Field Hockey Set To Play At Atlantic 10 Championships
11/04/2004 | Field Hockey
Nov. 4, 2004
2004 ATLANTIC 10 FIELD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS
No. 1 Richmond (15-2, 6-0) vs. No. 4 Temple (9-10, 3-3)
Friday, Nov. 5 -- 5 p.m.
Richard Garber Field
Complete Richmond Field Hockey Tournament Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Complete Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Release in PDF FormatDownload Free Acrobat Reader
A Closer Look At The A-10 Tournament Field
-- The Spiders, making their fourth-consecutive trip to the Atlantic 10 Tournament, will be the tournament's No. 1 seed, while UMass (8-12, 4-2) will serve as the No. 2 seed. Saint Joseph's (11-7, 3-3) and Temple (9-10, 3-3) round out the four teams as the No. 3 and 4 seed, respectively.
-- Richmond is 3-0 against the A-10 Championships field in 2004, allowing only one goal in the three contests. The Spiders outscored Temple St. Joe's and UMass, 16-1 for an average of 5.33 goals per game. Junior Michelle Swartz held a goals-against average of 0.34 in more than 205 minutes over the three matches.
-- The Spiders' defense, which has shutout a record nine opponents this season limited the A-10 Championships field to a combined shooting percentage of .048 in the regular season, giving up an average of only seven shots in each of the three contests.
-- Richmond's 16 goals in the three regular season contests against the field came from nine different players. Junior Holly Cram netted five, including all three game-winners. Junior Whitney Wells was responsible for three of them and freshman Shannon Taylor scored twice.
-- Each of the three games in Amherst, Mass., will be available via Gametracker, CollegeSports Online's version of livestats. Logon to www.richmondspiders.com and the field hockey page for a link and more details.
The Last Time Out
The 10th-ranked Spider field hockey team sent its two seniors off in style, topping Appalachian State, 5-0, Saturday afternoon at Crenshaw Field. The Spiders broke three records on their way to the team's ninth-consecutive win in 2004. Seniors Laura Hur and Danica Haupt, who were recognized before the game, played important roles in the team moving to a mark of 15-2 overall. Appalachian State fell to 5-12 overall with the loss.
Junior Whitney Wells helped the Spiders take the lead in the seventh minute of the game when she took the ball off a restart and attacked from the left side. The Clayton, Del., native then took a shot from the left directing it past the keeper to the right corner.
Junior Holly Cram posted Richmond's second goal of the game at the 25:16 mark, using a corner push-in from junior Allie Howard. The goal, Cram's 23rd of the season, broke the school's single-season goals mark held by Dawn Reyerson since 1993.
Richmond not only led at halftime, but was outshooting the Mountaineers, 9-1. The Spiders were also awarded seven corners in the first half to just one for Appalachian State.
Freshman Shannon Taylor scored Richmond's first second-half goal in the 37th minute. She used brilliant passes from sophomore Amanda Florio and junior Lesley Russell to net her ninth goal of the season. Taylor's goal, the 64th of the season for the Spiders, broke the single-season team goals mark of 63 set by last season's team.
Cram went on to score two more times, the first, her second of the game, came on an assist from freshman Ashley Loh in the 57th minute. Cram's final goal came off a penalty corner at the 63:02 mark. Hur and Howard picked up the assists on the push and stop for the Spiders.
Junior Michelle Swartz garnered her ninth shutout of the season, which ties the most ever in single-season at Richmond. The last time it happened was in 2002 when Swartz shutout nine opponents as a freshman.
 Head coach Ange Bradley needs just one more win to reach the 100-win plateau.  |
|
Ange Bradley, Richmond's fourth-year head coach is one win away from reaching the 100- win plateau.
"It is a milestone for me," Bradley said. "It is something that I might be able to look at after the season to reflect upon."
Bradley has established a mark of 60-18 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 Box
Richmond loves to score and does it often. The 2004 version of the Spiders offense has produced more goals than any other team in Richmond history.
Last season the Spiders scored 63 goals in 23 games. Already in 2004, Richmond has put 66 in the box and the team hasn't even reached the 20-game mark.
The Spiders have posted five goals or more in six 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 nine 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 is now at 19 games dating back to the 2001 season. The other is a 22-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 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.
Swartz has a current streak of 295 minutes since an opponent has got one past her.
Get Them A Trophy Shelf
The 2004 Spiders are no stranger to individual accolades. During the regular season Richmond has garnered an impressive 12 weekly honors.
Junior Holly Cram leads the race with four Player of the Week honors, including a string of three-straight (Oct. 11-25).
Freshman Shannon Taylor comes in second with three Rookie of the Week honors, including a two-week streak (Sept. 13-20).
Four other players have picked up at least one weekly accolade from the conference office.
 Junior Michelle Swartz ranks second in the nation in both goals-against average and save percentage. |
|
A large reason why the Spiders have shutout a record-tying nine opponents stands right in front of the Richmond box -- Junior goalkeeper Michelle Swartz.
The Severna Park, Md., native currently ranks second in the nation in save percentage (.825) and her goals-against average, a phenomenal 0.67 is second-best in the country.
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 ranks among the nation's best in four statistical categories. |
|
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 25 goals are third best in the country, while she averages 1.47 goals per game which is third best in the nation.
She also ranks among the nation's Top-3 in points (3rd, 57) and points per game (2nd, 3.35)
Spiders Take Their Leads Early
Richmond does not hesitate when it wants to take the lead. Thus far this season the Spiders have scored 12 of their 66 goals in the first seven minutes of the game. The next highest total of goals has come between the 15-21 minute mark when Richmond has scored 10 times.
The same trend holds true in matches against Atlantic 10 opponents. The Spiders have scored seven of its 33 goals in the conference season over the first seven minutes.
Defensively, the Spiders allow the most goals between minutes 22 and 42. Six of the 12 goals allowed have come inside that 20-minute interval.