Richmond ties, sets records in win over Saint Louis

In its Atlantic-10 Conference opener win against Saint Louis University, the University of Richmond field hockey team tied or set three school records.

The Spiders tied a school record for goals during a game with 12 as they shut out the Billikens.

"The thing I was most excited about is that - outside of the penalty stroke which can't be an assisted goal - that eight of the other 12 goals that were scored were assisted." Richmond coach Gina Lucido said. "That's a reflection on our team play and that was our goal going into the game."

Senior Sarah Blythe-Wood set a school record by scoring five goals, including the penalty stroke during the second half. She scored three times during the first half.

"To be honest, I really wasn't thinking about [the record]," she said. "I just wanted to try to do what I could for the team. But honestly, it's a team effort."

Blythe-Wood increased her team- and conference-leading goal total to 14. She now has 35 points on the season, which is first in the A-10.

Megan Thompson also tied a school record with three assists, two of which set up Blythe-Wood's goals. Besides setting up three goals, she added her own in the second half when she tipped a ball over SLU's goalie.

"I was trying really hard" to get the assist to set the school record, Thompson said. "The opportunities weren't coming. I was able to get a nice goal there towards the end. But I was trying really hard - almost too hard - making it nearly impossible."

Richmond was efficient on offense, scoring its 12 goals on only 22 shots. That was a big difference from Sunday when the Spiders only scored two goals on 25 shots in its win against Georgetown University.

"I was pleased to see that on the attacking end, we were able to start set pieces and movement through the attack and find each other," Lucido said.

The eight assists on the day firmly establishes Richmond as the conference leader in assists with 28. Coming into the game, Richmond was tied with three other schools for second in team assists.

Junior Hannah Hess set the tone for the game early by scoring a goal only 51 seconds into the game. By the end of the first half, Richmond led 8-0.

Seven Richmond players scored during the win against the Billikens. Junior Christin Hanley scored her first two career goals and junior Dani Pycroft, senior Adrian Pickar, and sophomore Katelin Peterson finished up the scoring.

Starting Richmond senior goalie Jacki Raithel was taken out with just more than 13 minutes left during the first half, when Richmond was leading 7-0. Freshman Ann Jefferis came in for Raithel and finished the game. Jeffries had one save, when she dove to block a shot off of a corner.

Richmond evened up its record to 6-6, and is now 1-0 in the Atlantic-10 Conference.

"It was a big win for us, but a total combined team effort," Thompson said.

Richmond hosts James Madison University on at 1 p.m. on Sunday. JMU will come to Crenshaw Field as the No. 11 ranked team in the nation.

"Just to get some positive energy flowing from today will be big for our game on Sunday," Blythe-Wood said. "We'll go into it with a little bit of momentum, feeling good about our scoring opportunities."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu