University of Richmond Athletics
Women's Soccer Releases 2003 Slate; Most Challenging Ever
02/05/2003 | Women's Soccer
Feb. 4, 2003
Fresh off its most successful season ever, Richmond's women's soccer has released its 2003 challenging fall slate. Head coach Peter Albright, the only coach in the program's seven year history, has challenged his squad with its toughest schedule ever as seven teams that competed in last season's NCAA Women's College Cup dot the schedule.
"We could have scheduled to go 17-02, but that would have done no one any good," said Albright. "It's far better, I believe, to play out of your comfort zone; to see how good you are and get an idea about how good you can become."
The Spiders open up their 2003 campaign with cross-town rival VCU before traveling to James Madison for a tournament stop on September 5 and 7. The Spiders then compete for two straight weekends in tournaments at Tennessee and Duke, taking on the host heavyweights in addition to Denver, North Carolina and UCLA. Intra-state rival Virginia makes the trip to Richmond on September 29, rounding out the Spiders' non-conference line up.
Richmond, last year's Atlantic 10 Champion with a thrilling 3-1 win over the top-seeded Rhode Island Rams, begins its third year of competition in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders are set to host the A-10 Championships in early November.
The Spiders returns 10 starters from a team that went 15-6-2 last fall and advanced to the 'Sweet Sixteen' of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual champion Portland. The Spiders finished 16th in the final rankings.
