Coming off of a seven-game road trip in which the University of Richmond women's soccer team notched six wins, it had momentum coming home to play Xavier University. The Spiders outshot the Musketeers, 35-17, Friday night at Robins Stadium, but couldn't finish with any goals, resulting in a scoreless tie.
"We had lots of opportunities, we just didn't capitalize on them," Richmond forward Becca Wann said. "It just didn't go in for us.
"Our defense played really well. They did their job, it's just us forwards that didn't do ours."
Xavier ran its offense with only one forward on the field. That forward tended to leak upfield, leading to occasional breakaways, but the defense pitched its sixth shutout of the season.
"We were solid in the back," Wann said. "[Goalie Melissa Pacheco] had a really good game. They're a breakaway team, and we stopped them."
While its offensive strategy limits the Musketeers' scoring opportunities, as the Musketeers have yet to score more than two goals in a game this season, it allows them to have more players on defense. Xavier is second in the Atlantic 10 Conference in defense, allowing fewer than one goal per game.
"They play a very aggressive counter-attacking game plan," Richmond coach Peter Albright said. "[On defense] they were very difficult to get behind. We couldn't get through the middle."
Because of Xavier's defensive game plan, the only scoring chances came off crosses from the sides of the field. Wann used her height and athleticism to rise up over the defenders, but failed to score on any of her headers or shots.
"For the last three quarters of the game, we did a really good job of attacking the flanks and getting good crosses," Albright said. "Becca had a number of really good shots on goal, but their goalie made some great saves."
Crystal Koczat had the best look of the game. Her 20-foot shot was stopped on a great diving play by Xavier goalie Katie Markesbery in the 61st minute. Wann's header in the 74th minute required another great stop by Markesbery. She finished the night with 15 saves.
"Offensively, we really just wanted to bring up our outside backs Crystal and Lindsey [Wicher] and try to get good crosses in for Becca," Albright said. "It produced really good chances. It just didn't produce a goal."
With the the tie, Richmond has won eight of its last 10 games. The Spiders continue at home 1 p.m. Sunday against the Dayton Flyers.
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Contact reporter Will Offit at will.offit@richmond.edu
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