Greetings Spiders!
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As our students, staff, and faculty finish up the first week of classes, we are busy preparing for a weekend full of Spider sports action!
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FOOTBALL'S PATRIOT LEAGUE TEST
Five different Spider teams will compete this weekend, including Spider football, which begins its Patriot League era with a tremendous test: a road matchup vs defending league champion Lehigh Saturday at noon in Pennsylvania. It was just nine months ago that Lehigh upset the Spiders in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs at Robins Stadium, and I know our Spiders are anxious to have another chance to take down the Mountain Hawks. A road win over the preseason Patriot League favorite Saturday would not only give Richmond fans a measure of revenge from last year, it would also serve as a major statement that Spider football is ready to chase a third straight conference title and a fourth straight NCAA Playoffs appearance. Let's go Spiders!
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NATIONAL CHAMPS ON CAMPUS
Somehow, Spider field hockey has found an even more daunting challenge for its first weekend of play! After opening its season today vs Longwood at Crenshaw Field at 5 PM, the Spiders will host Northwestern, the defending national champions, Sunday at noon. It's just part of a championship-caliber schedule the program has put together that features matchups with three of the four teams to reach last year's Final Four and concludes in November, when Richmond hosts the Atlantic 10 Championships on November 6-8.
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FAST STARTS FOR THE SPIDERS
Best of luck to the members of the men's and women's cross country teams, who will race for the first time tomorrow morning at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville as Richmond hosts its annual Spider Alumni Open. Saturday's meet starts a slate of six meets the Spiders will run in during the regular season, culminating with the A-10 Championships in Ohio on November 1.Â
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Spider soccer sprinted out of the gates, with freshman Emma Newman tying a program record with four goals in a season-opening 5-0 win vs VMI. The team will seek to improve to 4-1-1 Sunday on the road at Howard. With a win, the team would equal its win total from all of last season, before the calendar even flips to September!
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HALL OF FAME'S CLASS OF 2025
I was so proud to announce the members of Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 earlier this month, and I can't wait to have this group of legendary Spiders on campus in October to present them with Spider Athletics' most exclusive honor.
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Longtime women's tennis coach Mark Wesselink, who coached the Spiders for 33 years before his passing in 2024, will be enshrined, as will two of his most accomplished players: Lesia Bilak-Schinnerer '98 and Bridget Merrick '98, who formed a nearly unbeatable doubles team during their time on campus. That trio will be joined by men's swimmer Brent Holsten '94, a five-time conference champion, and football's Buzz Montsinger '69, who rose from walk-on to team captain and Tangerine Bowl champion during his time at Richmond. The 2004-05 women's basketball team, the first (and only, until last season) in program history to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, will be honored as our Team of Distinction.
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The Class of 2025 will be inducted on Friday, October 17, in an on-campus ceremony and honored during halftime of the football game vs Holy Cross on Saturday, October 18, just part of a weekend full of Homecoming festivities as we welcome Spiders from near and far back to campus.Â
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BASKETBALL'S PRESEASON PREPARATIONS
As hard as it is to believe, one month from tomorrow coaches, players, and administrators from every A-10 school will gather in Pittsburgh for Atlantic 10 Media Day as the conference prepares for its 50th basketball season! Richmond has been a member of the A-10 for exactly half of those 50 seasons, and we're proud to compete in a premier conference that has such a storied history.
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To ensure that Richmond can continue to compete for A-10 championship banners to hang in the Robins Center, we have hired longtime Spider Jim Merritt to fill our newly created position of Associate Athletics Director for Basketball Development. Jim will be charged with helping our basketball programs develop the resources required to win in this new era of intercollegiate athletics. Jim has nearly 40 years of experience in higher education leadership, including over 30 right here at Richmond, and we're thrilled to have him back with the Spiders!
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Men's basketball recently announced its non-conference schedule for our 25th season in the A-10, and out-of-league games for the women's team should be announced shortly. With nine non-conference home games, the men's team will play 18 regular-season games at Robins Center this season, its most since the arena opened in 1972.
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I'm thrilled that our Spider family will have more opportunities than ever to gather in the Robins Center this season. A crowd of Spider faithful passionately supporting a group of hard-working student-athletes is the very best of Richmond Athletics. It brings all parts of our campus community closer. It extends the Spider spirit across our city and region. And it helps create the unrivaled student-athlete experience that we strive to give every Spider here at UR.Â
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Thank you for being an important part of that experience, and I wish you a safe and happy Labor Day weekend.
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