Women's lacrosse triumphs in season opener

The University of Richmond women’s lacrosse team began its regular season with a win over Old Dominion University, defeating the Monarchs 18-7 on Friday. 

On the field of the E. Claiborne Robins Stadium with picture-perfect sunny day, the Spiders and Monarchs met for each other's season opener. 

Junior attacker Arden Tierney won the draw for the Spiders. After UR gained possession, junior midfielder Lindsey Frank scored the first goal of the game and season for the Spiders.

Tierney — with an assist from Frank — scored against the Monarchs followed by a score from freshman midfielder Hannah Custer for back-to-back goals for the Spiders. After an intense battle with shots taken and blocked by both teams, first-year midfielder Maggie Jordan and freshman attacker Colleen Quinn added two more goals for  UR to gain the lead at 5-1. In the final two minutes, UR would add another four goals to the sheet with junior midfielder Sophia DiCenso and Frank each adding one and Tierney adding two straight in a row.

In the second period, UR dominated the Monarchs by adding six goals while ODU scored two. Spider’s graduate attacker Nicole Concannon and junior midfielder Kendall Duffy added two goals to the scoreboard for UR within half a minute of one another. Freshman midfielder Grace Muldoon was assisted by senior attacker Lauren Kingsbury for UR’s 12th goal. Kingbury scored a goal of her own with less than five-and-a-half minutes left. Frank and Concannon wrapped up the first half with the Spider’s last two goals. UR and ODU ended the first half with the Spiders winning 15-4. 

The third and fourth periods wrapped up nicely with the Spiders in the third period adding two goals by DiCenso and senior attacker Evelyn Roberts while the Monarchs added one. In the final period, the Spiders would tally one more goal by Concannon.

Concannon, Frank and Tierney led the Spiders with three goals each, combining to make up half of the team’s total score. 

The Spiders took 27 shot attempts with 24 being shots on goal. ODU attempted six less at 21 attempts while only 14 were on goal. 

UR out-saved the Monarchs by one with seven saves compared to ODU’s six. 

The women’s lacrosse team will play again at 5 p.m. on Feb. 15 against the William and Mary University Tribe at the Robins Stadium in Richmond, VA. 

Contact sports co-editor Andrew Cardounel at andrew.cardounel@richmond.edu.