NCAA Rewind: Richmond Clobbered Non-Tournament Teams

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

RICHMOND

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 20/No. 18
2024 record: 10-6 (4-1 Atlantic 10)

What went right: Dalton Young (36 G, 39 A) was an All-American, earning the Atlantic 10’s offensive player of the year award. Lance Madonna (26 G, 13 A) picked up the conference’s honors for top midfielder, while Zach Vigue (.556 save percentage) shared the A-10 goalie of the year nod with UMass’ Matt Knote. 

Richmond also fielded a defensive midfield with impressive depth; Joe Gooley (32 ground balls, most of any non-faceoff specialist on the roster) was one of four stout defenders leaned on heavily at the position. 

With all but a handful of contributors back from an NCAA tournament team, the Spiders went 10-0 against teams that did not reach the NCAA tournament, clobbering those opponents by an average of 9.3 goals.

What went wrong: Quite simply, the Spiders couldn’t break through against the high-profile opponents on their schedule. They didn’t lack for opportunities, falling to Maryland in double-overtime, heading into the fourth quarter within a goal of Virginia and playing a one-goal game against Saint Joseph’s to close the regular season. 

A week later, the Hawks got the better of Richmond 17-13, a more decisive result that left the Spiders a game shy of their sixth NCAA tournament berth in just more than a decade of existence

Season highlight: The Spiders’ best performance of the season was a 9-5 silencing of High Point on the road. Richmond gave up just three goals over the final 58:42, as short-stick midfielder Jack Pilling recorded five caused turnovers.

Verdict: A bit like Boston University in the Patriot League, Richmond returned a core group with NCAA tournament experience, and it seemed like this could be the season the Spiders broke through with their first postseason victory. There are a lot of programs that would gladly trade places with Richmond, which has reached a conference title game in each of its 10 full seasons. The Spiders had a good year, but without a signature non-conference victory or a league tournament title, it wasn’t a great one.