Women’s lacrosse scores landslide conference victory over George Washington University

The University of Richmond women’s lacrosse team decimated George Washington University 16-5 in a one-sided game on Wednesday, April 9.

This marks Richmond’s seventh victory in a row over GW, with its last loss being a close 11-10 game in 2016. 

Richmond started off the game leading, with first-year midfielder Keating Hopkins scoring a goal in the first minute. Additionally, senior attacker Colleen Quinn scored her first goal with seven and a half minutes on the clock, just seconds after GW scored its first goal. Richmond finished off the quarter with a leading 4-1.

Taking advantage of multiple turnovers and ground balls by GW at the beginning of the game, Richmond extended its lead, with three different players including senior midfielder Grace Muldoon scoring goals. During the next five minutes Richmond only netted one goal, with Muldoon scoring her second goal. With five minutes remaining, Quinn scored two goals back-to-back. 

The Revolutionaries tried to bounce back with one minute left, scoring a second goal and forcing the Spiders into a shot clock violation, but their efforts were fruitless. By halftime, the Spiders were able to increase their lead to 10-2.

Opening the quarter the Revolutionaries and Spiders both scored goals during the first six minutes of the quarter. Richmond saved several shots from the Revolutionaries and took advantage of the six turnovers by GW to score three more goals in the last five minutes of the quarter.

In a last ditch effort, the Revolutionaries scored two goals in the first five minutes of the last quarter. However, Richmond responded and scored two goals in the final five minutes to maintain its 11 point lead.

The Spiders knew they had to stay focused and play their best against GW no matter how large the score gap was.

"GW is a disciplined, gritty team,” Head Coach Anne Harrington said in a postgame press release. “We wanted to show a lot of hustle on all parts of the field and we wanted to take things one play at a time.” 

The team was led by Quinn, who scored three goals and three assists, while nine other Richmond players netted goals. Richmond’s defense also excelled, as sophomore goalkeeper Abby Francioli saved six out of the 11 balls that came her way.

Senior midfielder Hannah Custer reached a career milestone of 100 ground balls.

“The team did a great job attacking from the first whistle and playing for each other today,” Harrington said. “We've got a team full of very capable players—we showed that on game day today.”   

With the win, the Spiders extended their conference record to 6-2 after a disappointing defeat against the University of Massachusetts Amherst on April 5.

Next up, the Spiders will return to Robins Stadium for their senior day to face Duquesne University.

Duquesne’s current conference record is 2-6 and Richmond is hoping for its seventh victory in a row against the Dukes, whose last victory against Richmond was a narrow win in 2016. The two teams will face each other at noon on Saturday, April 12 at Robins Stadium.

Contact sports writer Liam Gunawardena at liam.gunawardena@richmond.edu