Drew Clements, Staff Writer
The VCU Rams dropped the regular season finale to the University of Richmond, 4-1, Friday evening at Crenshaw Field in Richmond.
The first quarter kicked off with pressure from Richmond. VCU deflected an early shot out of bounds. Possession went back and forth until third-year goalkeeper Emma Clements made a diving save to keep Richmond off the board.
Richmond continued their aggressive play in the second quarter, earning several penalty corners within the first few minutes. VCU fended off multiple shots, but with 7:25 remaining in the first half, the Spiders found the net to open the scoring off a rebound from a penalty corner. Richmond earned three more corners in the second quarter, and Clements made multiple saves and blocks to keep the deficit at 1-0.
Early in the second half, Richmond earned three consecutive penalty corners, all saved or blocked, before Richmond was called for a yellow card. VCU earned a couple corners of their own but failed to convert. Eventually Richmond capitalized on a corner and scored with under two minutes to go in the third quarter to extend their lead to 2-0.
To kick off the fourth quarter, second-year Hannah Zimmerman found room to run down the right sideline, and passed to fourth-year Mackenzie White who scored VCU’s first goal of the game.
Richmond answered shortly after, earning a penalty stroke and scoring to extend their lead to 3-1. Less than a minute later, Richmond found the goal again, scoring to make the score 4-1.
The Richmond Spiders held on for the remainder of the game, and secured the 4-1 victory to improve to 11-6 on the season, while VCU lost their third consecutive match to fall to 8-9. Richmond outshot VCU 23-6. Due to an injury in the third quarter, the team was unavailable for comment after the game.