Richmond Spiders Annual Report - 2021-22
2021-22: Return To Normal
8/4/2022
The 2021-22 academic year saw sports return to normal as Spider Athletics collectively navigated its way through the COVID-19 pandemic. All 17 sports participated in their regular playing season and competed for conference championships. Fans were back in full force supporting our Spiders in-person all season long. Our Spiders excelled on and off the field once again!
The Spider Athletics season was highlighted by a pair of conference championships from men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse, some great runner-up performances by women’s indoor track and field, baseball and women’s golf and many outstanding individual performances, including the Atlantic 10 Conference individual champion in men’s cross country – Peter Borger.
Men’s basketball swept the Spider faithful off their feet in March with a magical run in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. The Spiders defeated four rivals in four days in Washington, D.C., winning the seventh conference championship in program history in one of the most exciting weeks in recent history. Head coach Chris Mooney and the Spiders inspired our campus with their run in D.C. and beyond.
For more than 35 years, the Richmond men's basketball program has earned a reputation as "the Giant Killers," a small school that has knocked off a string of the sport's most high-profile programs in the NCAA Tournament. Once again, the Spiders showed that -- though small in size -- Richmond won't shrink from any opponent on the game's biggest stage. The Spiders upset Iowa, the Big Ten champion and heavy favorite, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Spiders made everyone proud and were led by a six-member super senior class who decided to postpone starting their professional careers to return to Richmond for one additional year of COVID eligibility. It was a storybook ending to some of the most illustrious careers in Spider men’s basketball history.
Men’s lacrosse picked up its third Southern Conference Tournament title and fourth NCAA appearance in the short eight-year history of the program. The Spiders went on the road and knocked off host and rival High Point in the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament before defeating nationally-ranked Jacksonville in the championship game. Head coach Dan Chemotti and the Spiders are the only program in the country that has played in their league championship game every year since 2014.
Richmond, making is third NCAA appearance in the past four full seasons, travelled to third-seeded Penn, pushing the Quakers to the limit before falling 11-10 in overtime. The Spiders finished the year ranked No. 14 in the country after the run into the NCAA Tournament. Richmond takes momentum from another championship run with it to a new home in 2023 as the Atlantic 10 will sponsor men’s lacrosse for the first time in league history. The Spiders will compete against High Point, Hobart, Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure and Massachusetts.
The Spiders continued to excel by competing for championships athletically and reaching high academic achievement in the classroom. This year’s average team GPA was a 3.37, the best academic year during a full-competitive period. Among roughly 400 student-athletes, their average GPA was a 3.29, one of the highest marks in program history.
Individually, 75-percent of the student-athletes earned a 3.00 or better this year. Also, over 76-percent of all student-athletes now boast a cumulative GPA of a 3.00 or better during their careers – a job well done!
Taylor Coleman of soccer/track and field and Brenden Argomaniz of baseball were awarded the Presidential Citation as the seniors with the top academic achievements. Additionally, Rachel Helbling of women’s track and field was nominated as the NCAA Woman of the Year as the representative for the Spiders.
Women’s lacrosse, under the direction of head coach Anne Harrington, posted a 14-4 overall record and an 8-1 mark in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Harrington led the Spiders to a second place finish in the league and had the interim tag removed after the successful season. The Spiders were a perfect 9-0 at home at Robins Stadium, including a victory over nationally-ranked Stanford. Brittney Wright was named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season while Sophia DiCenso was named A-10 Midfielder of the Year.
Baseball made a great run to the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship’s final day, winning four-straight elimination games along the way. The Spiders’ run in the tournament elevated them to a 30-win total for the second time under head coach Tracy Woodson and the first time since 2018. Five Spiders were named to the All-Conference team during the year with Dominic Toso being named First Team All-Conference. Alden Mathes was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 19th round of the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft.
Women’s track and field had a great indoor season, battling down to the wire at the Atlantic 10 Championships, finishing as runner-up despite not competing in every field event. The Spiders posted 121 points in the championships, making 12 podium visits with six gold, three silver and three bronze. Rachel Helbling, Brooke Fazio and Kayla Woods all won individual titles, while Richmond swept three relay races.
The Spiders finished fourth overall in the A-10 Outdoor championships, posting seven podium visits on the weekend. Fazio and Helbling again highlighted the wins, coming home with the 800-meter and 400-meter titles, respectively.
Peter Borger became the first Spider men’s cross country student-athlete to win the Atlantic 10 Conference individual title since 2010. The title is just the third overall individual title for the Spiders in A-10 history and helped cross country post a fifth place overall finish. Stuart Terrill finished in third place overall, earning his second career All-A-10 honor.
Women’s basketball posted a 16-14 overall record, including an 8-5 record on the road in head coach Aaron Roussell’s third season leading the program. The Spiders season was highlighted by a win on the road over rival VCU in the regular season finale. Addie Budnik was named Second Team All-Conference while Emma Squires was named Atlantic 10 Sixth Woman of the Year.
Swimming & diving placed third overall at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, posting 487 total points as defending champions. The Spiders brought home eight medals at the event, including a pair of gold medals in the 200-medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay. Additionally, Claire O’Shaughnessy and Lauren Medlin took home individual silver medals in the 200 fly and 100 free races.
Women’s golf, under the direction of third-year head coach Calle Barlow, finished second overall at the Patriot League Championships. The Spiders fell just one single shot out of the lead, posting their best finish at the championships since winning it in 2018. Sophomore Rory Weinfurther led the way with a second-place finish while junior Vicky Zhu was third overall.
Men’s tennis finished the season with an 11-11 overall record and an appearance in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament quarterfinals. Senior John Walsh was named to the A-10 All-Conference First Team, marking the second-straight season he has earned the accolade.
Soccer posted a 7-10-1 overall record and 5-5 mark in league play. The Spiders made their first appearance in the Atlantic 10 Tournament since 2014 and the five regular season conference wins were the most for the program since 2011. Head coach Marty Beall led the Spiders to a decisive 6-1-1 mark at home at President’s Field in his fourth year at the helm.
Women’s cross country placed fourth overall at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. Elizabeth Stockman was named All-Conference, placing eighth overall in the field for her first all-league honor of her career.
Men’s golf finished fourth overall at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships in Florida. Freshman Cole Ekert was named to the A-10 All-Conference team, marking the first Spider freshman to earn All-League honors since 2015.
Women’s tennis posted an 8-11 regular season and won its first round matchup in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. Long-time head coach Mark Wesselink announced his retirement at the end of the season, capping off a 33-year run at the top of the program. Houston Barrick was elevated to Director of Tennis and will oversee both the men’s and women’s programs.
Field hockey advanced to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament for the 20th-consecutive season last year as the fourth seed. The Spiders, under the direction of head coach Jamie Montgomery, knocked off nationally-ranked Massachusetts during the regular season. Lindsey Frank and Steffie Bongers were named First Team All-A-10 while Olivia Frazier earned Second Team accolades.
The new, state-of-the-art full LED videoboard was installed in Robins Stadium last fall. The new LED video board replaced the original video board at Robins Stadium that was installed upon opening in 2010. The new board encompasses video throughout the entire board, measuring 60 feet wide and almost 28 feet tall and overlapping on the current video board footprint.
Additionally, this summer it was announced the sound system at Robins Stadium will be replaced. The system will be a massive upgrade on the previous system and will be installed prior to the first home football game in September.
Improvements at Pitt Field began in the spring of 2022 creating a new fan plaza beyond the right field fence as well as a new indoor practice facility down the left field foul line. These facility improvements will give our team a venue to practice in regardless of the season and offer a variety of new seating options for Spider spectators who come to see them play next spring.
The Spiders Performance and Development Program launched this past year under the direction of Lauren Wicklund. The SPD is a comprehensive program that ensures the Spider student-athlete experience is second to none. It is a performance optimization and student-athlete development model that integrates student-athlete leadership and development, academic services, strength and conditioning and performance, career and alumni engagement, diversity and inclusion, sport science and analytics, mental health and well-being, and sports medicine to build CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE.
Despite the pandemic, the Spider Leadership Initiative continued to provide programming that enhanced the student-athlete experience. Spider Athletics announced the launch of the brand new Richmond Spider Development Program, which utilizes a values-based and holistic approach to integrate strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition, academics, mental health, data analytics/sports science, leadership development and several other University resources.
The Spider Leadership Immersion took the Rising Leaders group from various teams and utilized the rich history of downtown Richmond to create connection, discussion and practical application.
The Spider Sports Performance and Analytics group integrated the use of Polar technology within Spider Athletics. Polar combines high-precision GPS-derived movement data, inertial sensor metrics and integrated heart rate monitoring into a mobile and easy-to use wearable player tracking system. In the process, we developed a partnership with the Robins School of Business to evaluate data.
This year we held another successful #URHere Giving Day. Spider alumni, fans and families came together to raise over $682,000, eclipsing last year’s total, to support all 400+ Spider student-athletes. The total funds raised represent an increase of nearly $160,000 from the then-record $523,257 contributed during Giving Day in 2021.
Athletics accounted for more than 40 percent of all contributions to the University during Giving Day and nearly half of all donors, with 49.5 percent of the more than 3,000 individual donors contributing to Athletics. The 1,487 individual donors to Richmond Athletics represented a 46 percent increase in the number of individual donors from Giving Day 2021.
This past year was a year of continued success on and off the field. Our Spider student-athletes represented our University with pride and honor. We are privileged to cheer on so many great student-athletes and are excited to see what the future holds. We look forward to another great year in Spider Athletics in 2022-23.
Thank you for all of your support of Richmond Athletics. Without our fans’ support, we could not have such positive momentum moving forward. Please continue to support our amazing student-athletes who are honored to represent the University of Richmond!
