No. 9 Women's Lacrosse Plays At St. Bonaventure Today
04/16/2006 | Women's Lacrosse
April 16, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - After a close 11-10 battle with the Duquesne Dukes on Friday when the Friend sisters led the Spiders to victory with four goals each, the ninth-ranked University of Richmond women's lacrosse team will now continue up north for Atlantic 10 competition with St. Bonaventure The Spiders, now 12-2 overall and 4-0 in A-10 play, will face the Bonnies on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. at Charles Major Field as they go for their twelfth-straight win.
As a team and individually, the Spiders are off to their best start ever and have made distinct marks on the conference and on the country, from taking down No. 7 Virginia to winning eleven-straight contests to having individual Spiders receive both A-10 and national recognition. Since opening the season, the Spiders have captured a combined total of eight A-10 Rookie and Player of the Week honors, as well as one Inside Lacrosse National Player of the Week and one Honorable Mention honor, and one womenslacrosse.com honor roll.
Freshman Mandy Friend currently leads all Spiders with 40 goals and nine hat tricks, followed by senior Caroline McGuire, who was recently named to the WomensLacrosse.com Honor Roll, with 37 goals, including eight hat tricks and junior Ashley Friend with 35 goals and six hat tricks . The Spiders currently rank fifth in the nation for win percentage (.846), 10th for scoring offense (13.387 gpg) and scoring margin (5.08), 12th for scoring defense (8.31), and 17th for caused turnovers (10.62). Additionally, Spider keeper Jackie Swansburg ranks third for save percentage (.563) and 12th for goals against average (8.31).
The Bonnies (10-0, 2-0 in A-10) have remained undefeated throughout the 2006 season and are coming off a 14-12 win at Le Moyne on Wed. Led by Katelyn Faas with 30 goals and Nicole Motondo with 26 goals, St. Bonaventure is returning 17 players from last year's squad that recorded a 10-6 overall record and finished sixth the A-10 with a 2-5 mark.
The Richmond-St. Bonaventure all-time series is currently knotted at 2-2 with the Spiders posting the last win.
Following Sunday's contest, the Spiders will head back up north to Philadelphia, Pa. to play the La Salle Explorers on April 23 at noon.