University of Richmond
8-2
No. 12 Bryant
2-8
MLAX Upset Falls Short in 9-6 Loss To No. 12 Bryant
03/29/2014 | Men's Lacrosse
Richmond scored in bunches in the second and fourth quarters, but the upset-minded Spiders were thwarted late in a 9-6 loss to No. 12 Bryant Saturday afternoon in men's lacrosse action. The game took place at Cold Spring Harbor HS on Long Island. Bryant has now won six in a row and improves to 8-2. The Spiders fall to 2-8. Five of Richmond's eight losses, including both to ranked opponents, have been decided by three or fewer goals.
The Spiders' top two goal scorers, freshman Mitch Goldberg (Damascus, Md.) and J.P. Forester (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) each scored a pair of goals to keep the Spiders in the game. Forester has score a goal in six consecutive games and Goldberg has scored in nine of Richmond's 10 season contests.
"We would like to thank Cold Spring Harbor High School for hosting today's game," said Richmond head coach Dan Chemotti, who played for Bryant head coach Mike Pressler.
Bryant entered the day with the nation's number-two faceoff man, Kevin Massa, and he secured all 19 faceoffs in the contest, the second time this season the Spiders have been shutout at the faceoff X.
The Bulldogs got out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first six minutes and change, but the Spiders outscored Bryant 3-2 the rest of the first half.
"We had strong effort up and down the field today. We thought the defense was organized and Ben Pugh made the saved he was supposed to make as well as a few he's not supposed to make. Our offense took a little while to get going. Bryant has some of the best players in the country at key positions like face-off, goaltending and a very talented first midfield line. They made things hard for us today and they are a physical team for all 60 minutes."
Richmond's first goal came from Forester with 5:41 in the opening quarter to get Richmond on the board.
The Bulldogs scored three minutes later and then again 41 seconds into the second quarter, but the Spiders held Bryant scoreless for the next 16:02 and pulled back into the contest.
A pair of late second-quarter goals, the first from Goldberg, who put in his 20th goal for the season with 7:21 remaining in the half, fueled the comeback.
The final score of the half came from Alex Hatem (Syracuse, N.Y.), who scored his ninth goal of the season with just 22 seconds remaining in the second.
The Bulldogs had more shots (20-16) and ground balls (29-13) in the first 30 minutes.
Bryant put in the only goal of the third quarter just 90 seconds into the third, but the defenses clamped down and the Bulldogs took the three goal lead to the fourth. The one combined goal is a new program low for a quarter of a Richmond game.
In the fourth, the Richmond defense continued its stingy ways, holding Bryant scoreless for a stretch of 20:04 and the offense pitched in when Forester scored his second goal of the day just 26 seconds into the period and Jean-Luc Chetner (Penticton, BC) made it a one-goal game with his 11th goal of the season at the 12:59 mark.
The game was scoreless for four minutes before Bryant finally cracked back through with a pair of goals from Collin Gantz for an 8-5 lead.
Goldberg scored a second goal with 3:28 remaining, but Bryant scored 28 seconds later for the last goal of the contest.
"We think we're getting better every game and that is one of our goals, however we still have a whole lot to learn and some of those lessons only come from experience," added Chemotti.
Forester now has 18 goals this season for the Spiders, who have had 70.1 percent of goals scored by freshmen this season.
Goalie Benny Pugh (Powhatan, Va. / Woodberry Forest School) took the loss, dropping his season record to 2-6. He made 11 saves in the contest.
The Spiders will finish out the season in Atlantic Sun Conference play starting next weekend, with a visit to Furman on Saturday at noon.
