University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Temple - A-10 Championship
No. 11 Spider Lacrosse Captures Second-Straight A-10 Championship With 13-11 Victory Over Temple
05/07/2006 | Women's Lacrosse
May 7, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Caroline McGuire, the A-10 Championships' Most Outstanding Performer, scored a tournament record-tying six goals to lead the 11th-ranked Richmond women's lacrosse team to its second-straight Conference title this afternoon in Washington, D.C. The top-seeded Spiders defeated second-seeded Temple, 13-11, and earned the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, the program's second consecutive appearance.
While McGuire tied her career-high six goals, freshman Mandy Friend, juniors Ashley Friend and Morghan Vahue added two goals each, and sophomore Erin Kennedy scored one goal as the Spiders improved to 16-3 on the season.
Mandy Friend put the Spiders on the scoreboard first after converting a free position shot to give Richmond a 1-0 lead at the 24:21 mark. The Owls rattled in two consecutive goals in twenty seconds to steal a 2-1 advantage at the 21:27 mark; however, the Spiders went on to score six consecutive unanswered goals to steal a five-goal lead over the Owls.
McGuire put in a pair of goals to jump start the Spiders' run; first by netting an unassisted goal to even the score, and then following with a free position shot to rebuild the Spiders' one-goal lead at the 17:50 mark. Over four minutes later, Mandy Friend assisted Vahue on a goal as the Spiders took a 4-2 lead over the Owls.
McGuire then rattled in her third and fourth goals of the afternoon within just 13 seconds of each other and Kennedy followed with her lone goal of the game off an assist from Allison Nuzzi at the 4:27 mark as the Spiders took a 7-2 advantage over the Owls.
After being held scoreless for over 20 minutes, Temple put in two goals in the last 43 seconds to close the game to just a three-goal differential (7-4) before the intermission.
Richmond's Ashley Friend opened the second half with a goal in the first 1:17 of play after Nuzzi recorded her second assist of the afternoon before Nicole Cataldo answered with a goal for the Owls to keep the game within a three-goal gap.
McGuire then recorded her fifth goal of the contest and Mandy Friend assisted her sister Ashley on a goal at the 22:04 mark as the Spiders took a 10-5 lead over the Owls. Nuzzi followed by assisting Vahue on her second goal of the afternoon at 18:07 before Temple would rattle off four unanswered goals in 1:23 to cut the Spiders' six goal lead to a two goal-differential.
Mandy Friend put the Owls' run to a halt as she netted a goal for the Spiders at the 15:20 mark; however, the Owls found the back of the net again less than eight minutes later as the championship game became a one-goal contest. With just 0:55 left in the game, McGuire netted her sixth goal of the afternoon, tying the A-10 Championship record for the most goals in the tournament and securing a 13-11 victory for the Spiders.
McGuire's six goals of the game put her at 57 goals on the season, breaking the Richmond record for the most goals in a season, previously held by Mandy Friend also set a new Richmond single season record with her goals in Sunday's game as she reached 73 points, breaking the record, previously set by Polly Purcell (69 in 2002).
Senior Ashley Friend and Nuzzi joined McGuire on the All-Championship Team.
"We are all so excited about winning another Championship," stated head coach Sue Murphy. "Once again, it was a hard fought battle. Temple played a hard game and took a run in the second half, but as we have done all season, we have learned how to stop the runs and we have learned how to win. It's the maturity of our team. Our defense made some fantastic stops and Jackie made some key saves at the end to keep us in the game."
