For the first time in the history of the program, the women’s lacrosse team lost in the opening round of the Atlantic Ten Conference Championship with an 11-10 loss to Richmond on Friday. The Owls held a three-goal lead with 18 minutes to play, but the Spiders, playing on their home field, rallied to score the winning goal with 17 seconds left.
After tying the game with nine minutes remaining, the Spiders used a stalling defensive tactic that prevented the Owls, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, from responding. The Spiders’ Caroline McGuire, the eventual tournament Most Valuable Player, netted the clinching goal. The Owls were denied a trip to their eighth straight A-10 final.
“[The stall tactic] is not what we expected,” freshman defender Lindsay Wells said. “It really caught us off guard.”
The loss puts the Owls’ final record at 10-7, with a 6-1 mark in conference play. The team was anchored on offense all season by the duo of sophomore Allison Frengs and junior Patty Glavin, the Owls’ starting attackers. Last week, they were named to the A-10 All-Conference team, with Frengs being named A-10 Offensive Player of the Year. Frengs led the Owls with 52 points (45 goals, seven assists), and was second in turnovers caused. Glavin, who was National Player of the Week this year after a win at Penn State, was second on the team in scoring with 37 points (31 goals, six assists). Also joining Frengs and Glavin on the All-Conference team is senior goalie Megan McLouth.
In addition, Glavin, sophomore Casey Cech and freshmen Whitney Richards were named to the A-10 All-Championship team. Glavin and Cech scored two goals each, and Richards led the team in scoring with three assists and one goal.
No. 4 seed Richmond (9-7, 5-2) took the A-10 title Saturday with a 10-8 victory over second-seeded Duquesne. For the first time in program history, the Spiders will make an appearance in the 16-team NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament. They face Atlantic Coast Conference champion Duke (15-3) in the first round on Thursday.
Greg Otto can be reached at gregotto@temple.edu.
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