- Standing tall with Mia Castagnero, Spiders women's lacrosse gearing up to defend A-10 title
University of Richmond senior Mia Castagnero, about five yards in front of the lacrosse net, moved through a labyrinth of Saint Joseph’s defenders Friday afternoon at Robins Stadium. Trying to get her out of a danger zone, the Hawks repeatedly bumped Castagnero low. They couldn’t do much to prevent a high pass.
Castagnero, who is 5-foot-10, extended her stick skyward, received a pass up there, then turned and scored one of her five goals in the Spiders’ 21-11 victory. Height helps.
“It definitely has its advantages, being able to grab some of the tall passes,” said Castagnero, a resident of Apex, N.C. “They might not be able to reach like I can reach, but they usually have a little quicker footwork and are able to keep up with me, though.”
With 55 seconds remaining in Friday’s game, Castagnero demonstrated she can also damage defenses without the assistance of her height. From 10 yards, she wound up and launched a shot that scored, punctuating the conclusion of the regular season for the Spiders (14-3, 7-2 A-10).
A strong push from Castagnero, one of the team’s top scorers, helped the Spiders at abut this time last year, too. During the A-10 tournament at Robins Stadium, she scored four times in a 12-11 overtime victory over Massachusetts in the championship game. Castagnero followed that with three goals in 24-18 loss to Northwestern in a first-round NCAA tournament game played at Towson.
Castagnero missed about one-and-half seasons of her UR career because she broke her left foot twice. Each of those non-contact injuries required surgery. Evidently, she is clearly recovered as the third–seeded Spiders start their conference title defense against sixth–seeded Duquesne Thursday at 4 p.m., at George Mason in the A-10 tournament quarterfinals. That follows the 1 p.m. quarterfinal involving No. 4 Saint Joseph's and No. 5 VCU (7-9, 4-5 A-10).
Semifinals will be played Friday, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday at noon.
“We’re definitely going into the A-10 tournament with a lot of confidence, but knowing that a lot of people are out to take the title from us,” said Castagnero.
Allison Kwolek, a William & Mary grad in her seventh season as UR’s coach, said she believes last year’s postseason success is valuable “because we have the experience. We’ve been in this situation before, and I think [the Spiders] know what it’s going to look like now.”
On Feb. 21, the Spiders lost 19-5 to No. 12 Virginia. Since, UR was defeated twice, at George Mason in overtime (9-8) and at Massachusetts, the top seed in the league tournament, in overtime (13-12).
“I feel like the two losses that we had this season in A-10 play were just kind of upsets that shouldn’t have happened. A couple of whoopsies,” said senior Tatiana Monds. “So it’s really nice that we’re going to come back and have the chance to defend our title, and show the A-10 that last year wasn’t a mistake.
“We did this, and we’re going to do it again.”
Before the Spiders won the 2018 A-10 championship, Massachusetts captured the previous nine league titles. UMass (14-3, 9-0 A-10) is this year's regular-season winner and top seed, followed by No. 2 George Mason (11-6, 7-2 A-10).
