Vigue, Young and Madonna shine in Richmond’s 10-8 win over Fairfield on Sunday

The University of Richmond men’s lacrosse team defeated Fairfield University 10-8 Feb. 26 at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium. 

The attackmen led the show, combining six goals and six assists on the day. Senior attacker Dalton Young finished with a goal and four assists, while fellow junior attacker Luke Grayum contributed with a pair of goals and assists. 

Junior midfielder Lance Madonna complemented the attackmen by pouring on the goals, completing his hat trick with 0:53 seconds left in the game to put the Spiders up 10-8. 

The Spiders trailed once in this game after a Fairfield goal put them up 4-3 with 9:58 to go in the second quarter. However, the Spiders responded quickly with two goals to retake the lead within two minutes. 

With 1:35 left in the first half, Young found Grayum for a top corner shot, giving the Spiders a 7-5 lead going into the half. 

After a back and forth third quarter, the Stags were able to tie a string of goals together to, once again, fight back and even the tally at 8-8 with 13:53 remaining in the game.

Richmond never saw their lead surpass two, leaving crucial opportunities to stretch the lead on the field. 

Spiders Head Coach Dan Chemotti praised the Fairfield team after the game. 

“Holy smokes they had a great gameplay and again they just played exceptionally hard,” Chemotti said.

Redshirt sophomore goalie Zach Vigue had numerous key saves, including several point blank shots, and kept Fairifield 0/5 on man up opportunities.

Vigue carried the momentum from his excellent performance from last game versus Towson University, totaling eight saves and a 50% save percentage today. 

Shortly after Fairfield tied the game, Young, yet again, found Madonna cutting for a lefty shot, which was the game winning goal.

On Fairfield’s last attempt to tie the game, Vigue answered the call, making a point blank save to allow the Spiders to retain possession and run the clock out.

Despite the game going down to the wire, Vigue still had fun, he said.

“I try to do what I can, the last two saves are something we work on and practice on so that was fun,” Vigue said. 

The Spiders matchup on Sunday was their second game in three days. Coach Chemotti credited his team for getting the job done. 

“We had to show up… and I give our guys a lot of credit for being able to gut it out and figure out a way to win,” Chemotti said.

The Spiders improved to 3-1 on the season, looking to continue the three game win streak against top-ranked University of Virginia on Saturday, Mar. 4th in Charlottesville. 

Contact sports writer Anderson Coll at anderson.coll@richmond.edu.