Williamsburg - Ashley Friend's goal in the first sudden-death overtime period lifted 13th-ranked Richmond over William and Mary, 10-9, Sunday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field. After the teams played six scoreless minutes during the first overtime session, Friend's third tally of the contest 3:20 into sudden-death ended an exciting, evenly-matched battle between two resilient state-rivals.

Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine/Kennebunk), Jamie Fitzgerald (Jenkintown, Pa./Jenkintown) and Dolly Williams (Richmond, Va./Collegiate) each scored two goals for the Tribe (1-2), and freshman goalkeeper Sara Beckstead (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) was outstanding in net with 11 saves on the afternoon.

Allison Furstenburg, Mandy Friend and Morghan Vahue each scored two goals for Richmond (3-2), which has now won four of the last five meetings between the schools.

The allotted sixty minutes weren't enough to settle the latest installment of one of the oldest and most-played rivalries in school history, as Richmond erased a two-goal deficit with a frantic comeback in the final two minutes. Spiders' netminder Jackie Swansburg then preserved the fitting overtime session that Richmond earned on Friend's free-position goal with just 25.3 sec-onds remaining in regulation. Swansburg, who narrowly out-dueled Beckstead with 12 total stops, denied a long shot from Kristen Wong (Richmond, Va./Trinity Episcopal) just inside the arc as regulation time expired.

In the initial period of the first overtime, Beckstead returned the favor, turning away a low shot with 9.1 seconds showing on the clock. After W&M corralled the draw of the second extra period and controlled nearly the entire three-minutes, Richmond also proved sometimes luck does help, as Sellers' eight-meter blast in the final minute agonizingly drilled the left post, literally lifting the cage up off the grass.

The Tribe, which held a 16-7 advantage in draw controls, including wins on all three overtime draws, also gained possession in the sudden-death period, though a turnover in the offensive end led to Friend's game-winning score. Painfully, it was also one of the Tribe's 20 turnovers on the day which ignited the Spiders' late second-half comeback.

After Williams' lost her defender behind the left side of the goal and beat Swansburg low on the short-side, the Tribe held a 9-7 advantage with exactly four minutes remaining. That Tribe possession was set up by a classic Wong caused turnover on a stick check in front of the W&M goal and a ground ball pick-up by Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville). Dennis, who fin-ished with five ground balls and three draw controls, once again gave W&M possession after fending off a crowd of Spiders and snagging the restart that followed Williams' goal.

But, with approximately 1:30 remaining, Vahue took a pass near midfield and raced to the goal after the Spiders' Sarah Ingle caused a Tribe turnover. Beckstead rejected Vahue's first attempt on the right side of the circle, but the rebound went right back to Vahue, who circled behind the net, then fired a low shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to pull Richmond within, 9-8, with 1:10 on the clock.

Anne Harrington (Alexandria, Va./Mount Vernon) came away with the ensuing draw, but another Tribe turnover on an er-rant pass led to the equalizer in the final minute. Ashley Friend drew a foul near the top of the arc and converted the free-position shot to knot the contest with just 25 seconds remaining. The Richmond rally spoiled a terrific second-half effort by the Tribe defense, led by Harrington, Fitzgerald, Dennis, Ashley Bolton (Narbeth, Pa./Penn Charter) and Kate Lawlor (Phila-delphia, Pa./Germantown Academy). Prior to the final two minutes, W&M had yielded just one Richmond goal in the second half and surrendered only seven shots during that span. When the Spiders did manage shots against the Tribe's relentless pres-sure, Beckstead was there with seven second-half saves.

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2007-03-04