Ticket Punched! 'Cats Secure Spot in A-10 Postseason

Thursday, October 20

Davidson, NC

7 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

11-2-4, 4-2-3

Richmond

3-9-4, 2-4-3

Richmond

Davidson

Photo by: Tim Cowie/DavidsonPhotos.com

Ticket Punched! 'Cats Secure Spot in A-10 Postseason

10/20/2022 10:51:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score A-10 Standings DavidsonPhotos.com

DAVIDSON — The scoreboard didn't tell the full story for the Davidson women's soccer team after Thursday's 1-1 draw with Richmond.

That's because with the tie and the one point that goes with it, the Wildcats punched their ticket to the Atlantic 10 Conference's eight-team postseason tournament.

The Wildcats, now 11-2-4 overall and 4-2-3 in the league, have totaled a program-best 15 points through nine of 10 league games and are tied with Duquesne for fourth entering Sunday's season finale at La Salle.

Sunday's slate of games will finalize the bracket, as there are many scenarios for which team ends in which spot, but for now, the Wildcats are in the tournament for the second time, and that means a lot.

In other words, Thursday was a program win, if you will, on the night of a tie.

"Just really pleased for the group," said coach Adam Denton, who also led the team to the A-10 Tournament in the 2020-21 spring season. "Every player, through the course of the season, has put in a lot of hard work, and everyone should be enjoying the team's success of a good season so far and qualifying for the A-10 Tournament. There's still an important three points to play for, which will be our focus. But we're really pleased for the players and really proud of what they've done all year, every single one of them."

To earn a draw Thursday, the Wildcats had to respond to an early Richmond goal, as Spider Caitlin Sutton scored just after the two-minute mark.

But the Wildcats did respond and evened the score in the 14th minute when Riley Patton passed ahead to Aleia Gisolfi-McCready, who scored her team-leading fourth goal.

"It was a great pass by Riley, so all the credit to her," said Gisolfi-McCready, who finished lower left.

Denton was pleased with how his team answered once it was down 1-0, after having surrendered its earliest goal of the season.

"I think that's a sign of our growth this year," he said. "We've done a good job keeping clean sheets this year, but we conceded a really early goal. The positive is when you concede an early goal, you have longer to get it back. But I do think it was a good sign that after 10 or 15 minutes, we really started to play, and it didn't really faze us that we were one down."

In the 2020-21 season, which was played in the spring due to COVID-19's impact, the Wildcats were one of just four teams to reach the condensed league tournament and earned a semifinal win over UMass and a spot in the final.

In all, seven teams have now locked up spots in the A-10 Tournament, also including Saint Louis (27 points), Dayton (21), VCU (20) and Saint Joseph's and UMass (14).

Sunday's game at La Salle is set for 1 p.m.