University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
11-3, 6-1
Furman
7-7, 6-1
Spiders Roll Past Furman On Senior Day, 13-4
04/29/2017 | Men's Lacrosse
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – All season long, the entire University of Richmond men's lacrosse program has been focused on playing for its seniors.
On Saturday, that group's final regular season game at Robins Center, that focus was clearer than ever before.
The Spiders jumped all over Furman, who was previously undefeated in SoCon play, en route to a dominating 13-4 win and securing a part of the SoCon regular season championship with the Paladins and Air Force.
“Our guys did a great job of playing with a ton of energy and focus right from the start,” Head Coach Dan Chemotti said. “Furman's an extremely talented team and we knew that coming in. We knew we had to play a full 60 minutes and our guys did a good job of doing just that.”
Senior JP Forester led an explosive offensive attack with four goals on the day, marking his 12th career hat trick for the Spiders. Junior Layne Collins continued his outstanding play with two goals and an assist, while sophomore Patrick Shea had his first two-goal game of his career.
Tewaarton finalist Benny Pugh wrapped up his historic regular season with another double-digit save performance, tallying 11 in just less than 50 minutes of action, while allowing just three goals. He will finish the regular season as the country's leader in goals against average and save percentage.
Defensively, the Spiders held the Paladins, who came in averaging 14 goals a game, to just four on the day, limiting to just 21 shots on the day and racking up 13 caused turnovers, led by All-American candidate Brendan Hynes who had three on the day.
“We all wanted to play for this group of seniors. Even as seniors, we wanted to play for each other,” Hynes said. “We've worked hard for the past four years and we take a lot of pride in this program. We have one goal in mind and that hasn't changed since we stepped on the practice field this past fall.”
The Spiders put the foot on the gas early and never let up with Forester scoring twice in the first seven minutes to grab a 2-0 lead.
Play-making goals from Eric Haehl and Austin Brown pushed the lead to 4-0 before Furman could finally scratch a goal out late in the first quarter.
Forester got his hat trick even before the first quarter came to a close off a beautiful assist from Teddy Hatfield to make it a 5-1 game.
Brown made a great move and found the back of the net in the second quarter to send Richmond into the break with a 6-1 lead.
The Spiders poured it on in the third, scoring five unanswered goals, including Forester's fourth of the day in a man-up situation with less than 10 seconds to play in the quarter to take an 11-1 advantage.
Furman made a late charge with three goals in the fourth, but two goals in the final five minutes, including one from senior Elliot Dennis with less than two minutes to play to wrap up the 13-4 victory.
Richmond will enter the SoCon Tournament as the number two seed and taking on the Paladins in the semifinals on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. at Robins Stadium.
