Richmond women's lacrosse dominates American University

The University of Richmond women's lacrosse team dominated American University on Feb. 27 to pick up its first win of the season.

On a windy Wednesday afternoon in Robins Stadium, the Spiders won 20-8 against the Eagles. Hannah Wagner, athletic public relations assistant, estimated the attendance at 121 people.

Richmond dominated from the start of the game, having scored its first goal 44 seconds into the first half. After two American goals, Richmond went on to score 10 consecutive times during the next minutes, and finished the half with a 17-5 lead.

Richmond lost momentum as the sun began to set, and went scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Compared to the 22 total goals scored in the first half, each team went on to have three goals in the second half. Seniors Caitlin Fifield and Sam Stevenson had five goals each as the team's top scorers of the game.

"I think we had a chip on our shoulder, being 0-4, and we really came out wanting to win," Fifield said.

Richmond's first four matches of the season were against top-10-ranked opponents. American was unranked, and so will the rest of the team's opponents likely be until it begins Atlantic-10-Conference play March 29.

Fifield was named on Feb. 22 to the Tewaaraton Watch List, which identifies strong candidates for the Tewaaraton Award, a prize given to the top male and female collegiate lacrosse players. Fifield has scored 12 goals this season so far, making her second only to Stevenson on the team. "She's such a significant leader on our team and helps the players around her get better," head coach Allison Evans said about Fifield, "[She] is getting better every day."

Richmond will play next on March 2 at Navy in Annapolis, Md.

Contact reporter Ben Panko at ben.panko@richmond.edu