Richmond at UVA

[molo]

Richmond dispatched High Point to claim the leader spot in the SoCon after the Panthers went 0 for the ACC. UVA has one big ACC loss, one close one, and a win over ND to go along with a blowout over Air Force and close games against High Point and RoMo. Their big wins so far are over Army West Point and, at least at the time, over Loyola Maryland. Naysayers point to their unimpressive performance against teams they were supposed to beat comfortably and will justifiably say that Richmond is better than HPU and RoMo. I'm less concerned with how they played against the latter two and more focused on the SU and UNC games. The SU game was a fiasco that I would like to think won't happen in the rematch. The comeback against UNC, who is, along with Maryland and Duke, a notch above everyone else, was cause for guarded optimism.
How can the Spiders pull off the upset? First, they need to win their share of face-offs and in the half field try to exploit UVA's defensive liabilities, which lie, as do most teams, with the ssdm corps. The UVA lsms are good, and I like their close defense versus the Spiders' attack. Though the Hoos lack a dm of the level of the departed Dzhama, they do go four deep, and when they go to offensive middies like Shellenberger, Conner, and Bertrand on the face-off wings, they don't sacrifice much d. Second, they need to force UVA into a dodge and one pass offense. Shellenberger, Moore, Aitken, Cormier, and Bertrand are capable dodgers. The problems have come when the ball dies in the stick of either the dodger or the recipient of the dish. So far this team has not learned to move the ball the way the undefeated 2006 team, who made six on six, look like EMO with rapid ball movement.
I think it's fair to say that whatever was holding Aitken back is no longer an issue. Lars famously likes to keep the depth chart fluid, but against ND, the offense was more settled with Moore, Laviano, and Cormier at attack, Aitken on the first midfield with Shellenberger, and Bertrand anchoring a second midfield. Conner, Garno, and Dickson all were mixed in with the alpha middies, and Moore ran out of the box a little when Shellenberger played some attack.
Richmond has come close but has not yet beaten its Commonwealth rival. I lose a quarter to my wife if they win next weekend.
Are Rode and LaSalla the most underrated goalie/FOGO combo in DI?

[Dip&Dunk]

All good points.

Two teams I know well. Well enough to say either could win. Disclaimer, although separated by 60 miles, this is not a "Virginia" game. Duke has more Virginia players than UVA.

How Richmond wins: UVA continues poor shot selection allowing Richmond transition goals. UVA gives too many man up opportunities (Richmond strength, I really like their man up sets). UVA looks ahead to UNC. UVA does not pressure on rides/offense/defense.

How UVA wins: UVA's big defense can handle Richmond's offense in half field game. UVA's transition and quick strike offense can run away with this game if given opportunity. Richmond is not all that different than HPU and we know how they have faired this year. Not a knock on HPU, compliment to ACC.

I think Richmond's Dalton Young is a rising star but he will be a marked man. UVA ultimately has too many players to key on one or two.

UVA 18-12. Close until 4th quarter.

[jrn19]

I like the Spiders but I gotta see them win one of these games against a Top 10 opponent or big name program before I get my hopes up for them. The Loyola game this year, the Duke and Maryland games last year, the Duke game in th NCAA Tournament in 2019. All games Richmond either led late in the game or in that tournament game were within a goal with the ball or tied. And all of them they lost because of some just mind numbingly bad late game decisions and questionable offensive strategy (seemingly trying to milk the clock more than add to the lead; doesn’t work with the shot clock.) They’ve got a lot of talent and obviously have a history of pulling some upsets but in the last 2-3 years they’ve made a habit of losing these games when they should win them. Hope that’s not the case on Saturday but we’ll see!

[laxlife]

Valid points by all but I have to disagree that Richmond is not all that different from HP. In fact, they are extremely different. The Spiders have a very solid D. Richmond D gave up nearly a season low 13G to Duke, who averages 17.5G/game excluding Richmond, a season low 14G to UNC who avg. 19G/game excluding Richmond, and only 10 G to HP. Their close D held Chris Gray to 1G,1A his lowest output this year and Nolting to 2/1. However, Richmond is young at D middie and may struggle with the UVA matchups. To win Spiders will need scoring from their middies and Lanchbury will need to have a big game. If they force the ball inside too much it will favor UVA transition. FOs will be a major factor as Richmond will try to maintain quality possessions but has had difficulty historically against top tier FOGOs. I agree that Young will surely get a great deal of attention and while Duke shut him out he scored 3G against UNC and won't back down.
Should be a good game. I don't think UVA gets to 18G but Spiders need to score 14 to win.

[Farfromgeneva]

Richmond has done pretty well for a 9yr old program.

Beat Duke in 2016
Beat UNC in 2017 & 2018
Notre Dame in 2019 (1 goal playoff loss to Duke)
Lot of 1 goal losses to, 2OT to MD and OT to Duke last year

I don’t know where anyone outside MD and a few ACC schools would look down at that. Lanchbury is a stud. I’ve been following the younger brother of a Hobart midfielder Lance Madonna who’s a FR and doing ok.

Who knows but Richmond comes ready and more capable than many.

An interesting side note, not sure about FO and Goalie going forward but I note that Richmonds scoring this season to date goes: Sr, So, So, Sr, Fr, FR so looks like they’ve got the ability to maintain or improve on where they are right now the next year or two.

[jrn19]

Richmond has done pretty well for a 9yr old program.

Beat Duke in 2016
Beat UNC in 2017 & 2018
Notre Dame in 2019 (1 goal playoff loss to Duke)
Lot of 1 goal losses to, 2OT to MD and OT to Duke last year

I don’t know where anyone outside MD and a few ACC schools would look down at that. Lanchbury is a stud. I’ve been following the younger brother of a Hobart midfielder Lance Madonna who’s a FR and doing ok.

Who knows but Richmond comes ready and more capable than many.

An interesting side note, not sure about FO and Goalie going forward but I note that Richmonds scoring this season to date goes: Sr, So, So, Sr, Fr, FR so looks like they’ve got the ability to maintain or improve on where they are right now the next year or two.

If we’re to treat them as a 9 year program and plucky upstart then yeah, that’s good. But if we’re going to treat them like a Top 20 program and ascendant program in the sport; which I think many people believe they can be, then those 1 goal or OT losses to Duke, Maryland, Duke again, Loyola have to turn into W’s.

[molo]

UVA took care of business today. Several times it appeared that the rout was on but the Spiders would cut it to four. Eventually the floodgates opened. After some weak outings against HP and RM, this is what a good ACC team should do against a midmajor. ND's demolition of SU today makes the ND win a little more impressive as well.

[calourie]

I like the Spiders but I gotta see them win one of these games against a Top 10 opponent or big name program before I get my hopes up for them. The Loyola game this year, the Duke and Maryland games last year, the Duke game in th NCAA Tournament in 2019. All games Richmond either led late in the game or in that tournament game were within a goal with the ball or tied. And all of them they lost because of some just mind numbingly bad late game decisions and questionable offensive strategy (seemingly trying to milk the clock more than add to the lead; doesn’t work with the shot clock.) They’ve got a lot of talent and obviously have a history of pulling some upsets but in the last 2-3 years they’ve made a habit of losing these games when they should win them. Hope that’s not the case on Saturday but we’ll see!

It took a number of years for Shay led Yale teams to finally do some damage in the NCAAs after losing 2 one point first round games to Syracuse, one to Maryland, and a two point loss to Navy when they were heavily favored. Year in year out for the past few years Chemotti has shown he can put out a team that can at least compete with the heavyweights (this year being somewhat of an exception given the glut of transfers and 5th year seniors among the legacy programs ). If Richmond stays the course and keeps dominating the SoCon I can see his teams surprising a lot of people in May when things return to normal.

[molo]

Maybe so, but from what I’ve seen so far this year, the final four look like Maryland and three from the ACC or two from the ACC and Denver.

[calourie]

Maybe so, but from what I’ve seen so far this year, the final four look like Maryland and three from the ACC or two from the ACC and Denver.

No arguements here. I tried to say this year wasn't going to be the one with my when things return to normal caveat.