University of Richmond Athletics
No. 10 Field Hockey To Play No. 1 Tar Heels In NCAA Tournament
11/12/2004 | Field Hockey
Nov. 12, 2004
2004 NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND OF 16
No. 10 Richmond (18-2) vs. No. 1 North Carolina (20-1)
Saturday, Nov. 13 -- 11 a.m.
Francis E. Henry Stadium
Richmond Field Hockey NCAA Notes in PDF Format
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A Closer Look At The NCAA Tournament's Field of 16
-- Richmond will be part of the 2004 NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive season. Nationally ranked at No. 10, the Spiders earned an automatic bid by winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament then topped Rider, the Northeast Conference Tournament winner, 6-0, Tuesday, Nov. 9 during an NCAA Play-In match in Richmond, Va. Next up for Richmond is No. 1 North Carolina, which is the tournament's top seed, at 11 a.m., Nov. 13 at Francis E. Henry Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. The winner of the game will advance to the second round and face the winner of the Duke-Old Dominion match.
-- Match time for North Carolina versus Richmond in the NCAA Tournament's first round is set for 11 a.m., Nov. 13, at Francis E. Henry Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
-- Richmond is making its third-straight trip to the NCAA tournament. The Spiders' last time in the NCAA's was 2003 when it lost to Cal-Berkeley, 2-1, in an NCAA Play-In match, but received an at-large bid. Richmond then fell to Old Dominion, 4-2, in the first round.
-- North Carolina is the tournament's top seed and will host one of four regional brackets. In the other four-team bracket on the UNC half is No. 4 Michigan. The Wolverines won the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid. Maryland will serve as the tournament's No. 3 seed and host one of four regions. No. 2 Wake Forest is the final top seed, but will play at Harvard -- the region's host site. Wake will then host the Final Four in Winston Salem, N.C., Nov. 19-21.
-- Richmond is 0-5 all-time against the Tar Heels dating back to 1982. UNC has scored a total of 29 goals on the Spiders, who have put only one in the cage during the series. According to the history books, three games have been played in Chapel Hill and one in Richmond. The other contest site was not recorded. The Spiders have been outscored 22-0 in the three noted games played in North Carolina.
-- Richmond is 18-2 after topping Rider in the NCAA Play-In match Tuesday, Nov. 9 in Richmond, Va. The Spiders went 6-0 in Atlantic 10 action and are currently on a 12-game win streak. North Carolina is 20-1 after winning its first Atlantic Coast Conference Championship since 1997. The Tar Heels knocked off perennial power Wake Forest in the semifinals of the ACC tournament then beat Maryland, 3-1, in the final.
-- Richmond is ranked 10th in the latest STX/NFHCA Poll. The Spiders debuted at No. 11 then fell to 12th and later rebounded to No. 11 before jumping to the 10th spot. Richmond has never been ranked higher than 10th in school history. The Spiders ended the 2003 season at No. 10 in the NFHCA poll. North Carolina is the top-ranked team in the Nov. 9 edition of the NFHCA poll after knocking off former No. 1 Wake Forest in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. UNC received 22 first-place votes and a total of 440 votes to move up from No. 2 in the Nov. 2 edition of the poll.
 Junior Whitney Wells  |
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Richmond's junior Whitney Wells recorded a pure hat trick on the way to a 6-0 win for the Spiders over Rider Nov. 9 in Richmond. With the win the Spiders moved to 18-2 overall, while Rider ended its season with a record of 18-3.
Richmond got on the board in the 21st minute using the first of its five first-half penalty corners. Junior Holly Cram found the back of the cage for the 29th time this season off a push in from junior Allie Howard and a stick-stop from junior Michelle La Force.
Just three minutes later the Spiders moved their lead to 2-0. Howard attacked up the middle of the field and managed to score on a shot into the crowd of defenders. For Howard it was her third goal in two games and her third point of the afternoon.
Richmond held a 10-4 advantage in shots in the first half and garnered five corners to just two for the Broncs. Rider's keeper, Krysta Bearish, stopped three shots on goal, but allowed two in the first 35 minutes.
The Spiders took control of the second half pouring in four more unanswered scores. Wells began her three-in-a-row feat at the 46:15 mark. The Clayton, Del., native got a deflection off a shot from junior Colleen Wevodau, pushing it under the keeper for the Spiders' third of the game.
On a separate attack, just two minutes later, Wevodau moved the ball from the right up to Cram who then crossed a pass to the top of the circle for Wells to one-time it past Bearish. Wells added her third at the 65:46 mark when she gathered a rebound in front of the net and found the back of the cage.
Freshman Shannon Taylor put the finishing touches on the win using another Richmond penalty corner. Howard and La Force again provided the assists on the Spiders' 23rd goal-off corner this season.
Courtney Bertos, Ally Hunter and Maddy Boulden each recorded two shots for the Broncs, while Stephanie Corrandino made three defensive saves.
Wells was near perfect on the day scoring three goals on only four shots. Cram led the Spiders with eight attempts. Freshman Erin Arthur, Howard, senior Danica Haupt and Taylor all fired two shots for the Spiders. Wevodau, Howard and La Force each contributed two assists in the win and junior goalkeeper Michelle Swartz added another shutout pushing her current total to 11.
 Head Coach Ange Bradley |
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Ange Bradley, Richmond's fourth-year head coach got her 100th win in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Nov. 5, with a 4-0 win over Temple.
"It is a milestone for me," Bradley said. "It is something that I will be able to look at after the season to reflect upon."
Bradley has established a mark of 63-18 in her four seasons at Richmond. Prior to becoming a Spider she recorded a 39-25 record in four seasons as the head coach at Goucher College (1991-94).
The Spiders Are Sizzling The Cage
Richmond loves to score and does it often. The 2004 version of the Spider offense has produced more goals than any other team in Richmond history.
Last season the Spiders scored 63 goals in 23 games. Over 20 games in 2004, Richmond has put 79 in the cage for an average of almost four goals a game.
The Spiders have posted five goals or more in seven matches this season. Last year's squad had only two games when it scored a single goal, but posted 5+ goals only three times.
We're All Going Streakin'
Several streaks have taken place this season for the Richmond hockey team including wins and shutout streaks.
The Spiders opened the season with a five-game win streak which ended with a 1-0 loss at then No. 13 American. The team is currently riding a season-long 12 game win streak. The longest win streak in school history came in 2002 when the squad won 14-straight matches.
During the conference season the Spiders extended two win streaks. The first was a conference regular season streak that has now moved to 19 games dating back to the 2001 season. The other was a 24-game win streak that includes all regular season and A-10 Tournament contests since the 2002 season. Richmond finished the year undefeated in the conference and garnered the A-10 Championships title for the third-straight year extending each of those streaks.
Junior keeper Michelle Swartz has held onto two streaks in goal. The Severna Park, Md., native went more than 314 minutes without surrendering an opponent goal, midway through the season. She later had another similar streak of more than 390 minutes snapped in the Atlantic 10 finals.
 The Spiders with their third-straight A-10 Championships trophy. |
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The 2004 Spiders are no stranger to individual accolades. During the regular season Richmond garnered an impressive 12 weekly honors.
Junior Holly Cram led the race with four Player of the Week honors, including a string of three-straight (Oct. 11-25).
Freshman Shannon Taylor came in second with three Rookie of the Week honors, including a two-week streak (Sept. 13-20).
Four other players picked up at least one weekly accolade from the conference office.
Prior to the postseason Cram garnered yet another honor by being named the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year. Junior Allie Howard was selected as the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. Junior Michelle Swartz was awarded the A-10 Field Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year Award and head coach Ange Bradley was selected as the A-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in four years.
Following the A-10 Championships five players were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament team: Cram, Howard and juniors Whitney Wells.
 Junior Michelle Swartz |
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A large reason why the Spiders have shutout a record 11 opponents stands right in front of the Richmond cage -- junior goalkeeper Michelle Swartz.
The Severna Park, Md., native currently ranks second in the nation in goals-against average, with a phenomenal mark of 0.62.
Swartz, before coming to Richmond in 2002, was accepted to the United State Naval Academy. Every summer since 2001 the junior has woken up five days a week at 5 a.m. to participate in boot camp with a former Navy Seal.
Swartz is majoring in Leadership Studies and minoring in Pre-law and Music. One of her hobbies, when not donning the pads and facing opponent shots, is playing classical piano.
Spiders Among The Nationally Ranked
Richmond has not fallen from the STX/NFHCA Top-20 this season after debuting at No. 11, Sept. 13.
The Spiders spent a week at No. 11, then fell to No. 12 in the Sept. 20 release. A week later they returned to the 11th spot and remained there for the next month.
Richmond most recently jumped to its highest rank ever -- No. 10 -- in the Oct. 25 poll release.
Last season the Spiders finished the season in the No. 10 spot after falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
 Junior Holly Cram |
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Junior Holly Cram is no stranger to succeeding on the playing field. The Glasgow, Scotland, native has competed for two Scottish Junior National Field Hockey squads for the past five summers.
During her two seasons on the U-18 Junior National team, Cram helped advance the squad to two European Championship finals. The first, in Hamburg, Germany, was won by Scotland and in the second, played in Lithuania, the team took home the silver medal.
Over the past three years she has competed on the U-21 Junior National team.
She helped the club win two consecutive Celtic Cup titles, and claims her team was robbed by the Germans in a medal playoff match in the European Championships, giving them fourth place.
The midfielder ranks among the best in the nation in four statistical categories. Her 1.45 goals per game in tops in the nation, her 29 goals are second best in the country.
She also ranks among the nation's Top-2 in points (2nd, 67) and points per game (2nd, 3.35)
Spiders Take Their Leads Early
Richmond does not hesitate when it wants to take the lead. The Spiders have scored 13 of their 79 goals in the first seven minutes of the game. Combine that total with the three scored between minutes 8-14 and 14 scored between the 15th and 21st minute, the Spiders have outscored the opposition 30-1 over the first 21 minutes of each game.
The same trend held true in regular season matches against Atlantic 10 opponents in 2004. The Spiders scored seven of their 33 goals in the conference season over the first seven minutes and outscored the Atlantic 10, 12-1, in the first 21 minutes.
Defensively, the Spiders allow the most goals between minutes 22 and 42. Seven of the 13 goals allowed have come inside that 20-minute interval.
2004 Spider Field Hockey Honors
Erin Arthur
Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week (Oct. 11)
Holly Cram
Atlantic 10 Championships All-Tournament team
Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Oct. 25)
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Oct. 18)
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Oct. 11)
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Sept. 7)
Amanda Florio
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Sept. 20)
Shannon Taylor
Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week (Oct. 25)
Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week (Sept. 20)
Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week (Sept. 13)
Tara Kelly
Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week (Sept. 7)
Michelle La Force
Atlantic 10 Championships All-Tournament team
Allie Howard
Atlantic 10 Championships Most Outstanding Player
Atlantic 10 Championships All-Tournament Team
Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Sept. 27)
Lesley Russell
Atlantic 10 Championships All-Tournament team
Michelle Swartz
Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year
Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week (Oct. 4)
Whitney Wells
Atlantic 10 Championships All-Tournament team
Head Coach Ange Bradley
Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year