Richmond Enters A-10 Field Hockey Championship With Top Seed
Richmond, Massachusetts, Temple and La Salle qualify for 2011 A-10 Tournament
A10 Massachusetts' three-time First Team All-Conference Honoree, Alesha Widdall
A10
Massachusetts' three-time First Team All-Conference Honoree, Alesha Widdall
 A10

Oct. 30, 2011

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The University of Richmond earned the top seed for the 2011 Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Championship, which gets underway on Fri., Nov. 4, at Ellen Ryan Field on the campus of the Saint Joseph's University.

The Spiders (13-6/5-1) will take on fourth-seeded La Salle (8-10/3-3), while No. 2 Massachusetts (7-10/5-1) squares off against third-seeded Temple (8-12/4-2). Richmond defeated Massachusetts during regular season competition to secure the top seed.

Richmond led the league with non-conference wins (8) and won five of its last six games, including a must-win game over Massachusetts, to earn its 11th-consecutive tournament berth since joining the Conference 11 years ago.

Massachusetts, the 2010 Atlantic 10 Champion, holds three of the previous four tournament titles and is in search of its first under first-year head coach Carla Tagliente. The Minutewomen are led by senior goalkeeper Alesha Widdall who has been named to First Team All-Conference in each of her three seasons at Massachusetts.

Temple looks to earn its first A-10 Championship title since 1994 despite having qualified for the tournament in each of the past eight seasons. The Owls are led by senior Bridget Settles, a First-Team All-Conference honoree in 2010.

The Explorers qualify for the tournament for the first time since 1997 and are looking to earn the program's first-ever championship title.

The Championship commences on Friday, Nov. 4, with Richmond taking on La Salle at 11:00am, while the Massachusetts-Temple semifinal will begin at 2:00pm. The finals of the 2011 A-10 Championship will take place on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2:00pm.

The A-10 winner will travel to the champion of the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) in a NCAA play-in game on Tuesday, November 8 to advance to the 2011 NCAA Field Hockey Championship.

For complete coverage of the 2011 Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Championship log on to www.atlantic10.com.

 

 

About the A-10
The Atlantic 10 Conference was formed in 1976, is currently comprised of 14 member institutions and sponsors 21 championship sports. The mission and goal of the Atlantic 10 is to preserve, protect, and enhance the academic and athletic pursuits of the membership. The conference is committed to integrity, educational excellence and providing quality equitable championship experiences for more than 6,000 student-athletes, coaches, and support staff. The member institutions of the Atlantic 10 are the University of Dayton, Duquesne University, Fordham University, The George Washington University, La Salle University, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Rhode Island, University of Richmond, St. Bonaventure University, Saint Joseph's University, Saint Louis University, Temple University, and Xavier University.