-The Final Four is set for Saturday. Connecticut will take on Michigan State during the first national semifinal and North Carolina will play Villanova during the second game.
It's almost time for the weekend that many sports fans consider to be the best of the year: The Final Four.
Even though the University of Richmond men's basketball team lost during the College Basketball Invitational semifinal last week, its players said they felt the season ended on a high note. The 81-69 home loss to the University of Texas at El Paso marked the end of the Spiders' 20-16 season, their first 20-win season since 2003-04. With five freshmen and three sophomores on the 16-player roster, the team had plenty of room to grow at the beginning of the season.
Perhaps you are looking at the snapshot above and wondering to yourself: "Who is this Jessie Murray girl and what could she possibly have to tell me about sports?" I will give you some insight into who I am and then you may understand.
The University of Richmond's women's basketball team ended its 2008-09 season with a 24-10 overall record. Many may look back over the season and wonder what might have been, but it proved to be a turning point in the women's program. During the previous two years, the Spiders had not had much success, ending with a 13-17 record during the 2006-07 season and a 14-17 record during the 2007-08 season.
Members of the men's golf team said they hoped to get back into the swing of things as their season comes to a close and they head to the Marshall Invitational this weekend in Huntington, W.Va. Although the team has had an inconsistent season in regards to its record, head coach Adam Decker said he was optimistic about a positive finish to the season and would look forward to the Atlantic 10 conference championships. "It has been an up and down year," Decker said.
Part of the Collegian's mission is to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas, and we are proud of the discussions that our opinion section and online edition have fostered. But as the semester has progressed, some of the comments for online articles have moved away from a discussion of ideas, morphing into anonymous and very public attacks on the personalities and lifestyles of the people who write articles, columns and comments on our Web site. The Collegian's policy for print opinion submissions is that they must be accompanied by the writer's name, unless the editor grants a writer's request for anonymity.
A five-run first inning was not enough to lift the University of Richmond baseball team to its first win in four games as the Spiders fell to the College of William & Mary, 9-7. Freshman Tadd Bower hit a home run to straight-away centerfield in the top of the ninth to give the Tribe the win.
Several school records fell and another athlete qualified for the regional track and field meet Friday and Saturday at the Fred Hardy Invitational, the season's only home meet for the University of Richmond track and field team. Junior Andrew Benford placed second in the 3,000-meter in 8 minutes, 59.33 seconds to earn the qualifying standard for the South Regional Meet. Benford said he was mildly surprised to hit the standard so early during the season because he suffered a hamstring injury in mid-January and redshirted the indoor track season. Junior Heather Roush broke sophomore Monica Howard's shot put school record with a 45.23-meter throw.
Senior Mandy Friend scored a goal with 1:29 left during overtime to lift the University of Richmond women's lacrosse team to a 14-13 victory against Duquesne University. Richmond got control of the ball during the overtime and took its time getting off a shot.
Sue Murphy was asked to resign as University of Richmond women's lacrosse coach after athletic department officials discovered a parent-operated fund was supporting the team's budget, including travel expenses and senior gifts, The Collegian has learned. In an interview at her home on Thursday, Murphy said she knew the fund was against department policy and that using it meant she risked losing her job.
The freshman on the University of Richmond women's lacrosse team haven't had the ideal start to their college careers, but after a 17-15 victory against St.
NFL Pro Day at UR from URCollegian on Vimeo Contact videographer Jordan Trippeer at jordan.trippeer@richmond.edu
A 22-7 run by Georgetown University during the final 13 minutes of the first half put away the University of Richmond women's basketball team as the Spiders were blown out 65-49 during the third round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Spiders never seemed comfortable on the offensive end.
The days after Lauren Beaudreau's disappointing performance at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials last summer were some of the grimmest in her 15-year career. After making the NCAA championships as a freshman and sophomore, she entered junior year on the heels of lackluster summer training.
The University of Richmond's men's and women's track and field teams will have the opportunity to confront four in-state opponents in front of a home crowd during the fifth-annual Fred Hardy Invitational on March 27 and 28. The Spiders' rivals - the College of William & Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech and Columbia University - are four of the 20 to 25 men's and women's teams expected to attend the invitational in downtown Richmond. The invitational is usually the Spiders' only home meet of the season, but because of construction at Richmond's First Market Stadium, the meet will be held in Sports Backers Stadium at 3001 N.
Whether you see one member on the court or eight on the sideline, the University of Richmond women's tennis team stands as one. Senior Ashlee Vosters said that the word "team" had been a big part of the Spiders' mindset this year. "Instead of tennis as an individual sport, focusing on the importance of team and us working together has been really important for this group of tennis players," Vosters said. This focus on being a team helped the Spiders push their regular season record to 12-3 with recent victories against Xavier University on March 20 and East Carolina University on March 24.
Members of the University of Richmond's Monument Avenue 10K Training Program will be competing in the 10th anniversary of the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K race this Saturday, March 28. Twenty-five faculty, staff and students have been training for the race for the past 10 weeks with nationally recognized athlete and coach, Andrea Randle. Randle works as a multisports trainer for the Department of Recreation and Wellness to help promote physical activity among the campus community. Seth Hickerson, assistant director of Fitness and Wellness, said that he and Randle had hoped to expand the training program further, with the goal of attracting an annual representation of more than 150 participants. "We want to represent the University of Richmond on the start line every year," he said. The program is in its first year, and 21 of the 25 who participated in the training will compete with about 35,000 other runners, joggers and walkers. The training program was open to people with little to no running experience as well as to advanced runners, Hickerson said.
During spring break I did something I probably haven't done since I was 6 years old - I voluntarily missed part of men's basketball's Championship Week. Why, you ask, would I abandon my favorite sport during March Madness?
Women's lacrosse head coach Sue Murphy unexpectedly resigned last Wednesday during the middle of the season for undisclosed reasons. Women's soccer head coach Peter Albright has assumed the role of interim head coach while a national search is underway for a new coach.
