The University of Richmond men's lacrosse team picked up its first loss of the season, 6-8, against Virginia Tech this Saturday.
The teams played in the E. Claiborne Robins Stadium, which was filled with mostly Virginia Tech fans.
Before the game, Richmond Head Coach Dan Chemotti said that the local rivalry was going to be challenging because Virginia Tech is highly ranked in the polls. There was no reason to think that this wouldn't be a highly competitive game, he said.
In preparation for the game, the Spiders focused on improving transitions with the knowledge that they would be going against a quality team, Chemotti said.
The game started at an equal pace between the two teams and at the end of the first half Richmond was winning 3-2, but the Spiders had been charged with an illegal stick penalty.
At the start of the second half, Richmond had a two-minute penalty, which gave Virginia Tech a one-man advantage. In the third quarter, Virginia Tech had scored five points, but Richmond did not respond. Richmond was losing 3-7.
Richmond picked up three goals in the fourth quarter, but was not able to come out with the win.
Assistant Head coach Glenn Carter said that the number of turnovers Richmond had had and the illegal stick penalty had really hurt the team in this game.
"If you are going to turn the ball over that many times, you are going to come out on the losing end," Carter said. "We probably turned the ball over more today than we have in all of our games combined."
The defense, however, played exceptionally, with the amount of work they had to put in, Carter said. He said the defense played 80 percent of the game.
Sophomore Nate Volpert led the team with two goals and one assist. Senior Jack Hayden scored the first goal of the game and had two assists.
"I thought we started slow and struggled to clear the ball early," Volpert said, "but played a good fourth quarter and made it a close game."
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Richmond should have been the better team, but did not play like it, Carter said.
Chemotti will hold a free lacrosse clinic on Sunday. The clinic will be a way to introduce Richmond lacrosse to the community and to share the team's knowledge of lacrosse to younger players, he said.
The entire men's lacrosse team will be traveling to California and Arizona to play a few games over Spring Break.
The team need a good week of practice and reevaluating their plays to prepare for next week, Carter said.
Contact reporter Marie Jayme at marie.jayme@richmond.edu
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