April 29, 2011

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Second-seeded Richmond (10-8) used a strong second half both offensively and defensively scoring 10 goals while yielding just three to move into the championship finals with a 12-8 victory over third-seeded Temple (7-10) in the first semifinal of the 2011 Atlantic 10 Women's Lacrosse Championship at Geasey Field. The Spiders erased a three-goal, second half deficit using a 7-0 run over a 12-minute stretch to earn a spot in the finals for the second year in a row and the sixth time in school history.

Richmond's Danielle Schaevitz led all players on Friday afternoon with seven points on four goals and three assists, while Temple's Charlotte Swavola paced the Owls with five points tallying four goals and an assist.

"First of all...Holy Cow!" stated Richmond head coach Stephy Samaras Mantziaras on her team's victory on Friday. "Secondly, Temple knows our game. Bonnie (Rosen) and I have known each other for a very long time. She knows that we are a fast break team. She knows that we like to kick it up a notch with our transition game and they really took that away from us in the first half which was unbelievable and definitely threw us for a loop.

"In the second half, we were able to capitalize off the draw controls; fast breaking off the draws instead of having to do it from the full field transition was key," added Samaras Mantziaras. "Defensively, we were able to make some adjustments that they had clearly made from our first meeting earlier in the year. But today our defense and our goalkeeper stepped up huge for us today."

The first semifinal was a tail of two halves as Temple controlled the tempo in the first half limiting the Spiders to just two goals and seven shots.

The Owls went into halftime with a 5-2 lead courtesy of a pair of goals from Swavola. The sophomore midfielder scored the first two goals for the Owls as her second tally in the eighth minute broke a 1-1 tie. Her second goal led to three straight as the Owls built a 4-1 advantage. Missy Schweitzer and Stephany Parcell joined Swavola in the scoring as Temple recorded three goals in a span of two minutes and 48 seconds.

Richmond cut into the lead on a goal by Gabi Wiegand with just under 20 minutes remaining in the first half, but Temple regained its three-goal advantage in the 17th minutes as freshman Jaymie Tabor found the back of the net to give the Owls a 5-2 lead.

Both teams exchanged a pair of goals through the first nine minutes of the second half before Richmond went on a 7-0 run to grab the lead for good. Caitlin Fifield led the charge for the Spiders scoring three of the seven goals, while Schaevitz added a goal and three assists. Wiegand, Tara Coyle and Julianne Nicola each scored a goal during the run as Richmond built an 11-7 lead.

"For us, it's always been about finishing, so our attackers were able to find their stride" added Samaras Mantziaras. "Today, Dani came up huge for us with four goals and three assists and when she was being pressured she was able to assist and we had people in the right positions at the right times. In the first half, we were thinking about the shot before actually taking it which didn't really help our attackers."

Wiegand tied the game for just the second time Friday afternoon scoring off an assist from Schaevitz in the 45th minute. Less than a minute later, Fifield gave Richmond its first lead of the afternoon at 8-7 finding the back of the net on an unassisted shot. She would then add the eventual game-winner for Richmond with 13:54 remaining scoring her third goal off an assist from Wiegand.

Karly Cohen broke Temple's scoring drought with a goal in the 55th minute to cut the deficit to 11-8, but Schaevitz notched her fourth and final goal of the afternoon with just under four minutes left in regulation as the Spiders regained their four-goal advantage at 12-8.

Victoria Roebuck made nine saves in goal for the Spiders, while Tess Bishop recorded seven saves for the Owls.

With the win, Richmond advances to Sunday's final and will await the winner of the Massachusetts/Duquesne winner in Friday's second semifinal. Sunday's championship will air live on the CBS Sports Network at 1:00 p.m.

--www.atlantic10.com--