Bid-Stealers! No. 19 Richmond Stuns No. 13 UMass for A-10 Crown

Lindsey Frank led a Richmond offense featuring eight different scorers on Sunday, as the Spiders upset top-seeded UMass 20-13 to steal the Atlantic 10 tournament crown.

The win gives Richmond its first A-10 tournament title since beating UMass in overtime in 2019 and avenges a 22-12 regular-season loss to the Minutewomen on March 11.

Arden Tierney tallied three goals, three ground balls, five draw controls and one caused turnover. Colleen Quinn also scored a hat trick. Amy Moreau and Kylee Bowen netted three goals apiece for UMass, which saw its 15-game winning streak end. The Minutewomen now seek an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament.

Richmond jumped out to a 3-0 lead in less than five minutes on goals from Kendall Duffy, Sophia DiCenso and Quinn.

UMass, which entered the weekend sixth nationally in scoring offense, wasn’t shaken. Six different Minutewomen scored during a 6-2 run, capped when Fiona McGowan found Bowen for a goal that gave UMass its first lead of the day, 6-5, at 10:16 of the second quarter.

Arden Tierney evened the score at 6 with an unassisted tally at 6:37. The teams traded goals, and UMass took an 8-7 edge with 1:25 on the clock. But DiCenso and Quinn scored in the final minute to give the Spiders the 9-8 halftime lead.

Hoping to gain momentum, UMass made a goalie change to start the second half, bringing in Catrina Tobin to relieve second-team all-conference goalie Gina Carroll.

Alex Morton’s free position at 9:57 of the third quarter opened the second-half scoring and gave Richmond a two-goal edge. A Frank goal from just inside the 8-meter made it 11-8 Richmond at 6:44. Bowen stopped the 4-0 run, driving inside for an unassisted tally to bring UMass within 11-9 with 6:44 left in the third frame, but Ali Susskind’s long-range shot extended the gap back to three less than a minute later. Moreau cut it to 12-10 when she converted from the 8-meter at 4:02.

But the Minutewomen couldn’t string together more than two-straight goals the rest of the way. The same cannot be said for Frank, who scored the next three. It started with a woman-up free position goal at 2:59. She struck again 55 seconds later and again with an unassisted goal at 1:15. Leah Kenny hit a wide-open Susskind, who drove inside and scored with eight seconds remaining in the third quarter to give the Spiders a 16-10 lead. The goal prompted UMass to bring Carroll back in.

But this time, the Spiders were the unphased group. The offense slowed down, working the ball for the best shot. Kendall Duffy found it when she saw an open lane and scored at 10:15 of the fourth quarter, and Kenny split the Minutewomen defense to widen the gap to 18-10 at 8:42.

McGowan and Moreau scored at 6:38 and 5:19, respectively. It was the only goal of the afternoon for McGowan, UMass’ leading scorer. The quick scores weren’t enough to swing the momentum — Frank responded with a goal at 5:20.

The dagger came about two minutes later. Susskind turned it over, but Tierney knocked the ball out of Layton Nass’ stick on the ride. She picked up the ground ball and ran it in for a score, giving the Spiders a 20-13 lead with 3:05 left.