University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
-410, 23 ASun
VMI
-212, 14 ASun
Men's Lacrosse Falls in First Overtime Game, 7-6
04/26/2014 | Men's Lacrosse
LEXINGTON, Va. -- Freshman Mitch Goldberg (Damascus, Md.) scored his third goal of the game with 17 seconds in regulation, but the Spiders lost in double overtime at VMI, 7-6 to end the regular season. The loss dropped Richmond's record to 4-10 overall, 2-3 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Keydets secured their first ASun win (1-4), improving their record to 2-12 for the season.
The Spiders will be the four-seed in next week's Atlantic Sun Tournament, playing host Mercer in the second semifinal game Thursday at 7 p.m. The Keydets conclude their season after an emotional Senior Day.
“Give VMI a lot of credit. They played inspired lacrosse and gave our guys fits and set the tone for the game,” said Richmond head coach Dan Chemotti. “In the second half we got back to our fundamentals to a degree, but we shot ourselves in the foot more often than not. I wish we were going into the tournament with a little more momentum.” “
Goldberg, returning after missing the home finale last Sunday, took 12 shots and took back the team lead by finishing with 26 season goals.
It was good to have Mitch back, but we shouldn't be relying on Mitch so much. I am not sure anybody else stepped up and we are not happy with scoring just six goals in the game today.”
The emotional game was rife with turnovers and stout defense in the early going, with each team scoring just one goal each in the first quarter. Long-pole Jackson Cabot (Dedham, Mass.) had the assist on Richmond's lone goal in the opening 15 minutes, on a breakaway to Dan Ginestro (Syracuse, N.Y.) at the 11:04 mark in the first frame.
VMI jumped out to a 3-1 lead with two goals to start the second in the first 10 minutes of the frame before the Spiders scored two goals just a little over a minute apart, with Goldberg scoring ahead of Brad Burnam (Nedrow, N.Y.) with just under four minute to go in the first half. VMI got a goal 30 seconds later and held a 4-3 lead into halftime.
The Keydets out shot the Spiders 19-11 in the opening half, with Richmond goalie Benny Pugh (Powhatan, Va. / Woodberry Forest School) recording eight saves in the first half.
A VMI goal five minutes into the second half pushed the lead to two, but the Spiders scored back-to-back goals to finish the third, including Goldeberg's second (with a man advantage) with 56 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game at five.
VMI scored less then five minutes into the fourth and looked to ice the game away in the fourth period, but the Spiders got the ball back with 45 seconds to go and Goldberg got into position to tie the game late and force the overtime, the first in Richmond's program history.
Each team was given a chance to score in both overtime periods until VMI's Mickey Hofmeister got loose behind the Richmond goal and came up from the end line to score on Pugh and score the sudden-victory winner with 2:42 remaining in the second extra period.
Pugh finished with 14 saves, the most for a goalie in a loss (4-7) for the Spiders.
VMI goalie Evan Windisch got the win (2-12) for the Keydets, making 13 saves.
Long-stick midfielder Brendan Hynes (Mahopac, N.Y.) led the Spiders with seven ground balls.
VMI took one more shot (36-35) and doubled (12-6) the face offs won over Richmond in the game.
Goldberg finished the regular season with five hat tricks and eight multi-goal games. Jean-Luc Chetner (Pentiction, BC) had an assist to score a point in all 14 games this season for the Spiders.
