Richmond Tops No. 19 Penn State in Season Opener

Saturday, February 8

University Park, Pa. / Holuba Hall

1:00 PM

University of Richmond

Penn State

Richmond beats PSU for the first time in program history

02/08/2025 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The University of Richmond women's lacrosse team pushed past No. 19 Penn State, 12-10, in the season opener this afternoon. The Spiders' seven-goal surge in the third quarter gave Richmond the edge to earn the win over the Nittany Lions for the first time in program history.

"We were really excited for this matchup today," said head coach Anne Harrington.

"Penn State came out of the gates ready to go. They played hard the whole game and forced us to step up our level of play. I was really proud of the way we continued to adapt throughout the game and stayed focused on what we could control."

"After halftime, we really started to settle in and have some fun. We cleaned up our play, picked up our hustle and showed composure through the final minutes. This was a great team win to kick off our season. Every person on this team was part of the effort to bring home Richmond's first-ever win against Penn State."

With the win, Richmond starts the year 1-0. Meanwhile, Penn State falls to 0-1. The last time Richmond beat a nationally ranked opponent was in March 2023, when the Spiders defeated Virginia, 16-15, in overtime.

Senior Colleen Quinn led the Spiders with seven points on four goals and three assists. Junior Juliana Stanley earned a hat trick, and senior Grace Muldoon netted two goals and grabbed two assists. Graduate student Whitney Liebler and juniors Alexis Morton and Charlotte Edwards all put one past the keeper.

Goalkeeper Abby Francioli collected 11 saves in 60 minutes of play.

The Nittany Lions were first to attack, scoring the first three goals of the game, 3-0. With 19 seconds left in the first quarter, freshman Keating Hopkins found Stanley to score the first Spider goal, 3-1.

At the start of the second quarter, senior Caroline Murphy cleared the ball to Stanley, who scored her second goal of the game, 3-2. Penn State capitalized on its free-position shot and extended its lead by two, 4-2. Then, Muldoon netted back-to-back goals to tie the game, 4-4. The Nittany Lions closed out the first half with three straight goals to take the lead going into halftime, 7-4.

The Spiders had an electrifying start to the second half to take the lead. Less than five minutes into the third quarter, Muldoon passed to Quinn, who ripped a shot to the top left of the cage to score her first goal of the game, 7-5. With a cut across the eight, redshirt sophomore Emma Kroneberger sent a laser pass to Stanley, scoring a hat trick, 7-6. Tying the game, Quinn fed Morton the ball to score her first goal of the game, 7-7. Rewarded with a free-position shot, Quinn put one past the keeper to take the Spiders' first lead of the day, 8-7. With less than five minutes to go in the third quarter, Quinn scored a hat trick, extending the lead by two, 9-7. Wide open in the eight, Morton passed the ball to Liebler to score her first goal of the game, 10-7. Closing the third quarter, Quinn passed over the double team to find Edwards, who scored her first goal of the day, 11-7.

In the final frame, Richmond was first to score. With an assist by Muldoon, Quinn scored her fourth goal of the game, 12-7. Even though Penn State was able to score three goals, the Spiders sealed their 12-10 victory.

Richmond returns to play on Feb. 15 for its home opener against Queens at 1 p.m.