University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Duke
Duke's Attack Too Much For The Spiders
02/22/2008 | Women's Lacrosse
Feb. 22, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond's Lexie Marrocco scored two goals as the Spiders fell to third-ranked Duke, 17-6. Junior Mandy Friend added one goal and two assists for No. 18 Richmond. Richmond's goalkeeper, Erica Marrocco stopped 11 of Duke's shots in the first half and six in the second for a total of 16 saves. Duke's Kim Imbesi stopped just six of Richmond's shots.
The Spiders finished the first half of play with just two shots while Duke shot the ball 26 times in the first thirty minutes of play.
"Our defense did some good things," head coach Sue Murphy said. "We were fortunate to come out of the first half 8-2 allowing them that many shots with that much possession time."
The Spiders dominated the first minutes of the second half, putting in two straight goals. Junior Lexie Marrocco started off scoring in the second half with a goal off a free-position shot just over a minute into play.
Thirty seconds later, senior Mandy Friend. Friend found Kennedy, cutting through the eight-meter for a catch-turn shot and goal.
"We were able to make some changes to the draw control in the second half to allow us some more possession time," Murphy commented. "So I'm proud of the adjustment the girls made."
No. 18 Richmond did not give up in the end, the Spiders put in two last goals in the last three minutes of play. Mandy Friend scored Richmond's fifth goal, unassisted with just 2:56 left on the clock. With less than a minute remaining, senior Claire Cunniff capitalized on a free-position goal to give the Spiders' their final goal of the game.
"I give credit to them," said Murphy. "Their transition game was well executed. I thought our attack just didn't take advantage of what they were given."
Next up for the Spiders, hosts Oregon this Sunday, February 24 for a 12 p.m. ET start time.
