University of Richmond Athletics
Spider Lacrosse Dominates A-10 All-Conference Teams
05/03/2006 | Women's Lacrosse
May 3, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The No. 11 University of Richmond women's lacrosse team dominated the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Teams as eight different Spiders and head coach Sue Murphy received honors. Senior midfielder Caroline McGuire was named the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year, while freshman attacker/midfielder Mandy Friend was tabbed the Rookie of the Year and coach Murphy was named the Coach of the Year in voting conducted among the Conference's head coaches.
McGuire was selected to the All-Conference First Team and named the leagues' Offensive Player of the Year after posting 48 goals and adding nine assists for a career-high 57 points on the season. The native of Darien, Conn., was named the A-10 Player of the Week on Mar. 13 and earned Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week honorable mention and a spot on the womenslacrosse.com honor roll that same week.
Her team-leading 48 goals ranks second all-time at Richmond and she also leads the team in ground balls with 44. The midfielder has posted 10 hat tricks during the regular season, which includes a career-high six-goal game against Saint Joseph's on Apr. 28.
Friend was selected to the First Team and All-Rookie Team and honored as the Rookie of the Year after an amazing statistically decorated freshman season for Richmond. The five-time Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week is second in the A-10 with 67 points while ranking fifth in the league with 57 goals. Both marks rank as the third-highest in a single season at Richmond.
The attack from Canandaigua, N.Y., has posted 11 hat tricks on the year, including one over No. 2 Duke and No. 6 Maryland, as well as two five-goal games. She was named the Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week for the week of April 4 after posting 14 points in a 2-0 week for the Spiders.
Joining McGuire and Friend on the All-Conference first-team are junior midfielder Ashley Friend, sophomore defender Samantha Tract, and senior goalkeeper Jackie Swansburg.
Ashley Friend, a is a one-time A-10 Player of the Week and Inside Lacrosse Honorable Mention whose 44 goals on the season ranks her fourth in the Richmond record book for most goals in a season. She has recorded eight hat tricks throughout the season, including one in the Spiders' win over national runner-up Virginia, in which Friend scored the Spiders' last three goals to secure the one-goal victory. She also scored the game-winning goal at Duquesne in the last 25 seconds.
Tract, a native of Wayne, Pa., has served as the Spiders' top mark-down defender and recorded 25 caused turnovers and 28 ground balls on the season. She was a key part of a defense that, on average, allowed only 8.00 goals per game, and on six occasions, held opponents to five goals or less.
Swansburg, a native of Beverly, Mass. and one-time Player of the Week and one-time Inside Lacrosse honorable mention, currently leads the conference in saves, save percentage, and goals against average, in addition to ranking third in the country in save percentage and 10th in GAA. Swansburg anchored her backline which, on six occasions, held its opponents to five goals or less.
Senior midfielder/defender Allison Nuzzi and junior defender Megan Riedy were named to the Honorable Mention team.
Nuzzi, from Baltimore, Md., finished the regular season leading all Spiders in assists and consistently marked the opponents' top scorer. She has scored five goals and added 21 assists on the season, in addition to recording 29 ground balls, 21 draw controls, and 17 caused turnovers. Riedy, a native of Ellicott City, Md. recorded three goals, added one assist, and recorded 17 ground balls, 15 draw controls, and eight caused turnovers.
Claire Cunniff, a sophomore attack from Catonsville, Md., was selected to the Academic All-Conference Team after posting a 3.82 GPA while majoring in Biology. Cunniff has made the Dean's list for three semesters and currently leads all sophomores with 15 goals off of 29 shots. She has scored goals in nine games this season, including two hat tricks.
Murphy, who is in her fifth season, earned her first A-10 Coach of the Year award after guiding Richmond to its highest national ranking in school history at No. 9 en route to earning the program's first-ever A-10 regular season title. The Spiders established a school record for wins (14-3) and A-10 wins (6-1) and enter the Championship ranked 11th in the country.
This weekend, the Spiders will be going for their second consecutive A-10 title in Washington, D.C. and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Live coverage will be available at www.RichmondSpiders.com.
