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o some degree, expectations were higher than usual for the Richmond women’s lacrosse team in 2020.

Coming off its second straight Atlantic 10 championship — in thrilling fashion, by the way — and touting Inside Lacrosse’s No. 10 incoming freshman class, the Spiders had both recent history and future prospects on their side.

Still, even the on-field results through seven games of this shortened season caught non-believers by surprise. Richmond began its season 7-0 and ranked 13^th in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20 when the season came to an end due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think this team is built with a lot of girls who have always been on teams that haven’t always been the No. 1 teams,” said attacker Sam Geiersbach, a redshirt-junior who accumulated 22 goals and 23 assists this season. “Having that group of girls on this team and having that drive is a huge advantage for us. That was something that helped us push through the beginning of the season.”

More than just this characteristic defines the Spiders, though this mindset speaks volumes of how they carry themselves both on and off the field.

On the field, they’re scrappy. Richmond finished second nationally in draw control percentage and fifth in draw controls per game, all as freshman Arden Tierney dominated the circle and finished fifth individually in draws per game. The offense also flowed differently than in years past, as increased ball movement and a shift away from 1-v-1 dodging opened up the offense for players like Geiersbach and Tierney to shine.

Tierney’s a chief example of how that touted freshman class made an immediate impact.

“Coming in, I feel like you never really know what to expect,” Tierney said. “I feel like I knew what the team wanted to accomplish, and my coaches had faith in me. They weren’t putting pressure on me, but they were giving me responsibility.”

Tierney became a starter and an offensive option from the jump, and her first career goal came in a 20-6 drubbing of Longwood in the season-opener. Coming from high school rules which don’t require dropping sticks after scoring, Tierney didn’t know exactly what to do.

“My friends always made fun of me in the beginning because I didn’t know how to drop my stick,” she said. “I used to place it on the ground so awkwardly.”

She got plenty of practice, scoring a team-high 24 goals.

Off the field, Richmond and coach Allison Kwolek pride themselves on inclusivity. Many teams — successful ones, anyway — call themselves families. Kwolek said her players have taken that to another level, essentially eliminating “class structure.”

Starters and reserves are treated the same by everyone on the coaching staff and roster. Tierney and Geiersbach both said there are no favorites. Freshman are welcomed into the homes of upperclassmen with open arms, helping to build a culture that goes beyond the field.

“I think that’s one of the very good reasons as to why I came here,” Geiersbach said. “A lot of teams do talk about how there are no seniorities or divides between classes, but there really could be on some teams. Whether you’re on the field or not for us, it doesn’t matter. We genuinely care.

“Once the freshmen come on to campus, we make it known that we are a family. We don’t leave anyone out. We are all very much equal and we treat each other like equals.”

It’s something Tierney could feel from the first time she visited Richmond and the team. She instantly fell in love with the campus and even said she might have gone to Richmond if lacrosse wasn’t an option. But the team atmosphere really drew her in.

“You can never really tell what grade somebody’s in,” she said. “The seniors, from the first night we all hung out, you could tell that was their goal. They’ve just talked about the inclusivity of the team.”

Perhaps this tight bond helped the Spiders process the devastating news of their historic season being canceled before they could see how far it would take them.

Like many other coaches around the country, Kwolek initially struggled to find the right words to say to a team that had just knocked off in-state rival Virginia — then the No. 6 team in the Nike/USL Top 20 — for the first time since 2006. Richmond was unranked before that game.

“Me and my coaches had to process the news ourselves first,” Kwolek said.

Part of what’s helped Richmond look to future and not dwell on what’s lost is the near-term outlook for this team. That touted recruiting class including Tierney, Lindsay Frank and Sophia DiCenso? It got a brief glimpse of college play and returns both hungry and experienced in 2021.

Of the team’s seven seniors, Kwolek said she expects several back thanks to the NCAA’s eligibility waiver. She said Richmond has been very supportive of student-athletes choosing to do so.

Then there’s Geiersbach, Nicole Concannon, Marina Miller, Brittney Wright and a slew of other talents ready to hit the field next season and prove that Richmond wasn’t a flash in the pan.

“I think when I committed, I saw the potential for this to happen,” Tierney said. “I just wanted to be part of a program that was getting better and better each year. When I was visiting, I saw Coach’s perspective on that.

“We have some unfinished business to take care of. Even though we only played seven games, we were on track to have that historic season.”

Geiersbach thinks “the future can’t look any better.” She doesn’t see Richmond declining anywhere. And while the on-field success will be how people judge the Spiders, Geiersbach said priority No. 1 heading into 2021 is about what happens off the field.

“Our next step right now is getting the incoming players involved,” she said. “We try to do that as soon as we can and make them as comfortable as we can. Connections with the players coming in are very important for us.”