University of Richmond
No. 14 American
Field Hockey Takes Down No. 14 Ranked American
09/26/2008 | Field Hockey
Sept. 26, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Junior Sarah Blythe-Wood and sophomore Hannah Hess scored goals, while senior Alex Malatesta had two assists in the Richmond field hockey team's 2-1 victory over No. 14 ranked American on Friday.
The Spiders improved to 3-5 after picking up their first win against a ranked opponent this season. Three of Richmond's five losses are to ranked teams.
"This team came to compete today," Richmond head coach Gina Lucido said. "More importantly, we played through the tense moments of the game and found a way as a team to win against a strong opponent."
American took a 1-0 lead 11:45 into the game when Savannah Graybill scored an unassisted goal. The score remained 1-0 through the first half, but coming out of the intermission, the Spiders quickly put a pair of goals on the board, taking a 2-1 lead just 3:34 into the second half.
Just 2:06 after the half the Hess scored her first-career goal on assists from junior Jess Weidner and Malatesta. Just 1:28 later the Spiders were awarded a penalty corner and sophomore Dani Pycroft passed to Malatesta, who set up Blythe-Wood for her second goal of the season and the ninth of her career. It was also the second game-winning goal of Blythe-Wood's career.
The two assists for Malatesta give her a team-high 12 points on the season and 48 for her career, which has her just five points out of Richmond's all-time top-10. Malatesta was already one goal back from entering the school's career-goal top-10. Weidner's assist puts her all alone in 10th on the career list for assists with 18.
Senior goalkeeper Becca Weaver made two saves in net for Richmond.
"The team fought relentlessly and the contributions from reserves were outstanding," Lucido said. "It feels amazing to see this team start to believe what they can accomplish as a unit. This confidence will be a great boost for our Sunday match against the renowned Maryland Terrapins."
The Spiders play at No. 3 ranked Maryland on Sunday at 2 p.m.
