University of Richmond Athletics
Field Hockey Hits The Road For Two Atlantic 10 Contests
10/20/2005 | Field Hockey
Oct. 20, 2005
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Spider field hockey team will now travel for its final four games of the season. The first road trip will take the team to Pennsylvania to face A-10 opponents La Salle, Oct. 21, and West Chester, Oct. 23. The Spiders, who will also face Virginia and Saint Louis on the road to end the season, are 9-5 overall and 4-0 in the conference after sweeping its last four regular season conference home games.
Sophomore Shannon Taylor leads the team with 11 goals in 14 games. Her 0.79 goals per game is second in the conference, 0.01 behind Saint Joseph's Nicole Antonini in first. Taylor, along with senior Michelle La Force lead the A-10 with nine assists on the season, as the next closest player has passed out only six.
La Force and senior Allie Howard recently were named to the NFHCA North/South All-Star game. Both were listed as part of the South squad for the game scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Nov. 19, in Louisville, Ky.
Senior Michelle Swartz has limited A-10 opponents to just two goals on 23 shots in 2005. Her 0.52 goals-against average in the league is more than two times better than Erin Hanshue's GAA of 1.73 at Temple, in second place. Swartz also has an overall save percentage of .756, which ranks 18th in the country.
La Salle will be playing only its second game of the season at home. The Explorers, 3-13 overall and 1-3 in the conference, are led by junior Jillian Moser's six goals on 10 shots. La Salle is averaging 1.35 goals per game and is limiting opponents to 2.82 goals per game.
West Chester comes into the weekend 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference, and will host Saint Louis Friday, Oct. 21, prior to playing the Spiders. Senior Megan Glielmi leads the Golden Rams with eight goals on the season, including one game-winner. Senior Mary Ellen Wells ranks second on the squad with seven goals and leads the team with five assists in 15 games.
Carrie Hanshue has played and started every game in goal for West Chester. She is limiting opponents to a 2.40 goals-scored average and has made 110 saves on the season.
The Spiders are 3-3 all-time against La Salle, but have won the last three meetings by a combined score of 11-2. Prior to Richmond's win streak in the series, La Salle garnered three-straight victories which were all decided by one goal.
Richmond is also .500 all-time against the Golden Rams, and has a four-game win streak in the series. The Spiders have limited West Chester to one goal over the last four meetings, outscoring it 20-1. West Chester won the first four meetings in the all-time series by a combined score of 9-3.
After this weekend the Spiders will have a non-conference road game at Virginia, currently ranked 20th in the country, Oct. 26, at 5 p.m. Richmond will make its final regular season road trip to St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 30, to take on the Billikens of Saint Louis. The Spiders' final regular season game of 2005 is scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST).
