Men's lacrosse falls to Duke 11-7 in tight contest

Men's lacrosse battled with Duke’s Blue Devils Friday night, but were ultimately unable to convert opportunities and fell short 11-7.

The Blue Devils, ranked sixth in the country, gave the Spiders an excellent game at Robins Stadium.

The first quarter proved to be the most eventful, sparked by Nick D’Amaro’s faceoff win and fast break goal within the first seven seconds of the game. 

Attackmen and juniors Tyler Shoults and Michael Reale added one each to the count before the Blue Devils responded with three consecutive goals.

Throughout the second and third quarters, Richmond and Duke went back and forth. 

The Blue Devils made it a priority to shut down sophomore attackman Ryan Lanchbury. Senior attackman Teddy Hatfield stood out in the second portion of the game and earned a hat trick for the Spiders.

The Blue Devils pulled away in the fourth quarter scoring three unanswered goals. Duke’s faceoff man Brian Smyth was able to retain possession for the Devils in the fourth quarter. 

The total groundballs weighed 30 to 17 in favor of Duke. 

“Duke’s a really athletic team," Richmond coach Dan Chemotti said. "Just looking at the stats here, they out ground-balled us, they caused a lot of turnovers on the field.”

The Blue Devils were ultimately unfazed by Richmond’s early lead. 

“We went out there and continued to make plays like that, but once they turned up the pressure we didn’t handle it as well as I would have liked to,” said Chemotti in reference to the beginning of the game.

The Spiders’ next matchup is Mount St. Mary’s this Tuesday at Robins Stadium. 

Contact sports writer Jackson McAtee at jackson.mcatee@richmond.edu