University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
William & Mary
No. 13 Women's Lacrosse Downs William & Mary, 10-9, In Double-Overtime Thriller
03/04/2007 | Women's Lacrosse
March 4, 2007
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Preseason All-American Ashley Friend lifted the 13th-ranked Richmond women's lacrosse team to a 10-9 victory over in-state rival William and Mary 3:20 into the first sudden-death overtime period on Sunday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field.
After the teams played six scoreless minutes during the first overtime session, Friend's third tally of the contest ended an exciting, evenly-matched battle between two resilient state-rivals.
Friend finished with a hat trick and an assist, including the game-tying goal in the final 25 seconds of regulation, as well as the game-winning goal in the third overtime period. Senior Morghan Vahue and sophomores Mandy Friend and Allison Furstenburg chipped in two goals apiece and junior Jenna Hubbard added a goal for Richmond (3-2), which has now won four of the last five meetings between the schools.
Jaime Sellers, Jamie Fitzgerald and Dolly Williams each scored two goals for the Tribe.
Richmond erased a two-goal deficit with a comeback in the final two minutes of regulation play. Spiders' netminder Jackie Swansburg then preserved the fitting overtime session that Richmond earned on Friend's free-position goal with just 25.3 seconds remaining in regulation. Swansburg, who narrowly out-dueled Sara Beckstead with 12 total stops, denied a long shot from Kristen Wong just inside the arc as regulation time expired.
The Tribe, which held a 16-7 advantage in draw controls, including wins on all three overtime draws, also gained possession in the sudden-death period, though a turnover in the offensive end led to Friend's game-winning score. It was also one of the Tribe's 20 turnovers on the day which ignited the Spiders' late second-half comeback.
After Williams' lost her defender behind the left side of the goal and beat Swansburg low on the short-side, the Spiders were facing a 7-9 deficit with exactly four minutes remaining.
With approximately 1:30 remaining, Vahue took a pass near midfield and raced to the goal after the Spiders' Sarah Ingle caused a Tribe turnover. Beckstead rejected Vahue's first attempt on the right side of the circle, but the rebound went right back to Vahue, who circled behind the net, then fired a low shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to pull Richmond within, 8-9, with 1:10 on the clock.
Anne Harrington came away with the ensuing draw, but another Tribe turnover on an errant pass led to the equalizer in the final minute. Ashley Friend drew a foul near the top of the arc and converted the free-position shot to knot the contest (9-9) with just 25 seconds remaining.
While Beckstead and the Tribe defense kept Richmond off the board, Swansburg and the iron at the other end of the field maintained the deadlock. Emily Vitrano connected with the crossbar around the 13-minute mark, before Swansburg blocked a point-blank attempt by Williams moments later.
Sellers finally broke through with a one-on-one power move from the left side of the goal circle, beating her defender and Swansburg to give the Tribe an 8-7 lead, before Williams' marker at the 4-minute mark made it 9-7.
Sellers' first goal of the contest came with 17:20 remaining, bringing about the aforementioned 7-7 tie. After taking a perfect pass from Fitzgerald in the middle of the arc, Sellers used a quick head fake and fired a low shot past Swansburg. Fitzgerald had a hand in each of the Tribe's first three goals of the second half. After falling behind 6-4 at the break, the Tribe stormed out of halftime to even the contest behind two Fitzgerald tallies.
Vitrano assisted on the first to cut the Spiders' lead to 6-5 at the 28:22 mark, and Fitzgerald scored on an eight-meter shot with 23:35 remaining to pull even. But, just five minutes, Mandy Friend free-position goal put the Spiders back in front.
Katie Rees and Williams each scored in the opening seven minutes, and Dennis answered a Vahue goal to give the Tribe an early 3-1 cushion in the first. Dennis' marker was set up by a feed from Sellers. Hubbard and Furstenburg responded with consecutive goals for Richmond, before Annie Macomber's first career goal once again put the Tribe on top, 4-3.
The Spiders would score three-straight, though, to close the period with tallies by Ashley Friend, Mandy Friend and Furstenburg to take a two-goal lead at the break.
Swansburg finished with 12 saves in 69:20 minutes in goal for the Spiders, while Beckstead notched 10 saves on the other end for the Tribe.
The Spiders will now host the first of three-straight home contests on Wed., March 7. Richmond will face No. 8 Maryland, the Spiders' third Top 10 opponent, at 3:00 p.m. at First Market Stadium. Live coverage will be available at RichmondSpiders.com.
