2019 Men’s College Lacrosse Year In Review: #12 Richmond Spiders

With the 2019 college lacrosse season complete, it’s time to look back at how all 73 teams did during the season, along with an early look at each squad for 2020.

Note: These are not end of season rankings.

Here’s our last five Year In Review posts we’ve done:

• #17 Marist
• #16 UMBC
• #15 Johns Hopkins
• #14 Robert Morris
• #13 Syracuse

To see all of our posts, check out the 2019 Year In Review section on the site.

Let’s continue our 2019 Year In Review with the teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament!

#12 Richmond Spiders

Conference: SoCon
2019 Record: 10-7 (5-2 in SoCon)
Postseason: Defeated Air Force and High Point for SoCon Championship, lost to Duke in NCAA First Round
Head coach: Dan Chemotti (6th Season)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Ryan Lanchbury (52)
Assists: Teddy Hatfield (35)
Points: Ryan Lanchbury (72)
Faceoffs: Nick D’Amaro (87-of-209; 41.6%)
Ground balls: Sean Menges (45)
Caused turnovers: Sean Menges (30)
Goals against average: Jack Rusbuldt (9.49)
Save percentage: Jack Rusbuldt (55.8%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: A Teddy Hatfield (36 Gs, 35 As, 29 GBs, 7 CTs), A Ryan Lee (17 Gs, 11 As, 13 GBs, 5 CTs), D/LSM Rob Schotta (4 CTs, 12 GBs), SSDM Nathan Emery (7 CTs, 15 GBs, 1 G, 2 As), M Drew Petkevich (4 Gs, 7 As, 5 GBs, 1 CT), FOGO Nick D’Amaro (41.6% FOs, 34 GBs, 1 CT, 6 Gs, 1 A), SSDM Coleman Kissick (3 CTs, 11 GBs)
Senior scoring departing: 133 of 327 points (40.7%)
Senior starts lost: 53 of 170 (31.2%)

Season Summary

Richmond has arguably been the best new team of the past decade. They’ve gone to the NCAA Tournament twice prior to the 2019 season, including in their first season in 2014, and have racked up numerous upsets of ranked opponents.

Sometimes, they play against top-tier opponents but come up just short. That’s what happened in their season-opener against Maryland. Down 10-4 entering the fourth quarter, the Spiders went on a 5-0 run, including four straight goals from Ryan Lanchbury, to cut the Terrapin lead down to a single goal. Maryland won the final faceoff and held onto the ball for the remainder of the game. They needed another big fourth quarter in a comeback win against Bucknell before beating UMBC to start 2-1.

The Spiders then hosted Notre Dame in a rain-drenched game at Robins Stadiums. Richmond jumped out to a 3-0 and never lost the lead as the Spider defense stood strong for the remainder of the game for the one-goal upset. Six days later against Duke, it looked like the Spiders were going to record their second straight upset against an ACC team as they were right along with Duke. But the Blue Devils woke up midway through the third quarter, scoring six of the game’s final seven goals for the four-goal victory.

But despite their recent success against three of the top teams in the country, Richmond has a very shocking hiccup as they gave up a last-second goal in regulation to Mount St. Mary’s before being on the opposite side of an upset in overtime. The Spiders entered SoCon play with a 3-4 record before quickly moving back up to above .500 with three straight wins against VMI, Furman, and Bellarmine. After falling to Virginia at Klöckner Stadium, the Spiders defeated Jacksonville to start 4-0 in conference play.

Taking on Air Force out in Colorado, Richmond’s defense was absent for most of the game as the Falcons went on runs of seven and five goals en route to doubling up the Spiders. After beating Mercer, Richmond went down against High Point as Asher Nolting found the back of the net with six seconds left in regulation for the game-winner.

For Richmond to be crowned SoCon Champions, they needed to beat the two teams they failed to earn victories against in the regular season. Facing Air Force in a low-scoring semifinal matchup, the Spiders found the back of the net twice in the last six minutes of the game on goals from Ryan Lee and Tate Gallagher en route to a rematch with High Point. Leading 5-4 at halftime, Richmond turned up the ante on both sides of the ball, outscoring the Panthers 10-3 in the final 30 minutes for their second straight conference championship.

In their third straight rematch game, this time against Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Spiders jumped out to another early lead before the Blue Devils caught up to take a three-goal lead. Richmond responded with a three-goal run to tie the game at seven before Duke scored five straight to take a five-goal lead into the fourth. The Spiders weren’t going away just yet, as they scored four goals in the quarter, including two in a span of 30 seconds inside the final minute. But they were unable to win the following faceoff and saw their season come to an end.

Both of Richmond’s 70-point scorers came from the attack position. Sophomore Ryan Lanchbury led the team with 52 goals and 72 points, while senior Teddy Hatfield led the Spiders with 35 assists and was second on the team with 71 points. Fellow senior Ryan Lee started the majority of the games as the third man on the unit. Pierce Dellafera, Kevin Todd, and Brett Reid also saw time at the position. Sophomore Mitch Savoca was the team’s top midfielder with 31 points and was joined by Tate Gallagher and Tyler Shoults for most of the season. Drew Petkevich, Brett Randall, Patrick Shea, and Alex Morris were depth options up top.

Sophomore Jason Reynolds and redshirt freshman Ray Baran were the two mainstays at close defense for the entire season. Rob Schotta started nine games, the most out of any third defender. Sean Menges started in six games but was the team’s primary LSM for the majority of the season, leading the way with 30 caused turnovers and 45 ground balls. Lawrence Galizia was the second LSM. Tim Adams, Nathan Emery, Coleman Kissick, and also Reid were the short stick defenders. Nick D’Amaro and Ryan Murray were the two main faceoff takers, but neither of them finished above 42 on draws. Jack Rusbuldt took over as the starting goalie and posted a 9.49 goals against average in 13 starts. Blake Goodman still played in eight games with four starts with a 56% save percentage.

Looking Ahead

Nearly every year since they became a varsity program, Richmond has always been competitive inside conference play. That’s very rare for a program as young as the Spiders. And as 2020 approaches, they should be competitive yet again.

There’s two big holes to fill at attack with Hatfield and Lee graduating. Todd looks like a potential option at the position, while the entire starting midfield comes back.

Richmond’s strength will appear to be defense, with two starting defenders, both LSMs, a short stick defender, and both goalies returning. Could Menges move down to close defense for his senior season? Will Rusbuldt keep the starting role? Faceoffs could be an issue, but the Spiders have Cleveland State transfer Andrew Hamilton coming in.