University of Richmond
5-3
William & Mary
3-8
Second-Half Surge Sends Spiders Past Tribe, 12-8
03/25/2017 | Women's Lacrosse
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – What started out as a defensive battle turned into a scoring spree.
The University of Richmond women's lacrosse team and host William & Mary Tribe traded goals for the majority of the game, but the Spiders used a late surge in the second half to take a 12-8 win over the Tribe on Saturday afternoon in Williamsburg.
“I was really impressed with how the team responded in the second half,” head coach Allison Kwolek said after the game. “We made solid adjustments on the draw, and our defense kept coming up with stops. Offense played composed and took high-percentage shots. It was a good finish to out of conference play.”
The Spiders took an early lead when Marissa Brown scored her 11th goal of the season, beating her defender and the goalie to make the score 1-0 in the second minute of play.
Both defenses took control after that, with neither team scoring for the next 12 minutes. Spider goalie Megan Gianforte saved two-straight free-position shots to keep the Tribe scoreless.
William & Mary then evened the contest at 1-1 at the 16:19 mark, before taking the lead less than a minute later.
Brown wouldn't let the Spiders trail for long, as she received a pass from Katie Sciandra and buried her second goal of the day to tie the game at 2-2. Natalia Chaney then gave the Spiders the lead with her 21st goal of the season on a free-position shot.
William & Mary struck back with three-straight goals in the next four minutes of the half to take a 5-3 lead.
Once again, Brown reeled the Spiders back in, scoring her second unassisted goal of the day to log her second hat trick of the season and make the score 5-4 in favor of the Tribe heading into the break.
William & Mary didn't waste time in the second half, scoring less than two minutes in to take a 6-4 lead, but Chaney responded when she scored off of a quick pass from Sam Geiersbach right in front of the goal to make it a one-goal game with 26:31 to play.
The Tribe took a 7-5 lead after a seven-minutes scoring drought for both teams, but Chaney scored twice in 32 seconds on assists from Geiersbach and Kim Egizi to tie the game at 7-7.
Aly Fries then found Melissa Teel in front of the goal 27 second later, who scored to give Richmond an 8-7 lead with 15:22 left to play.
The Tribe would not back down, and scored on a scramble in front of the goal to tie the game again at 8-8.
After five scoreless minutes, Chaney scored her career-high-tying fifth goal of the game on a free-position shot to give Richmond a one-goal lead with 10 minutes to play. Brown then scored her fourth and career-high-tying fifth goals to give the Spiders an 11-8 lead with 4:44 to play.
Fries kept the Spider run going, scoring with the William & Mary goalie out of the net with just over two minutes left in the game to seal the 12-8 Spider win.
After trailing 9-1 in draw controls at the half, the Spiders rebounded, out-drawing the Tribe 7-5 in the second period with five wins by Caroline Queally. Gianforte finished with 15 saves in goal for the Spiders.
The Spiders return to action next Friday, March 31, when they host Duquesne to open Atlantic 10 play. First draw is set for 4 p.m. at Robins Stadium.
