University of Richmond Athletics
UR Vs. VCU In An A-10 Quarterfinal Thursday
11/03/2014 | Women's Soccer
Richmond women's soccer returns to the Atlantic 10 Women's Soccer Championships after a 9-7-2 regular season and 3-3-2 conference mark. The Spiders earned the seven seed in the Championships and will be matched up against two-seed VCU in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, with the kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio at Baujan Field.
The Spiders are looking for their seventh 10-win season as an Atlantic 10 team. It would be the 11th season with 10 or more wins under head coach Peter Albright, the only coach in the 19-year history of the program.
The field was expanded from six to eight teams in 2012, creating a four-game quarterfinals day one to start the weekend.
Richmond is 7-5 in the Championships as a 14-year member of the A-10, winning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the tournament in 2002, when it was hosted by Dayton. This is the first time Richmond and VCU are meeting after the regular season in women's soccer, despite spending five years in the same conference (CAA) from 1996-2000 and this new three-year stint together in the A-10.
The two teams met earlier this season on October 17 at Sports Backers Stadium and played to a scoreless tie, one of two for both the Spiders and Rams in conference play this season. The Rams finished in second place with a mark of 5-1-2 in the league, 9-4-5 overall. VCU led the A-10 in tie results in the regular season.
Richmond posted a 1-4-1 mark against teams in the tournament field, which included a 2-1 non-conference loss to A-10 opponent Saint Joseph's before league play began. VCU was 2-1-2 against the teams in the tournament field, losing to La Salle and tying both Richmond and Dayton.
Richmond led the league in points and assists, finishing second in goals scored. VCU was seventh in goal scoring this season, but finished third in fewest goals allowed this year.
UR was one of two teams (Dayton the other) to put two players in the top six in point scoring in the league. Redshirt freshman Meaghan Carrigan (Greenville, South Carolina) was second in goals (14) and points (32) while junior teammate Ashley Riefner (Mechanicsville, Virginia / Atlee HS) was fifth in goals (9), fourth in assists (8) and sixth in points (26) for the season. Carrigan's goal total is one away from tying for the second most in Richmond single-season history and Riefner was one of only two players in the A-10 with at least eight goals and assists. Junior Shannon Colligan (Greenwich, Connecticut) finished second in the conference with 12 assists, one shy of tying the school record.
VCU did not put a player into the league's top 10 in points or assists, but Maren Johansen tallied eight goals to tie for sixth-most in the league this season.
VCU has won this season on defense and goalkeeping. Keeper Emma Kruse is fifth in the conference with a 1.05 goals-against average, but leads the league with 10 shutouts. She and her teammates shut out six of the eight A-10 opponents they played this season.
Richmond keeper Katie Brennan (Fairfield, Connecticut) posted four shutouts, all coming against A-10 opponents. She and the defense put together three-straight shutouts and a scoreless run of 336:06 over the course of five contests. Brennan was second only to Kruse in shutouts per game played.
The winner of the Richmond-VCU contest will face off on Friday night at 7:30 against the winner of Dayton-Saint Joseph's, which takes place after UR-VCU on Thursday. The Championship game is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. The entire A-10 Tournament will be streamed for free online through the Atlantic 10 Digital Network.
