Second-half surge gives Spiders the Senior Day victory

Down by one with 27 minutes left in the game and its undefeated conference record on the line, the University of Richmond put together a 7-0 run against the Saint Joseph's University during the next 10 minutes. The University of Richmond women's lacrosse team went on to defeat Saint Joseph's University by a final score of en route to a 12-6 victory Friday evening.

In a game where all nine seniors started the game for Richmond as part of the annual Senior Day, junior Caitlin Fifield led the team in scoring with five goals and one assist.

Fifield, reigning Atlantic 10 Conference player of the week, has now scored at least three goals in each of the Spiders' last four games. Her second goal this game broke a 4-4 tie.

Richmond coach Stephy Samaras Mantziaras said her team's second half performance is what she's come to expect.

"I think the attack got really comfortable passing, they were able to find the double cutter which is something that we practiced for the game," she said. "Once we were able to do that, we sort of settled ourselves down a little bit, found the open player just like we practiced."

Before the game began, a brief ceremony was held to honor the team's nine seniors, as each was announced and walked to the center of the field with one or both parents.

The seniors announced were: Ryan Ball, Lindsey Crawford, Shannon Cudahy, Bria Eulitt, Casey Kelly, Julianne Nicola, Anne Ryan, Danielle Schaevitz and Colleen Werther.

Crawford immediately subbed out after starting the game due to a pre-existing injury.

Three seniors scored points for the Spiders during the game. Nicola led the pack with two goals and one assist.

Nicola said she's seen the senior class get closer recently.

"I think we've definitely come together a lot as a class in the past couple weeks, just because this is a special time for us," Nicola said. "We're a pretty big class and it's really special just being all together for four years and I think we've just spent more time and realized how much it means to all of us."

This was the last home game of the season, unless the Spiders win the A-10 Championship and earn a home game for the play-in to the NCAA tournament.

Nicola believes doesn't believe her team has seen the last of Robins Stadium.

"It's not gonna be the last home game," she said. "It's time for our season to just turn around and we're gonna put it together for 60 minutes."

With the win, Richmond remains undefeated in conference at 5-0 with an 8-7 overall record. Next up for the Spiders is to travel to the University of Massachusetts for a noon game Sunday. Massachusetts is the only other undefeated team in the A-10 Conference.

"From what I understand, considering it's only my second year [as Richmond's coach], we have a really big love-hate relationship with UMass," said Mantziaras.

Game Notes:

Other than Fifield, Richmond's other non-senior starters were freshman defender Taylor Blazer and junior goalkeeper Victoria Roebuck. ... Richmond junior midfielder Sarah Vinall left the game early in the second half and is reported to have torn her ACL, likely ending her season. ... Ryan and Schaevitz were Richmond's other two seniors with points, each tallying two.

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu