Marist men’s lacrosse fell to 1-2 on the season after a crushing 18-4 defeat against Richmond on the road. The Red Foxes could not stop the high-flying offense of the Spiders.
The Spiders had the advantage from the “X” and in the goal. Richmond’s stopper Devin Craven had 16 saves last time out against an amazingly talented North Carolina team. On Saturday, Craven saved 11 of the 15 shots he faced. Marist’s Anthony Novellano was under much more duress, stopping 17 attempts, but still letting in 15 shots during his time in the game.
Richmond also completely dominated from the faceoff spot, winning 20 out of the 25 faceoffs in the game. Without anywhere near an even split in possession, the Spiders outshot the Red Foxes 58-29.
In order to beat this talented Richmond team, Marist had to look to other goal scorers due to attackmen Jamison Embury suffering a season-ending ACL injury in their first game of the season at Rutgers in a 13-10 loss.
Senior attackmen Jojo Pirreca started off the scoring for the Red Foxes off a fastbreak to beat Craven off stick side high; that was the only goal Marist scored in the whole first quarter.
Richmond scored on back-to-back possessions with goals from Junior attackmen Dalton Young. Three man-up opportunities allowed the Spiders to capitalize making the score 4-1 in favor of the home team heading into the second quarter.
To start the second quarter, Marist had a man-up opportunity but couldn’t capitalize. Dalton Young scored his third goal of the game on a dodge from behind the cage, beating Novellano weakside high to make it 5-1 spiders.
Penalties really hurt the Red Foxes as they suffered four in the first half which led to four goals from the Spiders.
Senior James Lyons scored on an extra-man opportunity to cut the spiders lead down to 5-2 on an assist from Jason Intermesoli.
As soon as Marist looked to gain momentum, back-to-back goals from Young, Ryan Lanchbury and Luke Frakeny derailed that opportunity and made the lead 8-2 Spiders with one minute left in the first half.
The story of the first half was a huge advantage for Richmond in shots on goal and faceoffs won. The Spiders also didn’t miss a chance to score when they had man-up opportunities.
Marist had a rotation at the faceoff X throwing John Kelly, JT Roselle, Dylan Bedell, and Matt Fermo, none of these guys could help Marist get the edge.
To start the third quarter goals from two Ryan Lanchbury and midfielder Lance Madonna make it an 11-2 lead as Richmond started to run away with the game.
In the third quarter, Marist had some chances to score but couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities making it a 12-2 Richmond lead going into the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back goals from the spiders from Lanchbury and Jared Chenoy made the lead 14-3 Spiders with eight minutes left in the game.
Roselle was Marist’s leading scorer today as he tallied two meaningless goals late in the game for the Red Foxes.
All game the swarming defense of Richmond created opportunities for the spiders to double team which threw off the Marist dodgers to take shots they usually wouldn’t and turn the ball over.
Richmond locked down Marist’s key offensive players like Vito Musso, Hunter Embury, and Kellen Pulera as none of them tallied a single point (goal or assist) the whole game.
Marist looks to rebound off this loss when they are back in action next Saturday as they return home for their first game of the season, next Saturday at 12 p.m. against Bucknell at Tenney Stadium. Next Saturday will be Marist’s first home game in 308 days dating back to Apr. 24, 2021.
Edited by Jonathan Kinane
Photo from Marist Athletics