University of Richmond Athletics
No. 20 Field Hockey To Host Sacred Heart In NCAA Play-In Game
11/07/2005 | Field Hockey
Nov. 7, 2005
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The 20th-ranked Richmond Spider field hockey team will host an NCAA Play-In game at 1 p.m. at Crenshaw Field, Tuesday, Nov. 8 for the fourth-straight year, and will be looking for its fourth-straight berth in the NCAA Field of 16. The Spiders, 14-5 overall, captured their fourth-consecutive Atlantic 10 Championships crown over the weekend by downing Saint Joseph's 3-1 and later UMass, 7-1, in the final. The wins extended the Spiders' streak to 33-straight over A-10 opponents.
The Spiders will square off against Sacred Heart at Crenshaw Field Tuesday, after Pioneers earned their first Northeast Conference Championship last week. The Pioneers topped Rider, the Spiders' foe last season in the Play-In game, 1-0, at Rider.
The Pioneers, who sport a record of 11-9 overall, are led by Colleen Carney's 22 points, on seven goals and eight assists. Becky Ford and Carissa Eye hold the team lead with eight goals on the season. Ashley Del Greco has started all 20 games in cage for the Pioneers and has a goals-against average of 1.96. She has made 163 saves for a percentage of .815, and has recorded seven shutouts in 2005.
The Spiders are led by a number of outstanding players. Sophomore Shannon Taylor upped her team-leading point and goals total over the weekend with three goals and two assists in two games. The Midlothian, Va., native now has 16 goals on the season and 11 assists for a total of 43 points. Senior Whitney Wells, the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year, ranks second on the squad behind Taylor with 13 goals, one of which came in the A-10 final Saturday.
Defensively the Spiders are led by three-time A-10 Player of the Year, senior Allie Howard. The Lancaster, Pa., won an unprecedented third-straight A-10 Championships Most Outstanding Performer award over the weekend, after receiving her second-straight A-10 Defensive Player of the Year award earlier in the week. This season, Howard and the Spider defense has limited opponents to 1.18 goals a game and shutout opponents eight times.
Senior Michelle Swartz is sporting a goals-against average of 1.23 in 19 games. The Severna Park, Md., native is 14-5 on the season and has posted six shutouts in 2005.
The Spiders are 2-1 in their last three play-in games. Richmond topped Rider, 2-1, in 2002 in its first-ever play-in game, then fell 2-1 to Cal in 2003. Last season the Spiders won in convincing fashion, 6-0, over Rider to receive automatic berth. After falling to Cal in 2003, Richmond received an at-large bid, but later fell at Old Dominion in the tournament's first round.
The winner of Tuesday's contest, the first-ever meeting between the two schools, will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships Field of 16, which begins play Saturday, Nov. 12. At-Large and automatic bids into the NCAA Championships will be released in a live broadcast on CSTV at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday evening.