Spiders’ season starts with a win over Longwood

A new era of University of Richmond women’s soccer is officially underway. 

The Spiders started it off strong with a 1-0 season opener victory away against Longwood University Aug 17.  

After UR Athletics announced Oct. 27 that five-year head coach Marty Beall’s contract would not be renewed, former Davidson College women’s soccer coach Adam Denton took over the helm, thus beginning a fresh start for a program that finished just 3-10-4 during the 2022 season. 

“It was an intense first game,” Denton said in a postgame interview. “The first game is always nerves and jitters for both teams and it’s obviously being difficult on the road as well.” 

Denton said it was disappointing not starting the game particularly well, but the Spiders were able to score just over nine minutes into the first period to settle the team down. Graduate forward Molly Wierman scored the goal with an assist from senior midfielder Hannah Antonick. 

Wierman’s goal was the sole score in the match as UR’s defense held the Lancers scoreless throughout the 90 minutes of play. 

Senior goalkeeper Taylor Montague had one save on the evening and the Spiders tallied seven shots, four of which were shots on goal. An additional save was also credited to UR’s team after an unsuccessful shot on goal from Longwood. 

“Tonight, we didn’t possess the ball as well as we should have and we needed to win a lot more second balls,” Denton said. “So, we’re a little bit disappointed overall, but obviously ecstatic to win the game. But I think we’ve got a few things that we can continue to work on.”

Before this inaugural game of the season, the Spiders played two exhibition games against The George Washington University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro on Aug. 5 and Aug. 12, respectively

This win gives the Spiders a 1-0 record to start the season. The last time UR won in its season opener was in 2016 when the team beat Longwood 3-0. The closest the Spiders came before tonight was a 1-1 tie against East Carolina University in 2019. 

“It is a journey which everything’s not gonna be perfect in the first game, but we’re pleased with their efforts, their endeavor and their attitude and to grind it out, at a difficult place to play against a physical team,” Denton said. “So we’ll look at the tape, we’ll get rest and recover and then we’ll go on and get ready for Sunday.”

The Spiders’ next game is against the University of Nevada at home at 1 p.m. Aug. 20. 

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