University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Massachusetts
Spiders Play To Tie At Massachusetts Sunday
10/04/2015 | Women's Soccer
AMHERST, MASS. -- Richmond women's soccer got two second-half road goals, but so did Massachusetts, and the two teams finished in a 2-2 in an Atlantic 10 Conference tie Sunday at Rudd Field. The overtime contest was the first of the season for Richmond, but UM needed two overtimes to win Thursday at La Salle.
Richmond is now 3-6-1 overall and unbeaten in the A-10 at 1-0-1. UMass is now 4-3-3, also 1-0-1 in the league.
After a scoreless first half, which saw Richmond outshoot the Minutewomen 8-6, the Spiders found a way to 11 shots in the second 45 minutes.
The Minutewomen got on the board first off a corner kick in the 63rd minute, when Jackie Bruno sent in the corner to the head of Danielle Farano from in front of the goal for the 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, Richmond leveled the game when tri-captain Ashley Riefner (Mechanicsville, Virginia / Atlee HS) found sophomore Lexi Prillaman (Magnolia, Delaware) for a 10-yard shot from the left for her team-leading third goal of the season. The assist was Riefner's team-leading fifth of the season.
With the game seeming to head to overtime tied at one, freshman Keaira Clark (Potomac, Maryland) was able to score after a scramble following a corner kick for the Spiders. Her go-ahead goal came with just under five minutes to go in regulation.
“The ball was bouncing around at the top of the 18,” said Clark after the game. “Bailey (Cristian) laid it off to me and I saw an opening in the upper right hand part of the goal.”
But UMass played all out in the final minutes, with the aggression paying off to the tune of three corner kicks in the final three minutes, resulting in a second goal off a header, this time from Rebekka Sverrisdottir with just three seconds away from a Spider victory.
“Failure to cover the corner kicks was our own undoing,” said Richmond head coach Peter Albright.
“While giving up a goal with three seconds left was very disappointing, I thought we played extremely well. We got over 20 shots in the game for the first time this season and we were attacking purposefully.”
The Spiders outshot UMass 2-1 in both overtime periods, but both teams picked up one point in the standings with the tying result.
“We had some tired legs,” added Clark. “But we have a mentally-focused team and we are able to win the moment, as our coaches teach us.”
“I thought Dana (Bernetich), Keira and Lexi played extremely well,” added Albright. “Aside of those corners, we didn't give up a lot of good chances.”
Richmond sophomore goalkeeper Katie Brennan (Fairfield, Connecticut) collected two saves, while UM keeper Cassidy Babin was credited with seven saves. Brennan is now 2-4-1 on the season, while Babin is 4-2-3.
Richmond had a season-high 23 shots, with career-high totals of nine from Prillaman and four from Clark in the game.
The Spiders will play their second and third road games in a row this week, with a trip to Saint Louis scheduled for Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern and finishing with a 2 p.m. game at Rhode Island on Sunday.
NOTES: The Spiders played four overtime games and finished with two ties last season, both in conference games… This was Richmond's first overtime game of the 2015.
