Five Takeaways From Virginia Lacrosse's 13-10 Loss to Richmond

Virginia (1-1) dropped its second game of the season in a 13-10 loss to Richmond (2-1) on a rainy day in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here are our five takeaways from the game.

Virginia Starts Slow, and Richmond Takes Advantage, Setting the Tone for the Game

Richmond came out rampant to start the game, scoring the first four goals, which began with the Spiders winning the opening faceoff. On the other side, the Hoos could not find their rhythm with three early turnovers, which included two dropped passes. The strong start prompted a timeout from Coach Tiffany, resulting in a goal by Jack Walshe on the following possession, but an early start certainly plagued the Hoos. Despite Virginia finally scoring, Richmond responded immediately with a step-down shot from Max Merlinger as the Cavs defense was too pinched, awarding Merlinger a wide-open shot from up top.

"I rarely try to say it's an energy difference between two teams because there's a lot of skill, decision-making, and coaching going on. But today, one team showed up here at 11:30 am, ready to compete. And unfortunately, it was the other team," said Coach Lars Tiffany.

The 6-2 lead at the end of the first quarter proved to be the story of the game, as the Cavaliers were only able to cut the lead to as low as two. Virginia was clearly out of sync the entire game, but the slow start set the tone with the Spiders taking advantage of the Cavaliers miscues. Richmond was the more physical team, winning the groundball battle 37-35 while looking faster off the whistles.

Struggles in Settled Offense

The potent offense this past Saturday against Colgate was all but a distant memory against Richmond as the Virginia offense struggled in settled offense. A combination of failing to expose one-on-one matchups, poor shot selection, and a lack of shots proved to be the general trends that led to the Hoos struggling offense on Saturday. The attack unit of McCabe Millon, Truitt Sunderland, and Ryan Colsey that produced ten goals and seven assists against Colgate, only combined for four goals and four assists against Richmond.

"We just couldn't get a good dodge. It felt like their d-middies… we're always jamming our initial move," said Tiffany.

Virginia was outshot 45-35 by Richmond, and the Cavaliers only scored eight shots on goal in the first half.

Sloppy Turnovers and Mistakes Plague Virginia

The Hoos committed 19 turnovers on Saturday, which, usually, isn't a concern for Virginia lacrosse, considering their fast pace of play and aggressiveness in transition. Instead, in the loss on Saturday, the Cavaliers were committing mental errors from dropped or overthrown passes and two offside penalties in the fourth quarter that stifled any chance of a Virginia comeback.

Acknowledging these mistakes now and cleaning them up will go a long way moving forward.

Kyle Morris Finds His Rhythm While Playing Nearly the Entire Game

On a positive note, Kyle Morris was a star in cage. After a rough start, with a few challenging and well-placed shots, Morris made four saves to close the first quarter before six saves, and no goals allowed in the second quarter, giving his team all the opportunities to come back into this game. Riding the hot hand, Morris started the second half, unlike last week, and played the majority of the contest until Matthew Nunes entered the game at the end, as he has more experience with the ten-man ride.

Andrew Greenspan Shows Promise at the End of the Game

Anthony Ghobriel opened the game as the Hoos primary faceoff man as he took most of the draws, finishing 7/16 from the stripe. The problem for Ghobriel was his struggle to get the groundball. In need of a spark, Coach Tiffany opted to Notre Dame transfer Andrew Greenspan to try his luck and to the hope of the Hoos, he provided it. Greenspan finished 6/9 while adding a much-needed goal in the fourth quarter. If Greenspan continues to step up, expect more minutes from the sophomore.

The Cavaliers return to action this Tuesday at home against High Point at 5 pm.