Air Force Academy
Richmond
No. 9 Falcon Lacrosse Edges Past Richmond in SoCon Action
4/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
RICHMOND, Va. - Air Force edged past the Richmond Spiders, 9-8, in the Southern Conference action, Saturday, April 23, in Richmond Va. The victory marks the Falcons 12th straight win; the longest active win streak in Division I lacrosse. The Falcons' record improved to 12-2 overall, 6-0 SoCon. Richmond's loss marks their first loss in league play this season. The Spiders drop to 9-4, with a 5-1 mark in the conference.
Christopher Allen scored the first goal of the day late in the first quarter from Nick Hruby's assist on the extra man opportunity. The goal marked Allen's 26th goal on the season and 100th career point.
Richmond struck back on the extra man opportunity with a goal from Austin Brown 34 seconds into the second quarter. At 11:17 remaining in the quarter, Andrew Tien found the nylon from Chris Walsch's assist on another extra man opportunity to regain the lead, 2-1.
The Spiders' Teddy Hatfield logged a goal to knot the score at two with 9:32 remaining in the half.
The Falcons scored three unanswered goals before the halftime whistle. Tien scored his second goal with 8:59 remaining, followed by Hruby's first goal of the day from Cameron Carter's assist. Austin Smith netted his first goal with 2:37 remaining, extending the lead to, 5-2, going into halftime.
The Spiders held the advantage in shots (19-14), ground balls (14-7) and caused turnovers (7-1). Air Force went 2-2 in extra man opportunities while the Spiders went 1-3. Falcon goalkeeper Doug Gouchoe made eight saves while Henry Buonagurio logged five. Both teams were even in faceoffs, winning four apiece.
The Falcons struck first in the third quarter with Hruby's second goal of the day from Walsch's assist, just over a minute into the quarter. Josh Radjenovich netted a goal nine seconds after Hruby's, extending the lead, 7-2, with 13:41 remaining.
The Spiders' Alex Hatem found the back of the net on the extra man opportunity to end the Falcons' five-goal streak. Tien followed up with his third goal of the day making his first career hat trick and career game-high.
The Spiders fired off a three-goal streak in the final 1:15 of the third quarter. Dean Roseman netted one at 1:15, followed up by Alex Hatem's goal with 19 seconds remaining. After winning the faceoff, the Spiders charged down the field where Austin Cates found the nylon with eight seconds remaining, cutting the lead to 8-6, at the end of the third quarter.
The Spiders took the momentum into the fourth quarter as J.P. Forester netted a goal with 12:04 remaining to drop the Falcons' lead to one.
Walsch put a stop to the Spiders' goal streak with a goal from Tien's assist. Richmond struck back with Forester's second goal of the day with five minutes remaining in regulation. The Falcons were able to hold the Spiders off for the remaining five minutes to finalize the league matchup at 9-8.
Tien led the Falcons with four points coming from three goals and an assist. Hruby finished with two goals while Allen, Walsch, Smith and Radjenovich tallied a goal apiece. Walsch has scored a goal in 18 straight games dating back to last season. Richmond held the advantage in shots (35-25) and ground balls (26-16). Gouchoe logged 12 saves while Richmond's goalkeeper made nine.
Air Force continues league action on the road against the Jacksonville Dolphins, Saturday, April 30th, at 2 p.m. ET, in Jacksonville Fla., in the final regular season game.
