SPORTS
‘Cats Fall in Hard-Fought Lacrosse Contest Against Richmond
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Goalie Delaney Guhman and Davidson’s defense held Richmond below its season goal average, but the Wildcats fell short in a close 9-8 finish Friday night in Atlantic 10 women’s lacrosse inside Richardson Stadium.
The Spiders (11-2, 5-0 A-10) remained perfect in league play by scoring the game-winning goal with 2:14 left on a free-position shot from Katie Sciandra to break up an 8-all tie.
The ensuing draw control went to the Wildcats, who worked the ball around and got off a shot by Jordan Wood with 1:23 on the clock but it was saved by the Spiders’ goalie. Richmond then cleared the ball after a timeout and ran out the clock.
Guhman had a career game between the pipes, keeping Davidson within striking distance and holding the Spiders five goals below their season average. She stopped 15 shots to go with five groundballs and a caused turnover.
Richmond’s Sciandra paced the offense with five points on four goals and an assist. She helped the Spiders race out to a 4-0 lead with two goals and an assist after nearly 16 minutes had gone off the clock in the first half.
Wood pushed her season goal total to a team and personal-best 33 with two on the evening. Christine Molinari tallied two of her own goals, giving her 33 total points on the year, while Sophia Sgroi had a goal and an assist. Three other ‘Cats scored once each.
After trailing 4-0 with 14:20 left in the first half, Davidson turned up the defensive intensity by holding the Spiders to one goal the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, the offense got goals from Sgroi and Wood on back-to-back scores, and then with 6:50 left Sam Rippley scored to make it 5-3 before halftime.
The second half started with Wood’s second goal of the game to make it 5-4. Richmond pulled ahead by three goals a few minutes later.
Momentum shifted again in the Wildcats favor as they went on a 4-1 run over a 16-minute stretch to tie things up at 8-all. Molinari scored two in a row to make it 8-7 and Sarah Kopp tied it up on a free-position shot, her 20th goal of the season, with under seven minutes to go.
Davidson (7-6, 2-3 A-10) was only able to get off Wood’s shot in those last seven minutes in falling in a hard-fought game.
Richmond won the battle in shots (32-17), groundballs (26-20) and draw controls (11-8). The Wildcats were 4-of-6 on free-position shots. The 20 groundballs was the 10th time of the season with that many in a game and the sixth straight.
Defender Lindsay Rufolo scooped up four groundballs, while Claudia Becker, Kopp and Annie Beresheim had two apiece. Kopp (4) and Natalie Junior (3) had seven of the draw controls.
Davidson wraps up their home schedule with a Senior Day game against VCU on Sunday at 12 p.m.