Richmond men's lacrosse faces its first ranked opponent of the season in a home contest Sunday at noon against No. 17 Marquette at Robins Stadium. It is Richmond's third-straight home contest to open the season and the Golden Eagles' third contest away from home.
The second-year Spider program goes up against a third-year squad in Marquette, with both programs off to excellent starts. Both teams enter without a loss at 2-0 in the early portion of the season.
The Spiders set a defensive team record in the opener by allowing the fewest goals in program history after a 9-5 win over Saint Joseph's on February 7. Richmond followed that performance by scoring the most goals in team history with a 15-7 win over Rutgers. Both wins avenged a loss to each team the year before. The Spiders are 4-0 when facing an opponent for the second time in their 19-game history. Richmond is seventh in the nation for scoring defense (6.0 goals per game) and ninth in scoring margin (6.0) through two weeks.
Marquette posted impressive wins to start the season, knocking off No. 16 Lehigh with a 10-9 victory and legitimizing the result with a win at No. 17 Hofstra 11-10. The Golden Eagles are getting votes in both major polls, coming in at No. 17 by the Cascade/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and at No. 18 by the US Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Coaches Poll. Richmond is receiving votes in both polls, marking the first time in team history that the Spiders received votes in a men's lacrosse poll.
Marquette senior Jordan Greenfield leads the team with nine points (4G, 5A) so far this season. The team goal-scoring leader is junior Kyle Whitlow, who has five goals and two assists in his ledger. Whitlow is the reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week after scoring four goals in the second-half of the Hofstra win. Sophomore goalie Jimmy Danaherclick has posted 23 saves on the season.
The Spiders saw sophomore Mitch Goldberg (Damascus, Maryland) set a new program mark with five goals in the win against Rutgers last Saturday. Goldberg leads the unit with six goals and is the program's all-time leader with 38 goals and 50 points. Goalie Benny Pugh (Powhatan, Virginia / Woodberry Forest School) is the two-time reigning Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week. After a 15-save performance in the opener, he turned in 11 more saves last week against Rutgers. He has allowed just 11 goals over two games and the team has its lowest goals-against total over a two-game stretch in team history. Pugh (8-9) has been the goalie of record for all eight Richmond team victories. He is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA for save percentage (0.703), sixth in goals-against average (5.79) and eighth in saves per game (13.0) after two weeks.
This is the first-ever meeting between the programs in their brief history. Marquette is the first of four teams the Spiders will face for the first time this season.
Currently two other teams on the UR schedule are ranked opponents, with North Carolina (March 14) sitting fourth and Virginia (March 28) currently ranked fifth. This game marks the midway point of the five-game home stand to start the season for Richmond.
The 2015 Richmond men's lacrosse season is presented by Select Sector SPDRs.
