The William and Mary field hockey team put together a strong effort Saturday afternoon at Busch Field, but was unable to complete the upset of No. 7 Duke, falling 3-0. The Tribe is now 6-7 on the year, while the Blue Devils improved to 9-5.
The Tribe showed that it could absolutely play with its top-10 ranked opponent, especially in the first half, but was just unable to break through to the goal despite five very good chances in the opening period. The Green and Gold defense was especially stout, as starting goalkeeper Camilla Hill (Williamsburg, Va.) had a total of seven saves in her 58 minutes of action and also made several spectacular challenges that wouldn't show up on the stat sheet.
Also playing very well was junior Christine Johnson (Williamsburg, Va.), who recorded two defensive saves in the opening minutes of the second half. The first came off a penalty corner, stopping a shot that slide just wide of Hill's dive. Just four minutes later, Duke was on a breakaway and the attacker dribbled around Hill's charging challenge. Just when she thought she had a clear look at net, Johnson chased her down from behind and got her stick in front of the shot to deflect it out of bounds.
On the offensive end, three of the Tribe's best chances came together in the middle of the first half. Off a corner, redshirt-freshman Jesse Ebner (Sinking Spring, Pa.) tried to deflect a shot from Johnson into the goal, but the ball hit the post and deflected back out where the defense was able to clear it. The clear didn't travel far, however, as the Tribe regained possession a few yards beyond the circle and junior Leah Zamesnik (Norfolk, Va.) took a chance from the right side shooting back across the goal, but the look was just slightly too wide. Off the restart from out of bounds, Allison Moran (Wynnewood, Pa.) stole the first pass and dribbled in to take her own shot from close to the same position, but again pulled it a little too far trying to get around the goalkeeper and the ball shot wide and out of bounds.
William and Mary is back in action Monday night against its second ACC opponent of the weekend, facing Virginia at 7:30 p.m. at Busch Field.
