No. 4 Maryland men’s lacrosse vs Richmond preview

After a dominant offensive outing Saturday in a 23-12 win over High Point, No. 4 Maryland men’s lacrosse will head on the road for the first time this season.

The Terps will head south to take on Richmond, which didn’t play last weekend. As such, the Spiders will be making their season debut at home, looking to avenge a 10-9 loss to John Tillman’s team in 2019.

“They have great players. They brought us down to the wire, so we kinda understand the opponent we have, the talent they have and the way we play,” junior Roman Puglise said. “They took Duke to the wire in the tournament last year so obviously we understand the opponent we have and they are a great caliber team.”

Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET and can be streamed through ESPN+.

Richmond Spiders

2019 Record: 10-7 (5-2 in SoCon)

Head coach Dan Chemotti has been the leader of Richmond men’s lacrosse for all seven years of its existence — the Spiders began collegiate competition at the Division I level in 2014. So far in his tenure, Chemotti has brought his team to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including the past two seasons. The Spiders have also won double-digit games in five straight campaigns.

Players to know

Ryan Lanchbury, junior attackman, 6’0, 175 pounds, No. 9. Lanchbury has had unprecedented success for the Spiders in his first two seasons — he is already fifth all-time in scoring at Richmond with 115 points. Last year, he not only broke a program record with 52 goals, but he also set the high-water mark for the entire Southern Conference. In the matchup against Maryland a year ago, he lit the Terps up with five goals.

“They have size, they can shoot the ball well. So you gotta help those guys and when you help those guys, they do an awesome job of just moving to their attackmen,” Tillman said. “While you’re moving they do a good job of putting Lanchbury in spots where he’s either cutting to his right hand to the ball or he’s fading and they’ll skip the ball to him.”

Mitch Savoca, junior midfielder, 6’2, 195 pounds, No. 15. Savoca is not only the most experienced midfielder returning for Chemotti’s squad, he’s also the best. Like Lanchbury, Savoca score at will. He tallied 24 goals last season and is eighth all-time in points for the Spiders. And for his performance last season, Savoca was named an honorable mention to USILA’s All-Americans list.

Jack Rusbuldt, junior goalie, 5’11, 170 pounds, No. 33. After not starting early last season, Rusbuldt took the reigns as the full-time goalie later in the year. He went 8-6 in his 14 starts, saving 153 shots and allowing just under 10 goals per game. Against the Terps, he saved 11 shots while allowing 10 to get past him.

Strength

Defense. Using a combination of man and zone looks, the Spiders were one of the better defensive units in the country last year. They limited the Terps to 11 shots in their matchup last year and had No. 5 Duke on the ropes in the first round of the tournament, largely due to defense. Last season, they held opponents under double digits in eight games. With Resbuldt returning in net, that total should improve.

“Their defense is very good. I put on that Duke game, they played very well there,” Tillman said. “They did a nice job against us last year.”

Weakness

Scoring balance. The aforementioned Lanchbury and Savoca will be instrumental in the attack for the Spiders. But after graduating second leading scorer Teddy Hatfield, it remains to be seen who can step up for the Spiders on that end. The Spiders will need younger players to step up and replace the 53 goals and 46 assists from Hatfield and Ryan Lee who are no longer with the team. Nonetheless, Brett Makar and the rest of Maryland’s defense will need to limit Richmond’s role players.

Three things to watch

1. Can Maryland’s offense dominate again? In the season opener against High Point, the Terps exploded for 23 goals — their most in a single game since 2013. While it’s hard to imagine they repeat that kind of production, the key is getting ample opportunities — they took 70 shots against the Panthers.

And even though Richmond’s biggest strength is its defense, Maryland could find itself having enough chances to break through once again in the scoring department.

“We wanna continue that and keep building that chemistry,” junior Anthony DeMaio said. “But it’s definitely really fun when everyone is on the same page and communicating well like that. That’s a big thing for us.”

2. Can Maryland get an edge in possession? As great as the Terps were offensively a week ago, they didn’t have the ball all that much. When High Point was hanging around with the Terps in the first half, a lot of it was because it was dominating possession — the Terps lost the faceoff battle, 11-7, in the first half.

But coming out of the break, Maryland flipped a switch. It won 12 faceoffs in the final 30 minutes of action, limiting the Panthers to just seven. Freshman Conor Calderone struggled to consistently gain control, but junior faceoff specialist Justin Shockey broke out in the second half. If he can win faceoffs to let the Terps get the ball, the offense can take care of the rest.

3. How do the Terps defend Lanchbury? For the second-straight game, Maryland will be tasked with containing a dominant attackman. Against the Panthers, the team did a solid job limiting Asher Nolting, who scored just one goal — though he had three assists. And while Makar served as the primary defender, he had a good amount of help in the way of double-teams.

While Lanchbury isn’t as strong as Nolting, he does a great job with his off-the-ball movement by finding openings in the defense and having his teammates locate him. Makar will presumably be tasked with defending Lanchbury, but expect to see some double-teams once again.