Spiders emerge victorious against Towson in first home game

The University of Richmond field hockey team beat Towson University 6-1 in its home opener on Sept. 4. 

At the sound of the final buzzer, five different players had scored for the Spiders. To headline the scorers, junior midfielder Cori Nichols scored two goals and assisted on one while senior midfielder Lindsey Frank scored one goal and assisted on two.

From the get-go, the Spiders showed their aggressiveness. They got to the Tigers’ side of the field early and kept the ball on that side for the majority of the game. In the first half alone, UR accumulated 15 shots on goal and scored three times. At the end of the game, they had 29 shots on goal, a little more than four times that of Towson’s seven. 

The Spiders scored their first goal with 2:25 remaining in the first period, and, shortly after, the Spiders gave up a goal that tied the game 1-1.

But, after that single goal scored by the Tigers, UR dominated the scoring column the rest of the game. They went on to score five more goals, which put them back on top in no time. 

In their two previous wins, the Spiders also had multiple goal scorers. 

Following a slow start in a 3-2 loss in their season opener against James Madison University, four different players put points on the board at their game against Longwood University last week. That was also the case in their game on Sept. 2 against the College of William & Mary, with three different players scoring. 

“I think the idea being if scoring is everyone’s responsibility, it’s not a diffusion of responsibility,” head coach Jamie Montgomery said after the game. “It’s, ‘How do we do it together as a team,’ right? And so that has become quite a theme — what are we doing together as a team? And whether that’s scoring goals, whether that’s assisting, whatever it is, we’re trying to work together in order to make that outcome happen.”

Frank said that the team had scored more goals compared to last season.

“I think just having that for our first couple weekends has been great,” Frank said after the game. “And kind of forgetting about our first loss at JMU and moving forward 3-1.”

The Spiders were also able to set up 10 penalty corners in comparison to the Tigers’ three, which helped them set up many opportunities to get shots on goal. 

“I think we just connected really well today and it worked out for us,” Frank said. “And we were able to get a ton of goals off of it, and I think we played really cohesively today.” 

The Spiders will look to continue their winning streak when they host Old Dominion University on Sept. 11.

Contact sports writer Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.