Oct. 10, 2008

Box Score |  Photos  | SpiderTV Wrap-Up

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond field hockey team lost to defending Atlantic 10 champion Massachusetts 3-2 on Friday in the conference opener for both teams.

In the Spiders fifth-straight game against a ranked opponent, No. 17 UMass (9-3, 1-0) took a 1-0 lead just 5:15 in and used two quick goals in the first four minutes of the second half to open up a 3-0 advantage.

The Spiders cut it to 3-1 with 23:41 remaining on a goal by junior Megan Thompson off an assist from freshman Katelin Peterson. The goal was the 16th of Thompson's career and freshman Katelin Peterson pulled into a tie with senior Alex Malatesta for the team lead in points with 12.

Richmond appeared to slice that lead to 3-2 when a shot by junior Sarah Blythe-Wood seemed to be deflected on its way into the net on a penalty corner, but after a discussion by the referees a goal was waved off.

Richmond dropped to 3-9, 0-1 with seven of its nine losses coming to ranked teams. The Spiders have played eight ranked opponents this season, with a victory over No. 14 American two weeks ago.

The Spiders had 10 penalty corners on the afternoon, but could not convert any.

"Today was really frustrating, we just couldn't convert our penalty corners," Richmond head coach Gina Lucido said. "It's a tough day because we fought hard and played well."

Katelyn Orlando put the Minutewomen on the scoreboard just over five minutes into the match when she got out on a breakaway and beat charging goalkeeper Jacki Raithel.

The score remained 1-0 until the second half when Orlando scored again when she deflected a free hit by Makaela Potts into the back of the net just 2:45 into the second half. One minute and four seconds later Katie Kelly knocked a bouncing ball into the cage for a 3-0 UMass lead.

Raithel made four saves in the first half for the Spiders and Becca Weaver made two saves in the second session.

Richmond returns to action on Wednesday when the Spiders host city-rival VCU at 3:30 p.m.