Women's Lacrosse Finishes Season With Road Pair
04/23/2015 | Women's Lacrosse
Richmond women's lacrosse finishes the 2015 regular season on the road trying to lock up a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championships. The Spiders will face top team Massachusetts Friday at 4 p.m. before heading to La Salle for the regular-season finale Sunday at 11 a.m. If Richmond secures one win in the final two games, it guarantees a spot in the Championships, to be held at George Washington the next weekend.
The Spiders are 8-7 overall, 5-1 in league games to this point. The Spiders can still take the league's top seed and a share of the regular-season crown with a road sweep, but could also clinch without a win, and potentially be eliminated with two losses.
Richmond got an important home win Sunday against Duquesne to keep it in second place in the league standings. Senior Emily Doyle (Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey) and junior Charlett Stevenson (Darien, Connecticut) scored three goals each in the 10-9 win, while Doyle and freshman Kim Egizi (Westwood, Massachusetts) assisted on two goals each. Doyle is second in the league in assists per game (1.67) and total assists (25), while also second in points per game (3.47) and total points (52). Doyle leads the Spiders with 27 goals and 26 assists and is the school's all-time career assists leader, with 98. Egizi is second on the squad in points, with 31. The first-year midfielder has 18 goals to go with 13 assists and is a strong Rookie of the Year candidate in the league. Richmond has six players with 12 or more goals.
Richmond enters play this weekend third in the league as a team in draws won and fewest turnovers, making Richmond one of the better possession teams in the league. Senior Bailey Zerr (Denver, Colorado) is second as an individual in winning the draw, with 3.93 per game this year.
Massachusetts is undefeated in conference and has not lost a regular-season A-10 game since the final game of the 2010 season, against La Salle. The Spiders have an 8-6 edge in the all-time series with the Minutewomen. UMass has won the last six A-10 titles. UM is 14-1 overall, 6-0 in league games. They have outscored opponents 187-80 this season and lead the A-10 in goals-against average (5.33) and goals per game (12.47). UMass has three student-athletes with 26 or more goals scored this season, led by Hannah Murphy's 35 goals this season. Goalie Rachel Vallarelli has allowed 65 goals in over 800 minutes of cage time this season, allowing fewer than five goals per 60 minutes played this year. UMass will capture the regular-season crown with a win Friday against the Spiders.
La Salle sits at 7-7 overall, 3-3 in the league standings. The Explorers can get into the A-10 Tournament with wins over Saint Joseph's Friday and Richmond Sunday depending on the outcomes of other league games this weekend. Richmond has not lost to the Explorers in 10 previous meetings. The Explorers are averaging one more goal than their opponents in the regular season and are second in the league in scoring (11.07 goals per game), third in ground balls and goals-against average (9.93). They also have three team members with 26 or more goals, led by Katelyn Fay and her 35 goals this season. Goalie Gabby Antonelli, who earned All-Atlantic 10 honors last year as a freshman, has made 113 saves and has a goals-against average of under 10 (9.69) in 2015.
The four-team Atlantic 10 Conference Championships will begin Friday in the nation's capital with a pair of semifinals ahead of the Championship game, which will be Sunday afternoon.
