Taylor And Conrad Win A-10 Season Awards; No. 16 Spiders Set To Host A-10 Championships
11/02/2006 | Field Hockey
Nov. 2, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Junior Shannon Taylor was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Field Hockey Offensive Player of the Year, and freshman Lindsey Conrad was selected as the A-10 Rookie of the Year, conference officials announced Thursday. The two end-of-the-year honors, selected in a vote conducted by the Atlantic 10 coaches, mark the sixth-straight season at least one season award has gone to a Spider.
Taylor, a native of Midlothian, Va., is the sixth-straight Spider to earn the Offensive Player of the Year honor and enters the Atlantic 10 Championships with 27 goals, eight assists and 62 total points on the season. She leads the Atlantic 10 in goals, points and game-winning goals (5). She also ranks tied for second nationally in points per game with 3.44 and is fourth among the nation's leaders in goals per game at 1.50. The junior was a five-time A-10 Player of the Week and posted two four-goal games on the season. Taylor needs just two points to pass Heather Rice's all-time career points record at Richmond of 133. She is also looking to break the Richmond single-season points record as she is six shy of the mark held by Holly Cram (67). Taylor is also three goals shy of overtaking the single-season goals record of 29, also held by Cram.
Conrad, who also was named to the All-Conference first team along with Taylor, enjoyed an outstanding rookie season for the Spiders ranking second in the conference in goals with 17 and points with 40. She was named the A-10 Rookie of the Week five times in the last five weeks of the season and posted six multi-goal games in her first collegiate stint. The rookie ended the season with hat tricks in each of the last two contests and is tied for seventh on the Spiders' single-season goals list with 17.
Joining Taylor and Conrad on the All-Conference first team is senior Jodi Murphy. Murphy was part of the Spiders' defense which limited foes to just eight shots per game. The Williamsburg, Va., native played in 17 games and led the Richmond defense which allowed just 0.56 goals-per-game in A-10 play.
Junior Ines Reimundes and senior Heather Wrublesky were both part of the All-Atlantic 10 second team. Reimundes also played a large role in Richmond's defense which limited opponents to a goals-per-game average of 1.48. The Argentina native joined the squad just prior to the season-opener and started all 18 game for the Spiders. Offensively, Reimundes contributed two goals and two assists while helping the Richmond defense limit A-10 opponents to just 6.3 shots-per-game.
Wrublesky finished her final regular season with a career-year in points, goals and assists, and will join Murphy at the NFHCA National Senior All-Star game later this month. The Langhorne, Pa., native scored 10 goals in 2006, two more than all of last season, and one shy of her career total coming into the 2006 season. Wrublesky, a co-captain, also notched four assists in 2004, two more than her career total prior to this season.
Freshman Megan Thompson also earned All-Conference honorable mention honors from the Atlantic 10. The Gap, Pa., native finished her rookie year with nine goals and an assist, which ranked fourth on the squad. The forward netted multiple-goal games three times this season, including one in Atlantic 10 play.
Freshman Jess Weidner joined Conrad and Thompson on the league's All-Rookie squad. Weidner led the Atlantic 10 in assists with 10 in her rookie campaign, working as the stick-stop on the Spiders' penalty corners.
Wrublesky rounded out the end-of-the-year honors for Richmond by being named to the Academic All-Conference team. The senior, majoring in Rhetoric & Communications, ranks 10th on the Spiders' all-time career Top-10 list in points with 48.
The 16th-ranked Spiders will next host the 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference Championships this weekend, Nov. 3-4, at Crenshaw Field. Richmond earned their fifth-straight one-seed after topping Saint Louis, 5-0, to end the regular season Sunday. The Spiders, who will be looking for their fifth-straight A-10 crown, will face fourth-seeded Temple Friday, Nov. 3, at 11 a.m. Saint Joseph's and Rhode Island earned the second and third seeds, respectively and will square off Friday at 2 p.m. The winners from the two semifinal games will then meet in the Championship final Saturday, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. for an opportunity host the NEC Champion, Tuesday, Nov. 7, in an NCAA Play-In game.
Richmond, which has won the last four A-10 Championships, has a combined 3-0 mark against the three teams in the tournament this season, and have outscored Saint Joseph's, Rhode Island and Temple, 9-2, in those games. The Spiders are 28-4 all-time against the three teams in the tourney's field, while all four losses have come to Saint Joseph's (1986, 1988, 2000, 2001).
Richmond has faced both Temple and Saint Joseph's during the Atlantic 10 Championships. The Spiders are 2-0 against the Hawks in the A-10 tournament including last season's 3-1 semifinal win. Richmond is also 2-0 against the Owls in the A-10's including their most recent championships meeting, a 4-0 win in the 2004 semifinals.
Gametracker and free live video streaming for every game of the 2006 Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Championships will be available on the Atlantic 10 website, www.Atlantic10.org. Be sure to visit the Championships site, located on the field hockey page, for game recaps, boxscores and live updates.