Fans reflect on Saturday football and basketball games

University of Richmond Spider fans had the chance to cheer in two sports games yesterday, during the afternoon football against The College of William & Mary, and basketball game against Sacred Heart University.

Students and alumni packed the stadiums yesterday to witness what is traditionally known as the South's Oldest Rivalry, between Richmond and William & Mary. About 8,500 fans occupied E. Claiborne Robins Stadium, and they cheered vigorously by beating together Thunderstix in time with the pep band or songs played over the loudspeakers.

Students, such as senior Jessie Kelley, were thrilled for the last home game of the season and showed Spider pride. "I've got my Spider spirit on, my Spider shoes," Kelley said.

Kelley's parents are both Spider alumni, so she said the rivalry was the draw not just her family, but for the majority of the crowd. She said she had started tailgating with her parents to get more excited for the game.

Kelley, who is the captain university's Quidditch team, was surrounded by other teammates garbed in a Quidditch T-shirt and other Spider apparel in the hopes of winning a school spirit competition hosted by the the university's athletics department, she said.

"It would be really sweet to win $500 for our team," Kelley said. "I mean, it's a nice incentive to get people to come out and show some school spirit."

For Saturday's games, senior Will Gordon, an executive member of the Richmond Rowdies, said the Rowdies had advertised by spreading the word on campus. The group created a Facebook group, which deemed Saturday's matches as "Spider Hoopla".

"I guess this presented an additional challenge to try to get people to go to two different games" Gordon said, "and commit that much more of your time during the day than not doing schoolwork or studying."

By the football game's end, William and Mary scored a winning touchdown with six seconds left on the clock. The final score was 25-23. Gordon said it was easier to get people to come out to the last game of the season, which was the last time they would have the chance to see football games as undergraduates. Gordon went to both games and said he would be back to see football games as an alumni.

About two hours later students filled the Robins Stadium to watch the men's basketball team play against Sacred Heart.

Among those students was freshman Casey Schmidt, who said she was still exhausted, even before the football game."I was working on a project for class," she said. "I then got a text message saying we were losing and we needed more school spirit, so I ran across campus and joined my friends."

Schmidt said she couldn't help but feel there could have been more school spirit amid the throng of spectators.

"I think they do a really good job of trying to promote that already by using prizes and the cheering section prizes," Schmidt said. "I think our school in general should come together, especially now that it's basketball season. We have another chance to pull it together."

Schmidt plans on orchestrating more opportunities to show school spirit. She said that for one of the next games, she plans on getting people together to make signs and paint their faces before going into the on-court cheering section.

From the game so far, Schmidt said she was impressed by the significant difference in energy between the football and basketball games. She said that, despite there being more people at the football game, the crowd at basketball was more electrifying and more exciting.

Freshman Deborah Fajuyigbe, although she said she was tired from the football game, was cheering for the basketball team. Fajuyigbe said she is a huge fan showing school pride and was excited to show it at games.

Fajuyigbe said she prepared for the game by praying for the teams to do well.

"I guess it's a double-hitter," she said speaking of the two games. "I guess if one doesn't cheer you up, the other will. So I'm kind of looking forward to this game to cheer me up."

The Spiders blew past Sacred Heart in the first half. At one point, the Spiders led 24-3. The final score was 83-56, a victory for the Spiders.

Contact reporter Melanie Overall at melanie.overall@richmond.edu.