Richmond 10, Mercer 5
RICHMOND, Va. - In just its second season of varsity lacrosse, the Richmond Spiders have claimed their first regular-season conference title, defeating Mercer 10-5 at Robins Stadium to finish the regular season. The win pushes Richmond’s mark to 10-4 overall, a perfect 6-0 in conference games. Mercer falls to 5-7 for the regular season, 5-1 in the SoCon.
The Spiders scored first on a Cory Palmer goal at the 10:29 mark in the opening period, which was answered by a Scott Baird goal for Mercer midway through the quarter. The Spiders scored the next three goals of the first and all five second-quarter goals to lead 8-1 at the break.
Richmond scored just twice in the third quarter and did not score in the fourth, with Mercer finding the goal four times in the second half for the final score.
Redshirt senior Mickey Hofmeister had three goals and two assists to lead all players with five points, ironically the same point-total he had to finish the regular season last year for VMI against the Spiders. It was his fourth hat trick of the season.
Sophomore San Ginestro also had three goals for the Spiders. The game marked the eighth time in school history (fifth this season) in which two Spiders had three or more goals. Richmond is 8-0 in those games.
Sophomore J.P. Forester recorded three assists in the game. He finished the regular season leading the team goals (27), assists (19) and points (46),
The Spiders won 11 of the 18 faceoffs, including eight of 10 in the first half. Sophomore Peter Moran won all 11 faceoffs and collected eight ground balls in the contest.
Sophomore Benny Pugh made 11 saves and won his 10th game of the year. He is a the goalie of record for all 16 Richmond program wins.
The Spiders reached over the .500 mark with the win all-time, with a two-year record of 16-15. The Spiders are the youngest program to reach 10 wins since Bryant in 2009.
By virtue of the win, the Spiders earned hosting duties for next week’s Southern Conference Championships. The semifinals will be Thursday night at 5 and 7:30 p.m., with the Championship game Saturday at 2 p.m. The semifinals will be streamed on the SoCon Digital Network, with the finals streaming live on ESPN3 on Saturday.
Richmond will look to repeat as league tournament champions and return to the NCAA Tournament with two more wins.
High Point 9, Bellarmine 8
HIGH POINT, N.C. – Junior Dan Lomas scored six goals and sophomore Michael LeClair added the game-winner with 40 seconds left to give the High Point University men's lacrosse team a 10-9 triumph over Bellarmine on Saturday.
The Panthers (8-6, 4-2) honored their 17 seniors in style by defeating the Knights (4-8, 2-4) not leading until the final 40 seconds of the contest.
The visitors had a chance retake the lead with a minute to play, but freshman Zach Tuell made a huge save to regain possession for HPU. The Gainesville, Va. native, then, launched a clearing pass down the field to Lomas.
Lomas tried to avoid an oncoming defender, but the ball was checked out of his stick and high into the air. LeClair followed the flight of the ball and caught it in front of the net and beat Drew Goethals for the clinching goal.
Lomas tied his own program record with six goals to lead the offense as LeClair notched a hat trick of his own.
Junior Jamie Piluso helped the Panthers dominate possession in the rainy conditions. The Ridgewood, N.J. native went 17-of-21 (.810) on face-offs, picked up nine ground balls and added an assist. Face-off wings redshirt-junior Adam Seal and redshirt-junior Harris Levine combined for eight ground balls on the day.
Defensively, Tuell moved to 4-0 as a starter with 15 saves on the day. Senior Pat Farrell led the defense with two caused turnovers and two ground balls. The Purple & White earned a +8 margin (30-22) on ground balls and caused seven turnovers.
Junior Matt Thistle scored the Panthers' 10th goal and posted two assists while redshirt-junior Brad James dished out two assists.
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals by Brogan Hill and Ryan Scinta before the first media timeout (7:12). Piluso, then, won the face-off and found LeClair for a goal to make it 2-1 with 6:55 left in the quarter.
Soon after, Dylan Gatt had the answer for Bellarmine scoring an acrobatic goal (3-1) with 6:02 on the first quarter clock. HPU pulled back within one when Lomas scored a man-up goal to make it 3-2 (2:27). Once again, the Knights tallied a goal to regain their 2-goal advantage at 4-2 to the end the opening stanza.
The Panthers opened the second quarter on a man-down situation, but a caused turnover by Levine led to a man-down goal by Lomas at the 14:11 mark (4-3). Two minutes later the Burlington, Ontatio native made it a hat trick in just 18 minutes of action and knotted the score at 4-4 (12:12).
Bellarmine had the answer though as Gatt scored before Lomas registered his fourth goal of the half to, again, knot the score (5-5, 5:45). However, the Panthers couldn't take the lead as Austin Shanks gave the Knights the 6-5 lead. But as he did all day, Lomas answered to send the game to the break tied 6-6.
After halftime, Taylor Stuart put Bellarmine up 7-6 with 12:30 in the third stanza. LeClair, then, added an unassisted goal to even the score at 7-7 with 8:24 remaining in the third.
From there, the Knights built a 2-goal advantage as Jack Perkins and Scinta scored back-to-back goals to make it 9-7 (5:54). Lomas, however, wouldn't let the Panthers fall too far behind and added his school-record tying sixth goal of the afternoon (9-8, 4:24).
Thistle continued the comeback with a diving goal with 10:35 left to play to knot the score at 9-9. The Panthers finally pulled ahead on LeClair's goal with 40 seconds left in the clock. Fittingly, Piluso won the ensuing face-off and Lomas ran out the clock launching the ball into the air as the clock hit zeros.
High Point will head to Richmond, Va. to take part in the Southern Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The squad will play No. 2 Mercer on Thursday at 5 p.m.
Furman 11, Jacksonville 7
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jonah Moore scored a career-high four goals and turned in a career-high six points to lead Furman past Jacksonville, 11-7, on Saturday night in a game that was pushed back to an "under the lights" start time due to severe weather in the area. The win moves Furman to 4-8 on the year, 3-3 in SoCon play, and clinches a spot for the Paladins in the first-ever Southern Conference tournament. The loss ends Jacksonville's season at 4-8, 1-5 in SoCon play.
Thanks to a win over Jacksonville and a High Point win over Bellarmine, Furman heads to next weekend's SoCon Tournament as the No.4 seed and will face regular-season champion and tournament-host Richmond at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 30.
Moore led the team with four goals and added two assists for a career-high six points, while Kenny Meinsen added three goals to his team-leading season total. Robbie Betchley III netted two of his own, while Clay Adams and Scott Primeau each added one. Primeau also added two assists, while sophomore Hil Blaze was 14-21 from the faceoff 'X' and picked up a team-high seven ground balls. Goalie Reilly McDermott continued his solid work in his freshman campaign, making 12 saves on the night.
Quint Miller led the Dolphins with four goals, while three other players added one and five different players tallied an assist. Austin Curtis picked up a team-high-tying four ground balls, while three different players saw time at the faceoff position for Jacksonville.
The Paladins took an early lead in the first on a goal by Betchley, before Jacksonville scored back-to-back goals to take a 2-1 lead. Jonah Moore scored a man-down goal with three seconds remaining in the first quarter to tie the game at two. Jacksonville regained the lead early in the second, before consecutive man-down goals by Moore and Adams put the Paladins up 4-3 with 4:21 remaining until halftime. After Jacksonville scored a man-up goal with 3:46 remaining, both teams were held scoreless for the remainder of the half, heading into the locker rooms tied at four.
The Paladins opened the second half on the attack, scoring four-straight goals to open their biggest lead of the day at 8-4 with 5:48 left in the third. The Dolphins cut the lead to three heading into the fourth quarter, then to two eight minutes into the fourth, but Furman used Kenny Meinsen's third goal of the day to push the lead back to three with 5:49 to go. The Dolphins responded with a goal by Chase McIntyre to cut the lead to two with 5:17 remaining, but the Paladins shut out Jacksonville for the rest of the game and used goals by Betchley and Moore to take the 11-7 victory.