Fall sports preview: Expectations and players to watch for each team

Autumn is falling upon us at the University of Richmond. Classes have started, Tyler Haynes Commons is full of traffic and the sun is beaming down a little bit too hard on everyone.

And with the start of a new school year comes the start of the fall sports season. Here on The Collegian's Sports Staff, we like to think we know a little something about our varsity sports teams. So, without further ado, here's what you can expect from your Spiders this fall.

Charlie Broaddus on Football

Expectations:

The Spiders lost more than 20 seniors from last year's team, so there will be plenty of new faces on the field this season. In fact, this offseason brought the most change, by far, since Danny Rocco has been head coach of the team. Offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter left to coach at Clemson, and his highly successful passing offense will be replaced by new coordinator Charlie Fisher's pro-style attack.

Kyle Lauletta (pictured left), now in his third year, will run Richmond's new offense. Although he likely will not replace the production that last year's quarterback Michael Strauss had, Lauletta can succeed in Fisher's offense because it will ask less of him. We can now expect heavier doses of running backs Seth Fisher and Jacobi Green, who have both proved effective in past years. Lauletta also has perhaps the best receiving tandem in the conference with Brian Brown and Reggie Diggs, both tall and fast players who will be easy for Lauletta to find.

On defense, the Spiders will have new players everywhere. Both starting safeties from last season graduated, as well as impact players in the front seven such as Evan Kelly, Eric Wright and Aaron Roane. It's hard to predict how the defense will perform this season--the Spiders have plenty of talent to replace last year's seniors, but a lack of experience could cause problems early in the year.

Expect the Spiders to be a borderline playoff team this season. There are too many unproven players to say with confidence that the team will have success similar to last season. If Lauletta can find success in Fisher's offense and the new faces on defense can produce similar to their predecessors, the Spiders will be in the playoffs. If any of those pieces can't come together, though, it will make for some frustration and failure at times.

Star Players:

Most of Richmond's stars are on offense. Seth Fisher, the team's premier tailback, was elected as a First-Team Preseason All-American by various publications. He will be the heart of Richmond's offense after proving toward the end of last year that he is both powerful and elusive. His success could be affected by whether Lauletta has success passing the ball and whether a few new players on the offensive line can survive in the CAA.

Reggie Diggs and Brian Brown should also be outstanding this fall. Both players have shown flashes of brilliance in past seasons and after Stephen Barnette was injured last season, these two were forced to fill that void. Their effectiveness will be less about them, though, and more about Charlie Fisher's new offense and the inexperience of Lauletta. Still, barring an unforeseen debacle, expect serious production from both of these players.

Breakout Player:

Kyle Lauletta is the obvious choice for this category. He has all of the ability needed to put up big numbers in the CAA, and the talent around him is substantial. Although he has had three offensive coordinators since the end of last season, he seems to be confident and prepared to run Charlie Fisher's offense. He is my choice for breakout player simply because his arm strength, poise and natural ability should carry him to success.

Olivia Healy on Soccer

Expectations:

Head coach Peter Albright enters his 20th season at Richmond with a 182-166-32 record and 343 wins in his entire career and with a solid team. The schedule that the Spiders have is challenging, but it is a tournament level program with games to prepare them for hopeful post season play. With Carrigan and Riefner on the offensive end and Brennan with Bernetich on defense, the Spiders look to be a well rounded team and a major competitor in the Atlantic 10 conference. 

Star Players:

Redshirt sophomore and co-captain, Meaghan Carrigan, from Greenville, South Carolina, is a returning starter and powerhouse scorer. The Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and First-Team All-League player led Richmond with 14 goals and five assists. Carrigan is currently 10th in Richmond’s program history for goals scored. Although she didn’t score in her first appearance this season, Carrigan is a competitive and aggressive player who will be a major impact player once again this season.

Senior co-captains Dana Bernetich and Ashley Riefner (pictured above) will be major contributors. Bernetich is a consistent defensive player who led the team in minutes played last season. Riefner was a First-Team All-Atlantic 10 Forward in the 2014 season who scored nine goals and dished out nine assists.

Breakout Player:

Sophomore goalie Katie Brennan made six saves in the loss to Campbell. Last season Brennan tallied four shutouts and the expectation for this year is to see more of them. Brennan has shown potential since her first game playing for Richmond when she made nine saves.

Jack Nicholson on Field Hockey

Expectations:

Fresh off an Atlantic 10 Championship, the Spiders are built to repeat as conference champions. Richmond and University of Massachusetts–no surprise there–are the favorites to win the conference this season. UMass, who beat Richmond in the 2012 and 2013 conference championship games, was picked first in the A-10 preseason poll with five first place votes, and Richmond, who beat UMass in overtime in last season’s championship game, received first-place votes from the other four coaches.

The Spiders, however, will need to overcome the loss of forward Rebecca Barry, who was the 2014 A-10 Offensive Player of the Year. Barry scored 15 goals last season, good for second in the conference–the next highest total from a Richmond player was four goals.

Star players:

Although the Spiders lost Barry up front, they return a stalwart defense. Seniors Amy Cook and Allison Haas (pictured left), both defenders, were Preseason All-Conference selections. Cook, who is a three-time First-Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, also gets involved in the offense on corners, tallying three goals and five assists in 2014.

Breakout Players:

It will take a team effort to make up for the loss of Barry. Junior Emma Johansson, who made the 2013 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team, scored four goals and notched four assists for the Spiders last season. She will be a key in replacing Barry. Johansson is experienced, having started 38 of her 43 career games, and showed she can score in the spotlight when she hit the winner for the Spiders over UMass in the 2014 regular season.

Junior Kelly Quinn, who also made the 2013 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team and scored four goals last season, and senior Taylor Deitrick, who was named to the 2012 and 2013 All-Atlantic 10 Second Teams, will also be instrumental in replacing Barry.

Walt Abrams on Women's Golf

Expectations:

The Richmond women’s golf team looks to break into the top half of the league this season after missing third place by just four strokes in last year’s Patriot League Championship. The team endured a few poor finishes, but placed around the halfway mark in several tournaments. Richmond managed to best Georgetown in a head-to-head competition, beating the Hoyas 320-318 in the Spiders’ only outright win of the season.

In the Patriot League Championship, the Spiders held a five-stroke lead over host Navy heading into the championship round, but ultimately weren’t able to hang on, finishing four strokes behind Navy for fourth place out of the six teams.

Boston University and Lehigh have cemented themselves as the premiere teams in the Patriot League, occupying the top two spots. While Richmond will likely not overtake either of these powerhouses in the near future, the Spiders must focus instead on beating more evenly-matched rivals Navy and Bucknell.

Star Players:

The team returns all its key contributors besides Sara Diaz, who rounded out a solid top three for the Spiders. Richmond will bring back its star golfers, rising sophomore Elsa Diaz (pictured right), Sara's sister, and rising senior Jessica Lydia, who both earned all-conference honors last season.

The younger Diaz led the team, averaging 77.6 strokes per match with Lydia not far behind. Diaz also posted Richmond’s only under-par round and scored the best in the championship tournament as well. These two figure to lead the team again this season as the Spiders try to break into the top tier of the conference.

Breakout Players:

Depth is the major issue that could hold Richmond back. With Sara Diaz graduated, the Spiders’ third golfer is Kira Kuhnert who averaged 85.55 strokes last year compared to Sara Diaz’s 80.11. That’s more than five strokes the Spiders have to collectively make up for to merely maintain last year’s production.

While Kuhnert and other returning Spiders figure to make at least modest improvements this year, if Richmond is to distinguish itself as superior to Bucknell and Navy, the incoming freshman class will likely play a large role.

The Spiders are bringing in four freshmen to replace the departed Sara Diaz and a lot will be asked of them from the start. Their performance will speak volumes about the future of this team, but also impact the present as well. If at least one of them can step in and adequately replace Diaz, Richmond should be in good shape to improve this season.

Walt Abrams on Men's Golf

Expectations:

Richmond's men’s golf team struggled to stand out for most of last season until finally breaking through with a second place finish in the Atlantic 10 Championship. Entering the conference championship weekend, Richmond’s best finish in any tournament was 10^th place out of 20 teams, the only time the Spiders finished in the top half of the field. The team was coming off shooting 919 (+55), 918 (+54) and 906 (+54) in its previous three outings, its three worst performances of the season.

Regardless, the Spiders were able to rebound in the championship and shoot 867 (+3) in by far its best showing of the season. Richmond hopes to maintain that excellent play over the course of an entire season this year as it loses two of its top five golfers to graduation.

Star Players:

One positive for the Spiders is that they retain Matt Lowe (pictured left), a rising sophomore who emerged as a key contributor throughout the season culminating in his seven-under-par championship finish. Lowe’s average of 75.40 strokes per round was second-best on Richmond only to Danny Pizetoski who graduated last May. Lowe also led the team with three rounds under par, none more important than his -6 in final round of the conference championship.

If Lowe makes further improvements or even maintains his first-year production, the A-10 Rookie of the Year will likely make the all-conference team again. But in order to replicate its second-place performance or to surpass VCU atop the standings, Lowe will need help from his teammates to fill the void left by graduated senior Pizetoski and Austin Romeo.

Breakout Players:

One candidate to provide that extra production is rising senior David Germann. Germann averaged a stellar 73.95 strokes his first season, but fell off the following year averaging 76.10. He rebounded last year, improving to 75.64, barely trailing Lowe for second on the team.

While that improvement is certainly a positive sign, if Germann can approach his freshman numbers in his senior season, he will not only establish himself as a key contributor but also potentially the best on the team. If the Spiders improve behind Lowe and Germann, they should be poised to make another run at second place in the conference and perhaps even challenge VCU.

Jennie Trejo on Women's Cross Country

Expectations:

After finishing third in the Atlantic 10 last fall, Richmond women's cross country is looking to set the bar even higher this season by winning the conference title and earning a ticket to the Cross Country National Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. To get there, they will have to move from their current spot of 14th in the Southeast Regional Division and into the top four.

The main competition will be conference rivals Duquesne University. Duquesne took first in the A-10 last year, followed by La Salle. The Spiders will also need to look out for William & Mary and South Carolina, two other Southeast-Region contenders.

The Spiders will have their first bout at the Spider Alumni Open at Richmond’s home course on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Star Players:

The Spiders lost two of their top seven runners last year to graduation, but the five that remain are looking strong. Top runners to keep an eye on include senior Tara Henley, junior Marisa Ruskan (right) and sophomore Kaelyn Heinicke (left), followed closely by sophomores Amanda Corbosiero and Courtney Thompson. Ruskan and Thompson were both named to the All-Atlantic 10 team last fall.

Breakout Players:

This year’s team is young, with nine of the 22 girls in their first season. Only two seniors remain on the squad, but this is no reason to take the team lightly. All of the freshmen show potential to be great additions to the team, especially Colleen Carney and Ave Grosenheider. The team's youth should provide an excitement and a hunger that the team needs to succeed this season.

Jennie Trejo on Men's Cross Country

Expectations:

With only two freshmen and four seniors on a squad of 10, the men’s cross country team has plenty of wisdom and experience. Last year the team placed sixth in the Atlantic 10 and 14th out of the 38 teams in the Southeast Region.

The team no longer has Ryan Lee, who graduated last spring. He was named to the All-Atlantic 10 team in 2014 and regularly posted fast times that were crucial to the team’s overall score. There are big shoes to fill this season but the Spiders are taking it one day at a time and putting in the hard work necessary for a successful season.

Star Players:

Tim Gruber, Matthew McKenna, Jordan Chavez, and Justin Keefe are the four returning seniors who are expected to carry the team. Gruber finished 60th out of the 231 runners in the Southeast Regional and McKenna placed 93rd. The Spiders also have sophomore Alex Lucking, who was named A-10 Freshman of the Week on September 23rd.

Breakout Players:

Freshmen Brett Kramer and Matthew McKew are the newest additions to the team. Other players expected to have strong trials of miles include sophomores Johnny Hogue and Ryan Lerda. In the 5k at the Longwood Invitational last year, Hogue placed 11th and Lerda placed 17th.

Contact Sports Editor Charlie Broaddus at charlie.broaddus@richmond.edu