Men’s Lacrosse Advances To Eighth-Straight Conference Title Game

Thursday, May 5

High Point, NC

8:00 P.M.

University of Richmond

10-4

High Point

7-8

High Point

Richmond

Lance Madonna scored the game-winning goal with 1:07 remaining in the game against HPU.

Photo by: Carlos Morales

Men’s Lacrosse Advances To Eighth-Straight Conference Title Game

05/06/2022 | Men's Lacrosse

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RICHMOND, Va. – The 17^th-ranked University of Richmond men's lacrosse program will play in its eighth-straight conference championship game and seventh-straight Southern Conference title game after the second-seeded Spiders knocked off third-seeded and host High Point 12-11 Thursday night at Vert Stadium. Richmond improves to 10-4 on the season, marking its sixth season out of nine years of existence the Spiders have reach double digit wins.

The Spiders are the only program in the country that has appeared in eight-straight title games with Yale the next closest program at five-straight in the Ivy League. Richmond will face off against top-seeded and No. 9/11 Jacksonville in the SoCon Championship game Saturday at noon at Vert Stadium on ESPN Plus. The Spiders are vying for their fourth conference championship since the program's first season in 2014.

The semifinal game was a typical heavyweight fight between rivals Richmond and High Point. The game was tied on 10 different occasions with the largest lead by either team being two goals, once by both teams.

Graduate midfielder Luke Frankeny (Wilmington, N.C.) scored a career-high five goals leading six different Spider goal scorers. Senior attack Ryan Dunn (Towson, Md.) added a game-high four assists and tied for the team lead with five points while Lance Madonna (East Syracuse, N.Y.) tallied two goals, including the game-winning tally with 1:07 remaining in the game.

Redshirt freshman goalie Zach Vigue (Apex, N.C.) continued his strong play, notching 18 saves to lead the Spiders' defense. Vigue has posted 37 saves in two victories over the Panthers in the past last three weeks. Freshman faceoff specialist Jared Chenoy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) was strong on the night, winning 13-of-20 faceoffs but stepped up his play in the second half winning 9-out-of-11 in the final 30 minutes.

The Spiders took an early 4-2 lead on the strength of four goals in a five-goal stretch of the first quarter. Junior attack Dalton Young (Chantilly, Va.) posted this Spiders' third-ever man-down goal to open Richmond's scoring while Frankeny added a man-up goal and two out of the first four goals for the Spiders.

High Point (7-8) responded with four-straight goals, taking a 6-4 lead in the second quarter. The Spiders answered back with two straight, one from Frankeny and one from Max Merklinger (Mendham, N.J.). Richmond went into the locker room tied at 7-7 as Young scored in the final minute of the half.

The Spiders and Panthers traded goals in the second half with Richmond taking the lead back at 10-9 with 13:57 remaining when Ryan Lanchbury (Burlington, Ontario) notched his only goal of the game. Frankeny answered a HPU goal with his season-best fifth of the game but the Panthers tied it once again with 3:46 remaining.

The teams traded possessions down the stretch with the Spiders taking the game's final lead with 1:07 remaining. Madonna made two HPU defenders miss and scored through contact for his 22^nd goal of the year and biggest of the season. High Point won the ensuing faceoff and had a chance in the final minute as Asher Nolting had a look close on goal, but Vigue made the save, his 18^th, to preserve the victory.

Lanchbury finished the night with only two points, on a goal and an assist, but set another Richmond record in the process. His two points raised his season total to 74 points on the year, breaking his own previous single-season scoring record in program history while also raising his point-scoring streak to 57-straight games.

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