Spiders Crowned Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions With 10-7 Win at #17 Saint Joseph's

Friday, April 25

Philadelphia, Pa.

4:00 p.m.

University of Richmond

11-3 (5-0 A-10)

Saint Joseph's

9-5 (2-3 A-10)

Richmond

Saint Joseph's

Spiders Crowned Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions With 10-7 Win at #17 Saint Joseph's

04/25/2025 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Philadelphia – The University of Richmond men's lacrosse team survived Saint Joseph's, 10-7, Friday to cap an undefeated Atlantic 10 conference season. With the win, Richmond earns the outright Atlantic 10 regular season title for the first time and has now tallied four wins over ranked programs, the most by Richmond in a single season.

Richmond's scoring was led by Lukas Olsson with three goals, Joe Sheridan (1 assist) with two and Gavin Creo, Henry Alpaugh, Jack Ricciardi (assist), Lucas Littlejohn and Max Merklinger (assist) each had one. Charlie Packard added an assist as well.

Richmond struck first with an unassisted goal by Merklinger at 9:50, but Saint Joseph's answered with their first after a Spiders turnover at midfield left the cage open at 8:14. The Hawks then added their second just over a minute later at 7:08.

Daniel Picart fired off a shot from range that was saved by the Saint Joseph's goalie, who made 23 stops in the contest, then Littlejohn picked up the loose ground ball on the crease and put it in the back of the cage to tie things at two apiece at 6:02. Sheridan followed with his first of the game, dodging from the top wing to score unassisted and give Richmond a 3-2 lead after the first quarter.

An non-releasable penalty against Saint Joseph's in the final seconds of the first gave Richmond a man-up opportunity to start the second, which they capitalized on just 15 seconds into the frame when Olsson found the back of the cage off a pass from Sheridan.

The Spiders extended their lead to 5-2 at 10:45 in the second when Creo shot through contact for his first of the game off a feed from Packard. The Hawks responded with a goal at 8:50 to pull within two.

Sheridan dodged his defender to create space and scored his second of the game at 6:00, making it 6-3. Saint Joseph's won the ensuing faceoff and quickly netted another goal at 5:49. Richmond answered with a goal from Alpaugh off a feed from Jack Ricciardi at 4:54 to regain the three-goal lead, before the Hawks scored again with short time left to make it 7-5 at the break.

Half the third quarter elapsed before either team scored due in part to strong defensive play by both teams. Richmond defense was led by Mitchell Dunham with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers, while attackman Littlejohn followed with two.

As a team, the Spiders outgained the Hawks 41-18 on ground balls and rattled off 58 shots to Saint Joseph's 20. Jared Chenoy led with six ground balls after going a nearly perfect 11-12 on faceoffs.

Saint Joseph's broke the drought at 7:43, but Richmond responded with Olsson's second goal of the game off an assist from Merklinger. The Hawks pulled within one again with a goal at 4:29 in the third. With 56 seconds left in the frame, Ricciardi came from behind the cage to score his first of the game.

Olsson secured the hat trick with his third of the day at 11:15 in the fourth, capping off Richmond's scoring and sealing the 10-7 win.

The Spiders, who earned the top seed in next week's Atlantic 10 tournament back at Saint Joseph's will await their semifinal matchup with the conclusion of the weekend's conference contests,