Spiders suffer first loss of the season against the United States Naval Academy

The University of Richmond women’s lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season in a 21-11 matchup against the United States Naval Academy on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The Spiders' 2-0 start to the season was halted by the Midshipmen, who improved to 3-0 with their victory.

Starting off the game, UR was immediately overwhelmed when Navy won the opening draw and scored within the first minute of play. The Midshipmen continued on a 5-0 run in five minutes, dominating the Spiders’ defense.

Offensively, the Spiders struggled to find an opportunity to score, managing only two shots during Navy’s run. Richmond finally snapped the streak with five minutes remaining in the first period when junior attacker Juliana Stanley netted a man-up goal.

Navy answered with another 4-0 run in three minutes before the Spiders scored again in the final seconds of the first period, bringing the score to 9-2.

The Spiders opened the second period with a goal from first-year midfielder Keating Hopkins. The two teams battled on the field for most of the remaining time with little success to score. They swapped points at the end of the half, leaving the Spiders behind, 10-4, at the break.

Determined to close the score gap, Richmond found the back of the cage twice in the opening minutes of the second half. Navy and Richmond exchanged goals for the remainder of the third period, allowing the Midshipmen to maintain a 16-9 lead over UR.

The gap remained wide as the two teams exchanged points in the final period of the contest. The Spiders desperately pushed Navy, but every time Richmond scored, the Midshipmen answered with a goal of their own.

Navy scored in the final minute of play, snagging the last goal of the game and leaving the Spiders with a hard-fought 21-11 loss.

Sophomore goalkeeper Abby Francioli recorded eight saves against the offensively aggressive Navy.

On the other side of the field, senior midfielder Grace Muldoon and senior attacker Colleen Quinn led the Spiders, each earning four points.

UR will face Liberty University in its next matchup. The Eagles have never beaten the Spiders in the two teams’ 10-year history. Liberty had a challenging start to its season, facing No. 9 University of Virginia and No. 4 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in its first games. The Eagles will be fresh off a 15-8 victory over Virginia Commonwealth University.

UR will face Liberty at 1 p.m. Feb. 22 at Robins Stadium.

Contact sports editor Abigail Finney at abigail.finney@richmond.edu