Greetings Spiders!
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Here on campus, both leaves and temperatures are falling, but we're drawing comfort from our red-hot Richmond football team!
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Football, Field Hockey Have Spiders Off to a Great Start
After knocking off previously unbeaten Delaware last week, Spider football has won five straight games and is perched atop the CAA at 3-0 in the conference (5-2 overall). With several major contributors sidelined by injury, younger Spiders have stepped into starting roles and excelled, showcasing the type of resilience Richmond strives to instill in its student-athletes. With five regular season games remaining, UR is seeking to reach the NCAA Playoffs for a third straight season and has a chance to win back-to-back conference championships for the first time in more than 50 years!
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Spider field hockey, under first-year head coach Martu Loncarica, is already making postseason plans as Richmond has secured a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship, its first since 2021. At 10-5, the Spiders have already won their most games in a season since 2019 and still have three contests left on their regular season schedule.
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Making an Impact on Campus and Elsewhere
Members of all 17 of our varsity teams were involved in Richmond Athletics' efforts to draw attention to a pair of causes dear to Spiders across campus earlier this month. During Student-Athlete Mental Health Week, field hockey, soccer, and football held Mental Health Awareness games to spread the word to their peers and others about the need to have frequent and forthright conversations about mental well-being. Several Spiders went a step further, starring in a video with a simple message that is all-too-often forgotten: It's OK to not be OK.
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Spiders also know that our democracy works better when more people get involved. During National Voter Education Week, student-athletes, coaches, and staff worked to spread the word about how to register, get informed, and vote in upcoming federal, state, and local elections. From tabling at Athletics events to producing videos highlighting voter information resources to joining more than 2,000 student-athletes across the nation for a voting rights webinar, Spiders spent their time making sure their fellow citizens are ready to exercise their right to vote in November.
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Richmond's student-athletes are also exploring their right to participate in the free market and realizing the value of their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). As Spider Athletics navigates the uncertainty resulting from recent changes to the college sports landscape, we've been guided by a desire to find ways to allow our student-athletes to safely and securely participate in the emerging marketplace surrounding NIL rights. That desire is behind our new partnership with Athlete's Thread, which allows Richmond fans to purchase the official merchandise of their favorite Spider student-athlete for the first time. More than 130 student-athletes have already signed up and have their own merchandise now available. See if your favorite Spider is one of them!
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Basketball Banner Drops
Spiders everywhere are eagerly anticipating the return of Richmond basketball, which will start the season next month with both the men's and women's teams defending conference titles for the first time in more than 30 years. The early-season highlight on both team's schedules comes on November 9, a Robins Center doubleheader where each team will reveal its conference championship banner in a pregame ceremony. The women's team will host Morgan State at 1 PM, and the men's team will take on Marist at 6 PM. The support of our Spider faithful played a big part in both teams' championship campaigns last year (when UR won 29 out of a possible 30 home games), and we hope to see you early and often in the Robins Center this season.
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Spider Day, Homecoming, and Hall of Fame
But before basketball comes Homecoming. From November 1-3, we'll welcome Spiders from every station back to campus for this great UR tradition. For those arriving early, Heilman Dining Center will host a Spider Day Lunch on November 1 complete with giveaways, raffle prizes, and a live radio broadcast. On Friday night, the Alumni Party Under the Lights, open to all Spiders, will feature food, live music, and a cash bar steps outside the Queally Athletics Center. Saturday starts with the official Richmond Athletics Homecoming Tailgate, which will feature a beer garden, food trucks, and live music from the 502s beginning at 12:30 PM. When the music stops, head through the gates to see Spider football take on Towson in Robins Stadium.
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During halftime, we'll honor the newest members of the Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame, who will be formally enshrined in a ceremony on Friday evening. Membership in the Hall of Fame is our highest honor, and I'm delighted to welcome a pair of teams and four Spiders to their rightful spots among Richmond's all-time greats! Congratulations to the 2010 men's and women's cross country teams, our teams of distinction, and our newest Hall-of-Famers: Abby Oliver '12 from women's basketball, Meghan Ogilvie '05 from women's soccer, Rodney Elam '76 from football, and T.J. Cline '17 from men's basketball. I know I speak for Spiders everywhere when I say we can't wait to have you back at Richmond.
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Even as we celebrate a class of legendary Spiders, we're making plans to support the next generation of Spider greats. We recently set the date of our seventh annual UR Here Giving Day for April 9-10. Last year, we raised over $1 million to support our student-athletes with everything from nutrition, to travel, to state-of-the-art equipment, and more. Richmond Athletics is committed to furnishing our student-athletes with every possible advantage in the classroom, on the field of competition, and beyond. Thank you for being a part of providing an unparalleled student-athlete experience for our Spiders!
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Take care, be well, and…. Go Spiders!
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