University of Richmond Athletics
Spider Soccer Leaves Virginia For Weekend Games
09/10/2015 | Women's Soccer
Richmond women's soccer hits the road for its first out-of-state competition, traveling to Wilmington, North Carolina for the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational this weekend. The Spiders will take on the host UNC Wilmington Seahawks Friday night at 7:30 p.m. before a noon Sunday game with the St. John's Red Storm. The Spiders are at 2-2 this season, while UNCW is 3-3 and St. John's enters the weekend at 5-1. UNW will provide live stats for both Richmond games and a free live stream of the Friday night game at UNCWSports.com.
Richmond has had six different student-athletes score its seven goals, with redshirt sophomore Meaghan Carrigan (Greenville, South Carolina) the first to log a second goal for the season. Senior forward Ashley Riefner (Mechanicsville, Virginia / Atlee HS) leads the team with six points, thanks to her conference-leading four assists. Her 1.0 assists-per-game average is tied for third in the NCAA as of this week. Richmond's three starting forwards, including sophomore Lexi Prillaman (Magnolia, Delaware), all have at least one goal and an assist, and represent 16 of the 27 shots on goal this year.
Defensively, the Spiders have posted a pair of shutouts, with both active goalkeepers garnering one this year. Richmond has posted six shutouts in the previous 12 games, dating back to last season. Freshman Jessica Stanfill (Fitzgerald, Georgia) put up a shutout with three saves in her first collegiate action, when she started and played all 90 minutes in the Spiders' 2-0 home blanking of American last Friday. The Spiders have outscored opponents 7-3 in four games this season. Richmond has led in more than 144 of the 270 season minutes this year, trailing for just over 12 minutes of clock time.
Aside of an 8-0 loss at No. 2 Virginia, the Seahawks have outscored opponents 8-7 in their other five contests. UNCW has only been shutout in the UVa. game and posted a shutout of its own last Friday at George Mason. Katrina Guillou leads the Seahawks with seven points on three goals and an assist on a team-high 15 shots. She also scored on UNCW's only penalty kick this season. Goalie Carolyn Huddy started all six games, posted 19 saves and has a 2.19 goals-against average.
St. John's will face Campbell Friday before the UR-UNCW game. A pair of Red Storm has three goals each, including reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week Christina Bellero, who hit the game-winning overtime goal Sunday to win at Boston College. The Red Storm posted four shutouts to start the season and have allowed only three goals this year, for a team goal-against average of 0.50 through their six games. Rachel Daly leads the squad with eight points with three goals on a team-best 32 shots taken. She has a pair of game-winners. Keeper Diana Poulin has made four starts and sits at 4-1, with three of the shutouts posted.
Following the Invitational, Richmond will travel to James Madison the following Friday, September 18, for a 5 p.m. contest before hosting Longwood on Sunday, September 20th, for the final non-conference game of the year, starting at 4 p.m.
