For the better part of four months, many of us watched some exciting college lacrosse, whether it was on TV, online, or in person. There were good games, which included all of Championship Weekend, and there were bad games, such as low scoring affairs and of course, the horrendous winter weather. I take a look back at all 69 Division I teams and how they fared this season and what to look forward to in 2016.
I now move on to the season’s top 25 teams, which were decided by the final media poll of the season. If you missed any of my previous recaps, you can read all of them here!
COMPARING 2014 AND 2015 IN NUMBERS
| 2014 Record | 6-11 |
| 2014 Conference Record | 2-3 (4th in Atlantic Sun) |
| 2014 Scoring Offense | 9.00 Goals Per Game (50th in DI) |
| 2014 Scoring Defense | 10.47 Goals Against Per Game (36th in DI) |
| 2014 Goals Leader | #25 Mitch Goldberg – Freshman (32 Gs) |
| 2014 Assists Leader | #4 Brad Burnam – Sophomore (23 As) |
| 2014 Points Leader | #25 Mitch Goldberg – Freshman (43 Pts) |
| 2014 Goaltending Leader | #8 Benny Pugh – Freshman (.528 SV %) |
| 2014 Faceoff Leader | #9 Peter Moran – Freshman (.418 FO %) |
| 2014 Ground Balls Leader | #20 Brendan Hynes – Freshman (78 GBs) |
| 2014 Caused Turnovers Leader | #20 Brendan Hynes – Freshman (35 CTs) |
| 2014 Quality Wins | Vermont (12-11), Jacksonville (13-12), High Point (8-7 – Atlantic Sun Championship) |
| 2014 Bad Losses | Virginia (13-12), VMI (7-6 2 OT), Air Force (13-5 – NCAA Play-In) |
| 2015 Record | 11-5 |
| 2015 Conference Record | 6-0 (1st in Southern) |
| 2015 Scoring Offense | 11.75 Goals Per Game (15th in DI) |
| 2015 Scoring Defense | 7.44 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in DI) |
| 2015 Goals Leader | #6 J.P. Forester – Sophomore (30 Gs) |
| 2015 Assists Leader | #6 J.P. Forester – Sophomore (20 As) |
| 2015 Points Leader | #6 J.P. Forester – Sophomore (50 Pts) |
| 2015 Goaltending Leader | #8 Benny Pugh – Sophomore (.590 SV %) |
| 2015 Faceoff Leader | #9 Peter Moran – Sophomore (.658 FO %) |
| 2015 Ground Balls Leader | #20 Brendan Hynes – Sophomore (68 GBs) |
| 2015 Caused Turnovers Leader | #20 Brendan Hynes – Sophomore (30 CTs) |
| 2015 Quality Wins | St. Joseph’s (9-5), Mount St. Mary’s (8-7), High Point (20-9) |
| 2015 Bad Losses | Marquette (11-10 OT), UMBC (9-5), High Point (9-8 2 OT – SoCon Championship) |
YEAR IN REVIEW
In only their second season in Division I, the Spiders have been one of the top new programs in the country. After making an appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Atlantic Sun Tournament in 2014, the Spiders finished their season at 11-5 and undefeated in SoCon regular season conference play. Not a lot of new faces from year one, except for the emergence of J.P. Forester and the final year of VMI transfer Mickey Hofmeister, who helped add some punch to the Spider offense. However, unlike 2014, the Spiders fell to High Point in the conference championship game in double overtime, thus ending their season short of another conference championship in their very short history.
Richmond got off hot, thanks to wins over St. Joe’s and Rutgers, and almost pulled off an upset of Marquette. The Golden Dragons scored six goals in the final stanza, including a tally with 16 seconds left to give Marquette a 10-9 lead before Mitch Goldberg evened things out again with seven seconds to play. But Jordan Greenfield helped give Marquette the win with 2:55 left in overtime. The Spiders were stymied the following week against UMBC, sending the team to 2-2 before crushing VMI 20-1 in their SoCon opener.
After getting past Mount St. Mary’s in their first away game of the season, the Spiders fell against UNC, before resuming SoCon play. The Spiders took care of Jacksonville, before cruising past NJIT, but were stopped by in-state rival Virginia 14-7. With their final four regular season games all against conference opponents, Richmond went four-for-four, with wins against Furman, High Point, Bellarmine, and Mercer by at least five goals. The Spiders would get the top seed in the SoCon Tournament and would play Furman in the semifinal.
Richmond held off a late Furman rally to face High Point in the title game. With 9:15 to play, the Panthers stormed back to tie the game up at eight, thanks to a Cole Carns goal with 46 seconds left. High Point capitalized in double overtime by a goal from Sean Harrison to send the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament and got revenge from a 20-9 defeat against the Spiders from earlier in the season.
The Spiders will definitely be a contender in the SoCon in year three, thanks to great talent and great coaches, which will include former Lynchburg assistant Chris Perzinski in 2016. Perzinski helped the Hornets to the Division III National Championship Game this past season and has worked until some of the best DIII coaches in Steve Koudelka and Gettysburg’s Hank Janczyk. Perzinski was the team’s defensive coordinator in 2013 as well. It’ll be a great add for the Spiders, who will need it with High Point improving after their great 2015 campaign.
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2016
| NAME | POSITION | HIGH SCHOOL |
| Patrick Shea | Attack/Midfield | Woodberry Forest (VA) |
| Ryan Lee | Attack | John Jay-Cross River (NY) |
| Adrian Nash | Midfield | Tully (NY) |
| Cole Kissick | Midfield | Cohasset (MA) |
| Michael Cirrone | Defense | Ward Melville (NY) |
| Teddy Hatfield | Attack | Morristown-Beard (NJ) |
| Ryan McCaffery | Midfield | Rivers School (MA) |
| Frank Cognetta | Defense/LSM | New Canaan (CT) |
| Eric Buhle | Goalie | St. Anne’s-Belfield (VA) |
| Nathan Emery | Midfield | Hill Academy (ONT) |
| Kyle Buser | Midfield/FO | St. Anthony’s (NY) |
The Spiders will replace five departing seniors with 11 incoming recruits for 2016. There’s not a whole lot of variety from the Spider recruits, coming from six different states/provinces and about two or three regions, depending on how you would divide the country and Canada. Michael Cirrone helped Ward Melville get to the NY Section 11 Championship game after an impressive 2015 season. And Hill Academy product Nathan Emery will also be good for the Spiders. Anytime I see Hill Academy, I have a feeling that the player coming from the school is very talented and athletic.
