Richmond Opens 2015 Season With Thrilling 2-1 OT Victory

Friday, August 28

Crenshaw Field (Richmond, Va.)

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

(1-0)

American

(0-1)

OT 2

AMERICAN

RICHMOND

Richmond Opens 2015 Season With Thrilling 2-1 OT Victory

08/28/2015 | Field Hockey

Box Score

By: Richmond Athletics

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond Spiders fell behind American early in the second half on Friday night's season-opener but scored an equalizer late and game-winner in overtime to come away with an exciting 2-1 victory.

Newcomer Laetitia Commeyne scored the first goal of her Spider career in the 60th minute to tie the game and sophomore Megan Miller buried the game-winner just over eight minutes into the first overtime period off of a penalty corner. Goalkeeper Amanda Hoyt made her first start in the cage and made four saves including a brilliant stop on a stroke with the score tied that may have saved the game.

“The season opener with American is always a thriller,” head coach Gina Lucido said. “They're one of the teams on our schedule that I think most tests every part of our team. You have to be physically able to compete with them but then you mentally have to be able to go with the highs and lows of the game. It was just an awesome contest. I was really proud of the team today because in the first game they were able to ride the highs and the lows and come out and finish the job and that's so important to do in the first game of your season.”

The Spiders spent most of the first half on the offensive side of the field, outshooting the Eagles 9-1, but were unable to convert on any of their scoring chances. The best chance of the first half came in the 27th minute when Avery Safford served a corner to Allison Haas who killed the ball and passed it on to Thalia Williamson who re-directed the ball back to Safford for a shot that soared just wide of the right post.

American managed just one shot in the first half and it would come off the stick of Natalie Marsh. Hoyt made the save on the play to keep the game scoreless. Kimberly Sportack led the Spiders with four shots, three of which were on goal. Amy Cooke contributed two shots.

In the second half it was American this time who came out of the gates aggressively and put constant pressure on the Spiders in their own zone. It did not take long for the Eagles to light up the scoreboard. A loose ball found its way into the middle of the scoring area and with sticks flailing everywhere; Leah DiGiadomenico steadied the ball and slid her shot past the diving Hoyt for the score.

The Spiders gathered some momentum following the goal and began to pressure the American side once again. The AU goalkeeper Kate McBeath was great most of the afternoon, making seven saves but in the 60th minute, Jessica Bishop made a run deep into the offensive zone and found Commeyne in the circle who corralled a pass from Bishop, spun and fired the game-tying shot home.

Neither team would generate any alarming chances down the stretch, which carried this one into overtime. For this period the teams would be forced to go seven-on-seven and it took just eight minutes for Richmond to generate a penalty corner. Safford set up the service and fired to Cooke at the top of the circle who took two steps and fired a pass to Miller who sent in the game-winning score.

The Spiders will take Saturday off and welcome Drexel on Sunday at Noon in hopes of securing head coach Gina Lucido's 100th victory. The match will also be a “Teal Game” in an effort to raise awareness for ovarian cancer month. Fans are encouraged to wear teal to the game to support the cause.

DREXEL
The Dragons were 10-8 in 2014 but managed just a 2-4 mark in the CAA leaving them out of the postseason. They would however knock off Delaware in overtime in the final game of the year to secure their eighth-straight winning season.

FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can keep track of Spider hockey all season long by following @SpiderHockey on Twitter or by checking in at RichmondSpiders.com for constant news and statistics.