Spider Sports Recap: Week of Sept. 23

Women’s Soccer 

Sept. 26: Loss 1-2 vs. La Salle University 

The Spiders started out strong when redshirt junior Alyssa Walker scored the first goal off a header five minutes into the first half. UR was nearly ahead at the half until a foul inside the box led to a penalty kick for La Salle, resulting in a tie. Tied 1-1 at the half, both teams made valiant efforts to take the lead in the second half but fell short, sending the game to overtime. The Explorers scored in the 99th minute, beating UR 2-1. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Jessica Stanfill made five saves.

Sept. 29: Win 1-0 vs. Fordham University

UR took the lead in the first half when senior Brooke Beam scored a goal, assisted by junior TJ Anderson. Although Fordham put up a fight in the second half with nine shots on net, the Spiders held the lead with strong defense. First-years Taylor Fine and Gianna Lucchesi were key players in contributing to the shutout in the second half, along with redshirt first-year Evyn Magenbauer and sophomore Molly Morgan. Stanfill made three saves and redshirt first-year Claire Hinkle made one save. 

Football 

Sept. 28: Loss 16-23 at Fordham

The Spiders lost their third consecutive game on Saturday afternoon. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Beau English played the whole game in his second career start, finishing 22-of-34 passing for 298 yards, a career high. Senior wide receiver Charlie Fessler scored his first career touchdown and completed eight passes for 150 yards. On defense, first-year linebacker Tristan Wheeler made his career start and recorded 13 tackles. 

Field Hockey

Sept. 27: Loss 1-2 at Lock Haven University

Both teams struggled to keep possession in the first quarter, but with a little under six minutes left in the quarter, senior Amanda DaSilva’s shot was deflected in by a defender. Junior goalkeeper Frankie-Lynne Conklin saved Lock Haven’s only first-half shot on frame. Neither team scored in the third quarter, but with just under six minutes left in the game, Lock Haven scored to send the game to overtime. The Bald Eagles scored off a breakaway shortly into the first overtime period to take a 2-1 win.

Sept. 29: Win 2-1 at University of Massachusetts Amherst 

UR took the lead after senior forward Elise Zwicklbauer scored her sixth goal of the season. UMass scored off a deflection soon after to tie the game in the first quarter. After only two combined shots in the second quarter, the teams went into halftime tied at 1-1. In the fourth quarter, Zwicklbauer made a pass off a penalty corner to sophomore defender Steffie Bongers  who scored the winning goal, finishing the game 2-1. Defense remained strong through the last minutes as the Spiders held on to beat their Atlantic 10 rival. 

Men’s Golf

Sept. 23-24: Davidson’s River Run Collegiate, Davidson, North Carolina 

First-year Lou Baker finished his first 18 holes at Davidson's River Run Collegiate with an ace on the 163-yard fourth hole on his final swing of the first round. Baker’s first hole-in-one of his golfing career moved him to 1 under par in the opening round. Baker was tied for third at 4 under par after 36 holes and finished the tournament tied for seventh out of 88 golfers. After scoring 304 the opening-round, the Spiders were in 13th place until the team shot the third-best overall score with 2 over par in the second round. UR moved ahead six spots on the leaderboard to seventh place with an overall team score of 594, after each Spider shot 74 or lower in the second round on Monday Afternoon. The Spiders shot 307 in a tight final round to shoot 901 in the 54-hole match, 10th of 15 teams. 

Men’s Tennis

Sept. 27-29: Joe Hunt Invitational, Baltimore, Maryland

The Spiders played at the Joe Hunt Invitational hosted by the United States Naval Academy this past weekend. First-year Ricky Bell, sophomore Alex Wernink and sophomore Josh Keitelman each earned wins at the tournament. Wernick finished 3-1 overall, with his only loss to Johns Hopkins University’s Austin Gu, 6-2, 6-1. Keitelman finished the weekend 2-2 with wins against players from Youngstown State University and St. Bonaventure University, and Bell earned his win against George Mason University's Jakob Nielsen, 6-1, 7-6, and won a second-set tiebreaker, 7-5, for the win. 

Women’s Golf

Sept. 27-29: Lady Paladin Invitational, Furman Golf Club, Greenville, South Carolina 

The Spiders played hard this past weekend with a team score of 305, finishing the 54-hole event at 915 and placing 13th overall. Sophomore Naomi Mitchell shot 226, tying at 32nd of 90 in the field and scoring her lowest 54-hole total of her UR golf career. Freshman Muskan Uppal shot 229 and also scored in the top 50, tied for 43rd. On Sunday, Uppal moved moved 17 spots up the leaderboard after shooting a career-low of 71. Junior Lizzie Reedy was the only UR player to score three rounds in the 70s, tying for 55th place with a score of 233.  

Cross Country

Sept. 27: Panorama Farms Invitational, Earlysville, Virginia 

The University of Virginia hosted the Spiders at the Panorama Farms Invitational this past Friday. The men raced an 8k and finished 12 of 16 teams total. Senior Miles Clikeman led the team, finishing 25th with a time of 24:45.7. Sophomore Peter Borger finished shortly after Clikeman, placing him 47th and earning him a personal record at 25:15.5. Junior Trey Burleson also beat his personal record and finished 84th with a time of 26:02.6. The women finished in 14th place overall, in their first 6k race this season. Sophomore Johanna Lupica was the first Spider to finish, coming in 55th and beating her personal record with a time of 22:28.3. Senior Claire Brown finished 72nd with a time of 22:47.0. 

Women’s Tennis

Sept. 28: Win 7-0 vs. University of Mary Washington 

The UR women’s tennis team scored 7-0 on Saturday after winning all three doubles matches and all six singles matches. Both the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams won 6-0 against Mary Washington, and No. 3 doubles won 6-2. All six singles players beat their opponents, with a nail-biter from junior Emily Dunbar in the final singles match. Dunbar won the first set 6-0, but lost the second set 4-6. In the third-set tiebreaker, Dunbar won a close match 11-9 to complete UR’s victory. 

Contact contributor Jordan Daniel at jordan.daniel@richmond.edu.