Nov. 10, 2009

IN-GAME COVERAGE: GAMETRACKER

ATHENS, Ohio - The No. 19 ranked Atlantic 10 Champion Richmond field hockey team plays Ohio University Tuesday at 1 p.m. in a NCAA play-in game with a bid to the 16-team NCAA Tournament on the line.

The Spiders are coming off winning the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship, the Spiders sixth in the last eight years. Richmond is 4-1 in NCAA play-in games all-time, but the Spiders earned an at-large berth the year that they lost the play-in game because they were No. 10 ranked team in the nation.

The Spiders just broke into the top-20 for the first time Tuesday, coming in at No. 19. Despite the national ranking, with so few at-large bids to the 16-team tournaments, Richmond's one chance to make their sixth NCAA appearance.

Sarah Blythe-Wood was named the Atlantic 10 Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after scoring both game-winning goals for Richmond. Blythe-Wood is ranked 15th in the nation in points per game (2.47) and 16th in goals per game (1.00).

She is third on Richmond's single-season list with 53 points and is tied for fifth on the all-time career points list with 89. Her 35 career goals rank sixth on Richmond's all-time list and her 21 goals this season rank fourth on the school's single-season list.

Blythe-Wood was joined by sophomore Katelin Peterson, junior Dani Pycroft and freshman Catherine Ostoich on the All-Tournament Team

The Spiders are 13-8 overall and have won nine of the last 11 games. Only one of Richmond's eight losses this season came to teams not ranked or receiving votes in the NFHCA Top-20 Poll. Richmond has outscored its opponents 63-34 and outshot the opposition 307-191.

Ohio, which has won nine of the last 10 games, took home the Mid-American Conference title with a 2-1 victory on Saturday.

Marcy Dull was named the 2009 Tournament MVP and teammates Nina Bruno, Paige Herr and Courtney Seiders joined her on the All-Tournament team. Paige Herr is the sister of Richmond sophomore Betsy Herr.

Ohio and Richmond have met just once before in field hockey, last November in a neutral site game in St. Louis that the Bobcats won 3-1 on Paige Herr's game-winning goal.