Men's Lacrosse drops fifth straight game

The University of Richmond men's lacrosse team dropped its fifth game of the season to the College of the Holy Cross Crusaders, 11-9, after Holy Cross strung together three goals in the fourth period at Robins Stadium Tuesday.

The two teams traded the lead five times throughout the game, and despite freshman Mitch Goldberg's six-point day composed of four goals and two assists, the Spiders couldn't find an answer to the Crusaders' late scoring run. With 10 and a half minutes left in the game, Holy Cross freshman attacker Kevin Lux caught a pass from midfielder Terry McKenna left of the crease and found the back of the net to break an 8-8 tie. Just 40 seconds later, McKenna rushed down the right sideline and scored unassisted on a cross-field shot for the game-winning goal.

Richmond head coach Dan Chemotti said Holy Cross made some good plays to beat a tired Richmond team during the fourth period run.

"We have only so many guys on our roster," Chemotti said. "So our depth is a little thin. So our guys, certainly toward the fourth quarter, wear out, especially with the amount of defense we have to play with our inability to control the faceoff."

Holy Cross won 15 of the 24 faceoffs including going seven for eight to start the game and winning seven of the last eleven. Chemotti said the team would continue to evaluate every option they have in the faceoff circle, and continue to make adjustments to stop teams off the faceoff win.

Richmond sophomore attacker Brad Burnam fired a pass from behind the goal to a cutting J.P. Forester with just under seven minutes left in the game. Forester, a freshman attacker, beat the Holy Cross goal keeper to bring the Spiders within two, but that's as close as they came.

Michael Ortlieb, the Crusaders' goal keeper, stopped Goldberg's shot from the right side of the crease with 5:18 remaining. Richmond sophomore midfielder Cory Palmer, who finished with a career-high three assists, turned the ball over with 2:30 left. Richmond had possession over the last 35 seconds of the game, but only managed to get two shots on goal. A diving Holy Cross defender blocked Midfielder Alex Hatem's shot and Burnam banked a shot off the right post with 15 seconds left.

The Spiders scored first when Hatem found Goldberg along the crease 50 seconds into the game. Goldberg scored again three minutes later and assisted a third goal, scored by Palmer, with eight minutes left in the first. Goldberg, who leads the Spiders with 13 goals, said Richmond's offensive design has led to many opportunities for him this season.

"I think that just doing everything in practice every day, just listening to the feedback from coach, will definitely help me put myself in spots to get opportunities and shots," Goldberg said. "And then it's just a habit of doing it every day, making sure on game day I can continue putting the ball in the back of the net and finding open teammates."

Richmond goalie Conor Shannon played the full game for the second time this year. He split time with Benny Pugh in the first three games of the season, but Pugh has been out the last two games with a knee injury.

"Playing a full game is not too different from playing a half," Shannon said. "You just try to go out and string together four good periods and back up the defense as much as possible."

Shannon finished the game with only four saves, but the freshman goalie kept the Spiders in the game. He limited Holy Cross to one goal in the second quarter and two in the third quarter. The Crusaders made some nice plays, but Richmond gave up some easy goals as well during Holy Cross's late surge, Shannon said.

"They were able to carry that energy and ride an emotional high to string a couple goals together and we couldn't get a stop," Shannon said.

Richmond, still searching for the programs first win, will head down to Durham, N.C. to play Vermont Saturday in part of the King of Spring Classic. The game will start at 1 p.m. in Durham County Stadium.

Contact staff writer Jeremy Day at jeremy.day@richmond.edu