Dominant second half propels women’s Lacrosse to A-10 Championship

The University of Richmond women’s lacrosse team defeated the top-seeded University of Massachusetts 20-13 at Cary St. Field May 7. 

After losing to UMass 22-12 earlier in the regular season on March 11, the Spiders found their stride in the second half and turned their one-goal halftime lead into a seven-goal win against the Minutewomen, who came into the game on a 15-game winning streak. 

In the first quarter, UR got the first three goals of the game, pushing ahead 3-0 early. The Spiders’ first goal came at the 12:58 mark after a free position gave senior midfielder Kendall Duffy her first goal of the game. 

UMass battled back with two goals of its own, and a back-and-forth final five minutes of the quarter resulted in a 5-4 UR lead through the first 15 minutes. 

In quarter two, the Minutewomen were quick to score, and with a little over 10 minutes to go in the first half, the lead swung in favor of UMass, 6-5. 

UMass held control throughout the second quarter. 

However, goals from senior midfielder Sophia DiCenso and sophomore attacker Colleen Quinn in the final 48 seconds of the first half gave the Spiders a 9-8 lead heading into the halftime break. 

In the third quarter, both teams were scoreless through the first five minutes, but a free position goal for first-year attacker Alexis Morton and a goal from senior midfielder Lindsey Frank gave UR an 11-8 lead — its first three-goal lead since early in the first quarter. 

Then, after UMass and UR traded goals and UMass added one more, UR began to take the game over. 

In the span of a minute and 44 seconds, Frank scored three goals, and with eight seconds remaining, junior attacker Ali Susskind scored as well. UR finished out the third quarter with four unanswered goals and a six-goal lead. 

In the fourth quarter, the Spiders scored four more goals compared to three by UMass, putting a cap on a game-sealing second half for UR. 

As the final seconds ran off the game clock, the Spiders were crowned A-10 champions. This is the team’s first A-10 championship since 2019 and sixth in the program’s history. With this win, UR earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. 

“We started having this vision at the beginning of August,” senior attacker Arden Tierney said the day after the tournament. “Our first meeting as a team, we were talking about this, so I think today was just a culmination of all the hard work that we’ve been putting in this whole year, so I’m just really proud of the girls.”

On the day, Frank led the way, scoring six goals. In both the regular season and playoffs, Frank scored 59 goals, bringing her all-time goals tally at UR to 156. 

Other notable goal-scorers included Tierney and Quinn, who each scored three goals apiece. 

Defensively, senior goalie Emilie Bloyer had 11 saves and redshirt junior defender Maggie O’Brien had three ground balls, three caused turnovers and won five draw controls. 

Frank was named the Most Outstanding Player after the game and was named to the All-Championship Team alongside first-year defender Jordyn Harrison, Bloyer, Tierney and DiCenso. 

“It’s so exciting, especially for the senior class,” Frank said the day after the tournament. “We’ve been wanting this ever since we came in with COVID and everything. And it means the most to us and I’m pumped.”

The Spiders will play Marquette University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at noon May 12. 

Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu