I headed over to Albert/Daly Field last Friday night, which is right down the street from my parent's house in Virginia, to watch William & Mary play conference rival and 15th-ranked Towson University. We used to play both of these teams every year so I was eager to see how they were doing in 2008. William & Mary was able to hold on to the lead to beat Towson, 14-13. It was a great game! It's always fun to see an upset.

Towson started things off and got a quick 2-0 lead as Fratzke collected a pair of goals before the game was even three minutes old. The Tribe quickly responded as Grace Golden scored two unassisted goals, bringing the game even at the 23:52 mark. Less than a minute later, Jamie Sellers broke the deadlock with a goal at 22:12, but her work was short-lived, as Towson pieced together a pair of free position goals, less than a minute apart, to regain the advantage, 4-3.

Five minutes later Clare Dennis scored to bring the Tribe even at 4-4. William & Mary freshman Ashley Holofcener threaded a perfect feed to Dennis, moving the Tribe out to a 5-4 lead. The Tribe would score again off a take from Sellars. Golden stretched the lead to 7-4, when she found her way to the cage at 9:36.

Towson's McNamara scored at 7:05, but William & Mary quickly answered back with goals from Julia Martin and Katie Rees to rebuild the lead to 9-5. Sensing it needed to find some rhythm before halftime, the Tigers attack turned up the heat over the remainder of the half, firing off some point blank attempts that Geary turned away. Finally, with just :19 remaining, McNamara found an opening and got the ball over goal line and sent the two teams to half with the score at 9-6.

In the second half, William and Mary pushed its lead to 11-6, with goals from Sellers and Holofcener. Despite a pair of goals by Fratzke at 19:12 and 18:32, William & Mary seemed to remain in complete control of the action. Dennis and freshman attacker Maggie Anderson each turned in lightening strikes, to bring the game to 13-8.

However, Towson rallied back tightening up the game at 13-11 with 9:50 to play. Sellers made the Tigers' pay with a goal to put the game at 14-11. Towson scored the game's final two goals and put relentless pressure till the final seconds.

Here is one of my interviews with William & Mary goalie, Emily Geary. She had a great game and you can definitely tell in the interview how excited she was about the win. I also found out that Geary and I went to the same high school and played for the same coach. Small world!

I'm glad I caught the game and was able to get some good footage with interviews. Next, I'm headed to Villanova Stadium to see Villanova play Navy Tuesday night.

Last Sunday I headed over to my old stomping ground, the University of Richmond, to watch my college team take on the Temple Owls. I spent five years on that field, four as a player and one as a coach, but I had never been there as a spectator.

Over the years, I had faced Temple in five battles in regular season and three in post season tournament play. Now as my former team warmed up to play in one of the most important games of the year, I sat in the stands watching and soaking up every minute.

It was an interesting feeling. I wasn't sad to be a spectator like I expected, instead I was proud. It's a good feeling to see a program you helped build carrying on many of the same traditions you helped start. I have countless memories on that field, enough to last me a long time. It's nice to watch without the weight on your shoulders. On Sunday, I was simply a fan of Richmond Spiders Lacrosse.

Picture taken by John Townsend

Well, almost just a fan. Since I wasn't used to being still and quite during the game, I kept myself busy doing some video for LaxPower. During the game I captured game footage to make a highlight video. I don't have a lot of experience with video so I really had to focus on what I was doing. The game looks a lot different from behind the camera.

LaxPower Video:

Richmond was dominating the beginning of the game, but Temple quickly came back and took the lead. I wasn't sure if the Spiders would be able to bounce back. That's when things got exciting!

The beginning of the second half was all Owls as they put in four unanswered goals to get a head of the Spiders, 7-4 with 21:52 remaining in regulation. The teams went back and forth until the Spiders sparked a come back run with three goals in under two minutes.

Mandy Friend started it off taking the ball herself and hitting the upper right corner for her second goal of the game. Thirty-seconds later, Furstenburg got involved with an unassisted goal of her own. Friend then scored her third goal of the day to tie the game at nine with three minutes left to play.

Two minutes later, Richmond was put back on its heels once again as Temple's Chelsea Rosiek scored off a free-position to put the Owls up, 10-9.

With just over thirty-seconds to play, a Temple foul sent freshman Anne Ryan to the eight-meter. Ryan zoomed the ball into the net to tie the game at 10 and send the game into overtime.

After the first three minutes of overtime, the score remained 10-10. With just over thirty seconds left to play in the first overtime period, Claire Cunniff took an isolation, beating three Temple defenders to put the Spiders up, 11-10. Richmond would go on to win the game over conference-rival Temple.

After the game I took an interview with Cunniff, a former teammate of mine, and the attacker who scored the game winning goal in OT to beat Temple.

Interview with Claire Cunniff:

It was a fun experience and I'm looking forward to my next game Friday night when William & Mary takes on Towson at 7pm. Stay tuned!