University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
GEORGE WASHINGTON
No. 20 Women's Lacrosse Opens A-10 Play With 10-7 Win Over George Washington
04/01/2007 | Women's Lacrosse
April 1, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va - Allison Furstenburg recorded her sixth hat trick of the season and Jackie Swansburg came up with 15 big stops between the pipes to lead the No. 20 Richmond women's lacrosse team to a 10-7 victory over the George Washington Colonials on Sunday afternoon at First Market Stadium in both team's Atlantic 10 openers.
Sunday's win marked the Spiders' (7-4, 1-0 in A-10) fourth win in the last five games and their second-straight win of the season.
While Furstenburg notched three goals, senior Ashley Friend and junior Claire Cunniff each tallied a pair of goals, while sophomore Mandy Friend and juniors Mandy Friend also chipped in two helpers, while Hubbard added one.
Spider senior Morghan Vahue won the opening draw to give Richmond the first possession which Cunniff was able to capitalize on with a goal in the first nine seconds of play. The Spiders followed with four more goals over the next 18 minutes to jump to a 5-0 lead over George Washington (4-5, 0-1 in A-10).
Furstenburg put in her first of three markers just under a minute and a half following Cunniff's goal before both teams played through over 13 minutes of scoreless action. Richmond geared back into its run with a sequence starting out of the back. Keeper Swansburg cleared a long ball to senior Mandy Friend open for the sister act combo goal as Friend shot a quick pass to sister Ashley for her first of two goals on the afternoon.
Ashley Friend blasted a shot that found the back of the net for a 5-0 Spider lead at 11:23.
After holding the Colonials scoreless for the first 23:32 of play, George Washington used the remaining first-half minutes to rattle in four-straight goals and the first seven minutes of the second half to add one more, knotting the game 5-5 with 23:57 on the clock.
Katherine Sampson notched the first Colonial goal off a helper from Kristin Karcsh, sparking the Colonials' 5-0 run. Katelyn Honeyford contributed a pair of goals in the run, while Karcsh assisted Kristina Harvey on a goal and Meghan Cratty made a move and pass from behind the goal to teammate Laura Wunk who blasted a shot for the Colonial's fifth goal.
Richmond took the lead the rest of the way, claiming five of the next six goals and two of the final three goals of the contest. Cunniff halted George Washington's run with a goal at 21:38 off a helper from Hubbard, sparking two more Spider goals. Mandy Friend converted a free position attempt less than a minute later and Furstenburg netted an unassisted goal to give the Spiders a three-goal (8-5) advantage with 17:06 remaining.
GW leading scorer Karsch scored her only tally of the contest off a free position shot with 13:26 remaining in the contest in effort to close the game (8-6); however, Kennedy and Furstenburg responded with free position goals of their own to pull the Spiders out to a 10-6 lead with just over eight minutes to go.
George Washington's Harvey tallied her second goal off a Wunk helper, but the Spiders were able to hold off the Colonials' last efforts for the win.
Swansburg's 15-saves marked her sixth double-digit performance in goal this season, while Caitlin Garman recorded eight saves on the other end.
The Spiders will now prepare for a three-game road swing, beginning in Philadelphia, Pa. with Saint Joseph's on April 6.
