Rams escape with tie against Spiders

The University of Richmond women’s soccer team went toe-to-toe against yet another top squad in the Atlantic 10 on Oct. 5, battling the University of Rhode Island Rams to a scoreless tie.

Entering the match, the Spiders had yet to collect a point in conference play, with the Rams sitting just outside the top of the standings at a 3-1 mark. From the first whistle however, it was UR playing far superior to its 3-6-4 record that put the Rams largely on defense. 

“I thought it was probably our most complete performance in-conference. We had opportunities – good opportunities – to score,” UR Head Coach Adam Denton said in a postgame interview. 

As would become a trend throughout the contest, UR’s midfield presence quickly shined, carving up the Rams through the middle third and sustaining offensive pressure along the sidelines. 

URI countered early with one of its better opportunities of the match, but poked an open shot inside the 18-yard box just high. Otherwise, sophomore goalkeeper Veronica Rrapi and UR’s defense proved more than equal to the extent of URI’s offensive production, intercepting a flurry of crosses and deftly saving a handful of deep shots.

While held to few scoring chances, the Spiders began to break through a fatigued Rams squad as the half wound down. Sophomore forward Sophia Jurado put a shot just left of the net, while moments later, a high-arcing shot from first-year defender Julia Lishia was tipped just over the crossbar by URI’s goalkeeper.

Lishia’s near-breakthrough heralded what was to come, as UR’s offense exploded back onto the field out of halftime. Shots came from everywhere for the Spiders, including quality looks from graduate forward Brigitte Bussiere and Jurado, but still UR was kept off the scoreboard.

Weathering a handful of URI set-piece opportunities, the Spider offense continued to spar with the Rams down the stretch. First-year forward Emma Newman provided UR’s best chance of the afternoon, blazing past URI’s defense on a through ball to a 1-on-1 with the Rams’ goalkeeper, but came away empty with the shot just wide right.

The dwindling moments of the match continued to belong to the Spiders as the Rams found themselves outpaced. Sophomore midfielder Paige West levied a shot on net that yielded a promising rebound for Newman, but once more, URI’s goalkeeper challenged the attack just enough to prevent a shot at net.

The last moments of the match were a fitting summary of the full 90 minutes, with the Spiders granted a free kick just outside the 18-yard box, sophomore forward Kingsley Hughes had a go at goal batted away. Lishia pounced on the rebound with a second effort that was again narrowly saved by URI’s goalkeeper, allowing the Rams to scrape by with the scoreless draw.

“Every opponent is a little bit different… the big thing is trying to have that belief, that confidence,” Denton said. “If we do that, we can create some good opportunities; we’ve been stressing [to the team] not to focus on the points we haven’t picked up yet, but the opportunities in the points that we can pick up.”

West and Lishia led the way for the Spiders, each recording a pair of shots, while Hughes rounded out the offensive effort with one of her own. The contest marked the first time since their matchup against Longwood University that the Spiders matched their opponents’ shot output.

UR picked up its first point in A10 play with the draw, for a conference record of 0-4-1 and standing at 3-6-4 overall. Meanwhile, the Rams eked out their first draw of the season, moving to 3-1-1 in conference play, and 9-3-1 overall.

The Spiders will continue with conference play on the road against Loyola University Chicago at 1 p.m. Oct. 12.

Contact sports editor Scott Valentine at scott.valentine@richmond.edu