RICHMOND, Va. // Despite staging a four-goal run in the fourth quarter and closing to within two goals, the Navy men's lacrosse team's (2-1, 0-0 Patriot League) comeback bid was squelched by the high-powered offense of 18th-ranked Richmond (2-1) Tuesday evening at Robins Stadium in Richmond. The Spiders captured the 12-9 victory over the Mids in what was the first meeting between the two programs.

"Richmond is a really good team who is well coached," said first-year head coach Joe Amplo, who dropped his first game coaching from the Navy sideline. "If you make mistakes, they will make you pay and I think we learned that tonight. We have a young, inexperienced team that really had its first true test tonight. I think we grew up a lot in the fourth quarter and fought through some rough waters, but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough. You have to play a full 60 minutes."

After heading into the halftime break with a one-goal advantage (4-3), the Spiders held the Mids' offense at bay for better than 22 minutes en route to opening up a four-goal lead early in the third (7-3) and again by the end of the quarter (9-5). Richmond scored the first two goals of the final frame to push its lead to six (11-5, 10:54) before Navy began its run.

Navy had eight different players score in the game, including four who scored consecutive goals between 10:39 and 5:38 to trim the Spiders' lead. Leading scorer Christian Daniel (Jr / Owings, Md.) sparked the run with his goal at 10:39  off an assist from co-captain Brad Alexander (Sr / Carmel, N.Y.) following a faceoff win by Nick Barry (So / Islip, N.Y.). Starting midfielder Patrick Skalniak (Fr / Dallas, Texas) blistered the back of the net from 15 yards out to make it two in a row for the Mids. Sam Dracobly (Fr / Wading River, N.Y.), meanwhile, used his speed to shake long-stick midfielder Jake Kapp en route to scoring his first collegiate goal. Fifty-five seconds later Nick Cole (So / Ashburn, Va.) targeted his second goal of the game when he used a Joe deLyra (Jr / Brightwaters, N.Y.) pass to beat Richmond keeper Jack Rusbuldt over his right shoulder get Navy to within two at 11-9.

A turnover by the Mids with just over two minutes to play, however, led to a long clearing pass by Rusbuldt and a wide-open Richie Connell for the goal to push Richmond's lead back to three with 1:53 left in the game.

While Navy would get three shots off in the final five minutes, Rusbuldt turned aside all three to stave off the Mids' comeback hopes.

Daniel led the Mids in the points column for a third consecutive game with three points on a goal and two assists, while Cole (2G), deLyra (1G, 1A) and Augie Fratt (1G, 1G) (So / Bellevue, Wash.) turned in a pair of points.

Barry, who came into the game leading the country in faceoff winning percentage, played a solid game, winning 13 of the 20 draws he took and grabbing a team-best six ground balls.

The two teams combined for 36 turnovers, 17 by Navy and 19 by Richmond. The Mids were credited with 13 caused turnovers with starting defensemen Tom Evans (Sr / Great Falls, Va.) and Andrew McKenna (Jr / Stony Brook, N.Y.) along with short-stick defensive middies Alexander and John Salcedo (Jr / Little Silver, N.J.) posting two apiece.

Ryan Kern (Sr / Middletown, Del.), who made just two stops in the opening half, came back to post six saves over the final 30 minutes.

Connell, who came into the game as Richmond's top goal-scorer, pitched a hat trick with four goals on six shots to lead the Spiders. Ryan Lanchbury, Kevin Todd and Brett Randall scored two apiece. Rusbuldt closed out the game with 14 saves.

Navy will have a quick turnaround, playing its third game in eight days, when it makes the short trip to College Park, Md. to face fourth-ranked Maryland on Saturday. Action is set for 1:00 pm at Capital One Field. The game will be streamed live on BTN+ (subscription based), while live stats will be available on Navy's web site. There will not be a radio broadcast of Saturday's contest due to the Army-Navy men's and women's basketball doubleheader at West Point.

### Go Navy ###