'Neil led the Spiders with five goals and one assist. Joe Sheridan added four goals and one assist as 10 Richmond players recorded points.
"We shot pretty well in the second half," O'Neil said. "We had longer possessions and I think that kind of buried them. If you're already down a couple goals and not seeing the ball as much as you want to that's definitely frustrating and I think that played a big factor."
Daniel Picard had three goals and one assist. Gavin Creo and Jack Ricciardi each added two goals and one assist. Charlie Packard and Jack Pilling each scored once, and Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson and Ryan Thompson recorded assists.
While the Cavaliers controlled the faceoff stripe with 21 wins to Richmond's 13, Knight's netminding kept the Spiders in it all game as the redshirt junior improved on his career-best by eight saves. The Spiders defense stood their ground and forced Virginia into eight of its 14 turnovers, led by Penafeather-Stevenson with three and Hunter Smith with two. Penafeather-Stevenson also scooped a team and career-high five ground balls.
Both teams went back and forth trading goals in the first half before Virginia tied things at seven apiece at 6:24 in the second quarter. Two more Richmond goals to end the first half made it 9-7 Richmond at the break, and the Spiders stayed hot out of halftime, tallying five more goals to pull away from Virginia, making it a 14-7 game by 5:56 in the third. Virginia clipped the Spider lead to three by the 9:18 mark of the fourth to make it 15-12, but the Spiders wouldn't let up, laying on three more goals in just over three minutes between 7:46 and 4:12 to earn the statement win.
The Spiders have a quick turnaround before hosting Mercer on Monday at noon as they look to go 3-0 to start the season for just the third time in program history.
