Spiders In The Off-Season
06/11/2008 | Women's Lacrosse
June 11, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Three Richmond women's lacrosse players continue to play this summer amongst the nation's top players. Rising seniors, Allison Furstenburg and Mandy Friend have made the second round of the U.S. National Team tryouts while 2008 graduate Claire Cunniff has been selected to play in the IWLCA/Under Armour North-South Senior All-Star game.
Furstenburg and Friend are two of the 83 that were chosen to make a second appearance at U.S. tryouts. 220 players fought to move on over Memorial Day weekend at the U.S. Lacrosse Women's Division National Tournament at St. Paul's School in Baltimore, Md.
Both Furstenburg and Friend had outstanding 2008 seasons for the Spiders. Furstenburg, an attacker out of Whitehouse Station, N.J. led Richmond with 54 goals while Friend contributed 53. The juniors also set new heights for the Spiders' program with Friend smashing her previous single-season record of 77 points set in 2007 by reaching the 89 point mark in 2008. Furstenburg now sits in second-place in the Richmond record book with 82 points this past season.
The two Spiders will battle players from around the country at the second round of tryouts August 1-3 at the University of Maryland. Players are fighting for spots on the U.S. Developmental and Elite teams. The Elite squad will compete at the 2009 World Cup held in Prague, Czech Republic.
Recent graduate and future medical school student Claire Cunniff is also continuing play this summer. Cunniff, who is attending University of Maryland Medical School this fall, was chosen to compete in the IWLCA/Under Armour North-South Senior All-Star Game Saturday June 14 at the United Sports Training Center in Downingtown, Pa.
Cunniff the former attacker out of Catonsville, Md. will compete on the South squad who will take on the best seniors from the North. Representing the Atlantic 10, George Washington's Caitlin Garman will play with Cunniff for the South while Temple's Hillary Richards, Nicole Caniglia and Berkley Summerlin will compete for the Nort