Oct. 30, 2005

Box Score

Fenton, Mo. - Saint Louis University's field hockey season came to a close Sunday afternoon after a 3-0 loss to league-leading Richmond at the Anheuser-Busch Center. The Billikens end the season 7-11 overall and 3-4 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, finishing tied for fourth-place in the standings. On the basis of a head-to-head tiebreaker, the Bills lost a post-season berth to Saint Joseph's. Only the top-four teams advance to Philadelphia next weekend for the A-10 Tournament.

Richmond (13-5 overall, 7-0 A-10), which has now won 31-consecutive conference games, controlled the offense in the first half. Shannon Taylor got the Spiders on the board when she converted on a penalty corner in the 10th minute. In all, the Spiders mustered nine shots to the Billikens' two in the first half and held an 8-1 advantage in penalty corners.

Saint Louis had perhaps its best scoring chance of the day on a penalty corner minutes into the second half. Kristin Lueders settled the ball and floated a ball toward the upper-left corner, but Richmond keeper Michelle Swartz deflected the ball just wide. The Billikens nearly converted on its other penalty corner in the second half, but no one could get a stick on a Michelle Sinclair pass through the circle.

Whitney Wells and Allie Howard each netted insurance goals late in the game for the Spiders, who enter next weekend's A-10 Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Swartz stopped two Billiken shots on the day to earn the victory in goal.

Overall, the Spiders outshot the Billikens 19-5 and held a 15-3 advantage in penalty corners.

Seven seniors were recognized in a pre-game ceremony in honor of their final home game. They were: Carin Boone, Stephanie Bus, Courtney Gasparovic, Kelly Hellenga, Julie Moeckel, Jill Mueller and Jamie Smeland.