Richmond head coach Allison Kwolek has seen plenty of Virginia throughout her career. In her eight seasons leading the Spiders, she’s coached against the Cavaliers seven times. As a player at William & Mary from 2000-03, she played them four times.

In eleven tries, she’d only been part of one win over the perennial ACC power — a 13-10 William & Mary victory in 2001.

Last week, Kwolek and her Spiders decided that part of the history book needed some updating.

Then-unranked Richmond took down then-No. 6 Virginia (4-2) in a 13-12 overtime upset win on Feb. 26, marking the program’s first win over its in-state rival and its first over a ranked opponent in 14 years. Since then, the Spiders have skyrocketed into the polls, rising to No. 12 and beating Liberty (2-3) 18-9 on Saturday to improve their historic start to 6-0.

“It was just a great opportunity to gauge where we are. That’s a huge win for our program,” Kwolek said. “You don’t beat UVA often. I was just excited for them to have that experience, to have that opportunity and to definitely gain momentum from that.”

At the time of publication, Richmond is one of 10 undefeated teams in the country. It holds one of the country’s best offenses, one that’s averaging nearly 18 goals per game and is powered by a star attacking duo of senior Sam Geiersbach and freshman Arden Tierney.

Geiersbach, a redshirt-junior who made an immediate impact for the Spiders as a freshman in 2017, currently has 17 goals and 18 assists on the year. Tierney has debuted as one of the top rookies in the nation, leading her team with 22 goals and 49 draw controls.

“I knew that she could play the game and seem like she’s an upperclassman,” Kwolek said of Tierney, who was a two-time All-American during her high school career on at Sacred Heart Academy on Long Island. “She has great IQ and can handle the ball with a ton of pressure on her. I’ve been excited to see how much impact she’s had, but I knew that she was going to be a solid player for us right from the start.”

Richmond’s just as solid a team defensively as it is on the other end. Goalie Megan Gianforte finished with 12 saves against the Cavaliers and has already earned two Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week accolades. The Spiders are one of only four teams in the country with top-10 scoring offenses and scoring defenses, and they’re in high company — the others are No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 6 Syracuse.

The Spiders know there’s a lot of season left to play, Kwolek said. Richmond will take on Old Dominion (3-3) in Norfolk on Saturday, a team it faces yearly but hasn’t lost to since 2014. Of the 11 opponents remaining on its regular-season slate, only one is currently ranked — No. 16 UMass on April 11.

So for now, the message is simple: One game at a time.

“We’ve been really emphasizing keeping our eyes on the game that’s in front of us and not looking ahead,” Kwolek said. “It’s about making sure that we can continue to see our game get better in different areas and improve, so that we can continue in a really positive way.”