University of Richmond Athletics
No. 20 Richmond Lacrosse Hosts Longwood To Open 2008 Season
02/14/2008 | Women's Lacrosse
Feb. 14, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. -
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No. 20 Richmond lacrosse will officially start its season this Friday, February 16 as the Spiders host Longwood for a 3 p.m. ET game. Earlier in the week the Spiders played an exhibition match against the England National Team where they came away with the win, 12-9. Mandy Friend, Allison Furstenburg and Jules Nicola each recorded a hat trick in the scrimmage.
The Spiders will kick off their 2008 season as they host their first non-conference opponent, Longwood. Last year the Spiders took down the Lancers, 14-3 in their first game of the 2007 season.
This year, the Spiders will take on three teams ranked in the top 10 in the first month of competition. Head coach Sue Murphy believes in challenging her team against such tough competition in the beginning of the season to better prepare them for post-season play.
Q&A With Coach Murphy
After losing nine seniors, including two fifth-years, who are you looking to for leadership both on and off the field?
Graduating nine seniors including six with impacting roles for four years of their careers is a lot to digest. However, we are focused on the task at hand - to RELOAD, not rebuild. We have a very talented group returning and an amazing freshmen class. Leadership will exist in many areas of our game with experienced players like Mandy Friend and Allison Furstenberg will manage the midfield while Jenna Hubbard and Claire Cunniff will take command of the attack. This group of players has been impacting our program for years and I have full faith in them to fill voids after graduation.
This freshman class, of eleven, is the largest you have ever brought in to Richmond, what kinds of things are you expecting out of your young players?
This class is very strong and will be needed to impact the field immediately. Seeing significant time during fall season has been Jules Nicola (attack), Ryan Ball (midfield) and Casey Kelly (attack). We will continue to work on their maturity under pressure while they grow to understand game scenarios. This is a very athletic class, very committed to fitness and a passion for more knowledge.
What are the strengths of this year's team?
I feel strongly that we are more balanced then in years past now offering four to five substitutes that will see significant time. Our high scorers of Mandy Friend and Alli Furstenberg are also great feeders and have developed this fall to include many more threats on attack. We are faster in transition and do hope to speed up our tempo on our fast break.
You have been Atlantic 10 Champions for the past three years, claiming regular season championships two of those years, what will the team have to do to continue its winning streak?
First we must recognize that our A-10 competitors are getting better every year so we must use our non-conference schedule which is competitively outstanding to catapult us into league play. We must get a better grasp of maintaining our past success and leap forward into a higher standard of performance in April and May.
Allison Nuzzi, a former Richmond standout captain, is back as a Spider, this time as your assistant coach. What has she contributed to the program so far and are you looking forward to having her next to you on the sideline?
Having Nuz on the sideline and in the office has been wonderful. I know her strengths and weaknesses and she knows mine. Bluntly, we think alike. Just at the moment I am about to correct or direct on the field, I find she is already taking care of the situation. It is simply a great coaching relationship. I believe the team is getting a lot of instruction from both of us and we are consistent in our message. With a young team of 11 frosh, consistency and constant feedback is crucial to their development this spring.
Besides winning another Atlantic 10 championship, what are your goals for the upcoming season?
Our goals as a team will remain with the priority of winning the regular season Atlantic 10 Championship and the A-10 Championship Tournament. In our quest for a Final Four, we know we must take advantage of our non-conference schedule to prepare for top-10 play, and keep us hungry for a top-10 ranking.
Looking at your schedule, which game are you looking forward to the most?
We must step on the field with hunger and passion for each team we play. In our inexperience in the past, we have gone out and beaten great programs but then turned around and have it taken away from an unranked program. We are now in the phase of our program development of maintaining success which means there will be in-state rivals, in-conference rivals and new found rivals that want what we have already built. We must take pride in maintaining our past traditions and successes and now find the right dynamic of a team to take us to a higher level of play.
