FAIRFAX, Va. – The University of Richmond women's lacrosse program had to earn its second-straight title as the Spiders became back-to-back Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament champions with an impressive, come-from-behind 19-18 overtime victory over top-seeded Massachusetts Sunday afternoon at George Mason Stadium.  

The Spiders trailed by six goals in the second half and never led until the final goal before repeating as champions. Richmond scored the game's final five goals over the last 6:47 of regulation and the overtime period. Redshirt sophomore attacker Sam Geiersbach scored the game-winning, golden goal at the 4:01 mark of overtime to send the Spiders home victorious. Madison Ostrick forced overtime as she scored the game-tying goal off an assist from Geiersbach with four seconds remaining in regulation.
 
With the win, the Spiders move to 17-3 overall on the year, setting a new program single-season wins record. The squad also surpassed the program single-season point mark, totaling 448 on the year.
 
The Spiders were off to a slow start, falling behind 3-0 early after receiving two unreleasable yellow cards to start the game. The Spiders managed to rally to tie the game at 4-4 and again at 5-5 off of goals from Julia Schmuckler and a pair each from Marissa Brown and Katie Sciandra, but UMass took the momentum back with a five-goal run to double up the Spiders.
 
Despite a three-goal run from the Spiders, the Minutewomen rebounded with a pair to take a 12-8 lead into halftime.
 
UMass scored the opening two goals of the game to take its largest lead of the game with 27:17 left before Mia Castagnero scored three in a row to cut into the lead. The Minutewomen extended the advantage to four despite goals from Geiersbach and Brown, taking an 18-14 lead with 11 minutes to play.
 
Just when the Spiders looked to be out of time, Castagnero scored twice more in just 37 seconds and defender Julie Ball ran the ball the length of the field for her second goal of the season to pull the Spiders to within one with 1:22 remaining.
 
The Spiders won the ensuing draw, but turned it over on the offensive end to give UMass a chance to ice the game. With just 27 seconds remaining and following a Minutewomen timeout, Geiersbach and Sciandra forced the UMass defender into a turnover to get the ball back. Sciandra's initial shot went high, but Geiersbach collected off the chase, wrapped around the crease and sent the ball to Ostrick who flicked in the game-tying goal with four seconds to play.
 
UMass never had the ball in its offensive end in the overtime period, as the Spiders won the draw and, despite turning it over, forced another Minutewomen turnover off a Sciandra stick check. Geiersbach's goal came just under two minutes into the first overtime, as she ran to the center of the fan and shot past the UMass goalie for the 19-18 win and the A-10 Title.
 
Brown led the way on offense with eight points on four goals and four assists, while Castagnero tallied six goals in the win. Megan Gianforte logged 10 saves in the win.
 
Geiersbach was named the A-10 Championship's MVP, while Ball, Brown, Castagnero, Gianforte and Sciandra were all named to the A-10 All-Championship Team.
 
The Spiders will now await their fate, as the 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket will be released on Sunday, May 5, at 8 p.m. on NCAA.com.