It’s a simple mentality, but it has more than worked for the University of Richmond football team, as the Spiders will now play in their third consecutive Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
“It’s a great feeling, no question about that,” UR Head Coach Russ Huesman said.
“Season's not done yet, we got a lot more to work for,” Stocklinski said.
It was never a runaway on UR’s part by any means, as the Spiders trailed at halftime and had to fight their way past the Black Bears in the second half.
“It obviously means so much,” Camden said. “I think on Monday versus Temple, I just had an overwhelming amount of gratitude throughout the day. The last year of my life has changed me for the better and taught me so much and I’m just so thankful.”
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“Stove is hot,” Hunt said. “New guys, young guys may not understand how you may look at the name and the conference and you think ‘okay, it’s just a easy night,’ but it’s not that case. Even with Mount Olive, you gotta respect the game of basketball and that starts with respecting your opponent.”
“I thought a fantastic outing for our entire program, entire team today,” UR Head Coach Aaron Roussell said during the postgame press conference. “I think what you saw today was the depth that this group has.”
“I think the next few years are going to be really exciting for the team,” junior midfielder Jess McMeeking said before the tournament.
Given the staggering amount of new faces on this year’s roster, there were question marks coming into the 2024-25 season about how the team would fare.
“It’s the first game, right?” Rousell said. “We said that we wanted to challenge our kids. You’re coming into an environment like this against an elite champion, on the road with Temple, a very, very well-coached team. We gotta be happy with the win just getting out of here, to be honest.”
“[I knew] as soon as I caught it… I turned around and seen a convoy of blockers, like a perfect alley for me right to the sideline,” Hayes said in a postgame press conference. “I went down the middle of the field, got to the sideline, and once I got to the sideline, I knew I was scoring.”
“As a senior, we have lost to VCU the past three seasons,” senior forward Jessica Mullin said. “This is such a big rivalry and we worked really hard to prepare for this game so it just makes me really happy to finally beat them.”
“For the majority of the games we played this season… they’ve been competitive, [so] we are making some progress there,” Denton said. “We’re losing a lot of experience… the base of the team is going to be younger [next year], so that’s a challenge in itself… but we have to start new again next year.”
“[UMD] had an amazing defense, and it was hard to generate anything,” Rake said after the game.
The game started unfavorably for the Spiders, as UMass stole the ball and drove it into the circle, scoring only four and a half minutes into the game.
“We discussed that our attitude was low and that we needed to connect as a team in the second half in order to win,” sophomore forward Avery Russell said after the game.
Both the Spiders and the Blue Hens were among the cohort of teams vying for the top of the Coastal Athletic Association down the stretch last season. Combined with a 6-0 mark to open its 2024 campaign – in which UD averaged upwards of 40 points per game – it seemed that a shootout was inevitable.
“Everything was kind of going downhill,” sophomore forward Valen Luna Paratore said after the game.
“The goal went by really quick,” sophomore forward Clara Larripa said. “I didn’t even know it happened until Valen [Luna Paratore] started to celebrate. I was really happy with today.”
