Soccer At William & Mary In National Match Wed.
09/09/2014 | Women's Soccer
Following the team's first win streak of the early season, the Richmond women's soccer squad will play in its first nationally-featured game of the season Wednesday night at old conference rival William & Mary, with kickoff at 7 p.m. The game will be the women's soccer national game of the week at NSCAA.com, with Dan Linke and Sari Rose on the call.
The Spiders (3-2) and Tribe (2-1-1) were rivals in the Colonial Athletic Association, playing seven times from 1996 to 2000, which included a pair of CAA Tournament matches in that span. The Spiders have not won (0-4-1) in Williamsburg, winning only once in the series, at home in 2011. William & Mary has posted shutouts against the Spiders in the last three games held in Williamsburg.
Both teams are sporting their respective conference's Rookie of the Week. Rachel Moore got a game-tying goal and an assist on the game-winner in the team's 2-1 win against North Carolina State on Sunday to claim the CAA rookie honor. Richmond redshirt freshman Meaghan Carrigan (Greenville, South Carolina) scored two first-half goals in Richmond's 3-1 victory at Charleston Southern to claim the Nike Tournament. It was Carrigan's second two-goal performance of the season, the first student-athlete with two goals in a season since Becca Wann in 2012.
The Spiders have already scored nine goals this season, well past last season's pace (16 total goals). Five Spiders have at least one goal, with Darian Podmajerky (Yorba Linda, California) adding a two-goal performance of her own in the 2-1 win over the Citadel last Friday. Richmond has not had more than two matches with a two-goal scorer since 2011.
Sunday, junior Ashley Riefner (Mechanicsville, Virginia / Atlee HS) tied the school record with three assists, helping on all three goals in the CSU victory. One other Spider has accomplished the feat, as Kirsi Cronk (1996-99) posted a pair of three-assist contests in her career, in home wins over Liberty and Howard during the 1997 season. Riefner and junior Shannon Colligan (Greenwich, Connecticut) lead the team with three assists each.
The Spiders have been building depth as 22 players have played in in more than one contest this season. Fresher legs have resulted in more offense, as Richmond has better than 30 percent more shots than opponents (88-61) so far through five matches.
The Spiders will head to Charlottesville for the other contest this week, a tilt with Tennessee at the Virginia Nike Soccer Classic, kicking off Sunday at noon.
