University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Listed Among Favorites In A-10 Preseason Coaches' Polls
Aug. 23, 2005
Complete Atlantic 10 Release including full poll results PDF Format
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Three Richmond Spider fall sports were picked to finish among the Top-3 in the Atlantic 10 as voted on by league coaches in the conference preseason polls. League officials announced the poll results Tuesday, which include the Spider field hockey squad picked to win the league for a unprecedented four consecutive season.
Head coach Ange Bradley's field hockey team has garnered the A-10 crown each of the last three seasons and has been to the NCAA Championships in those three seasons as well. Leading the 2005 squad is a host of returning seniors including All-American Allie Howard. The midfielder from Lancaster, Pa., ranks fifth on the all-time points list at Richmond with 71 in here three-year career. She is also just seven assists away from taking the top spot on the all-time assists list. Current Richmond assistant, Jill Murphy currently holds the all-time mark with 31.
Peter Albright's women's soccer squad was selected to notch a third-place finish in the league race. The 2005 version will be much younger than in years past, but will return five starters from last year's squad which ended the season in third. The bulk of returners will roam the back for Albright, senior co-captain Hillary Prince will anchor a defense which posted nine shutouts in 2004. Senior co-captain Kelly Kolker is a big reason why the Spiders are picked to finish third. As the Spiders' keeper in 2004, she shutout five opponents and ended the season with a goals-against average of 0.96.
The women's cross country team, which returns all seven runners who competed at the 2004 Atlantic 10 Championship, is picked to finish as the conference runner-up for the second-consecutive year. La Salle is picked to win its second-straight title, but the Spiders will be looking to win their second championship in the last three years. Junior Amanda Russell returns after finishing third at the Atlantic 10 Championships last year. The Spiders also return All-Atlantic 10 runners Kate Merrill and Nicole Kurtain, who finished seventh and eighth at the 2004 conference championships.
The men's cross country team is predicted to finish fifth out of 14 teams at the Atlantic 10 Championships. Junior John Ciccarelli will look to defend his Atlantic 10 individual title. Ciccarelli became the first Spider to win an Atlantic 10 cross country individual crown when he finished the 8K race in 25:30. The Spiders return six of the seven runners who competed at the 2004 Atlantic 10 Championships.
The men's soccer team, which had a rebuilding year last fall after winning the 2003 Atlantic 10 regular-season title, is picked to finish eighth in the 14-team conference. Richmond returns 17 players from last year's squad, including three of its top five scorers in Colin Vint, Steven Wolfe and Chris Lahoud. The Spiders topped defending Atlantic 10 champion George Washington in their first exhibition match of 2005 on Aug. 21.
The Atlantic 10 Conference now includes 14 member institutions, after league officials welcomed Saint Louis and Charlotte in July of 2005.