Men's lacrosse loses to Duke, moving to 5-3

The University of Richmond men’s lacrosse team lost 12-3 against Duke University at Robins Stadium on March 16, putting an end to their four-game winning streak. 

“We really haven’t been on the road yet, so we’ve got to keep getting better and we’ve got to make sure we are really focused this week,” said UR Head Coach Dan Chemotti after the team’s March 2 game against Binghamton University.

The Spiders went on to win their next two away games against Bucknell College and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Upon returning to their home field for Saturday’s game against Duke, however, the Spiders were unable to keep this streak alive.

The first quarter proved uneventful, with only one goal scored in the last three minutes by a Duke midfielder at 2:49. Though both defenses initially played well, the Spiders failed to maintain that energy for the remainder of the game.

To start off the second quarter, senior midfielder Lance Madonna scored an unassisted goal at 12:07. However, about 20 seconds after Madonna’s goal, Duke had an immediate response and found the back of the net. UR scored one more goal at 7:47 in the second quarter, but for the Spiders, it was downhill from there. 

Duke scored eight unanswered goals through the rest of the second and third quarter. 

Going into the fourth quarter, the score was 10-2 Duke. Graduate attacker Dalton Young scored the final goal for UR  at 9:09, making the score 10-3. The goal for Young moved him to 227 career points, moving him to second-all-time points in program history. Duke finished off the fourth quarter with two more goals, ending the game at 12-3. 

The Spiders went 16-for-17 on clears, while Duke recorded 22-for-25. Duke recorded a season-low in goals against the Spider’s defense and the Spiders recorded five caused turnovers. 

The Spiders face No. 11 Georgetown University at Robins Stadium at  6 p.m. March 23.

Contact sports writer Sam Slater at sam.slater@richmond.edu.