BOSTON, Mass. - The No. 21-ranked William and Mary Tribe women's soccer team clinched the CAA regular-season championship on Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win at Northeastern.  With the victory, the College improves its record to 13-1-2 and its CAA conference mark to a perfect 8-0.  With the loss, Northeastern falls to 8-7-1 on the year and to 4-3-1 in league play.

Tribe Head Coach John Daly remarked after the victory, "To clinch the regular season title this early is an amazing achievement by our players."  Commenting on how the Tribe has been so successful this season Daly remarked, "We have been able to score goals through attacking, entertaining soccer and have backed it up with solid defense."

The CAA regular season title is the 10th in program history for William and Mary and the first since the 2008 season.  The College will now host the six-team, CAA Tournament at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field on November 3-6.  In the tournament, both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will earn byes to the semifinals to be played on Friday, November 4.

Leading the way for the Tribe on Sunday afternoon was junior captain Mallory Schaffer, who scored two goals and tallied an assist.  Sophomore Audrey Barry had the other score for the College, while junior Cortlyn Bristol, sophomore Dani Rutter, and freshman Emory Camper each recorded an assist in the win.  In goal, Katherine Yount made five saves for the Green and Gold.

The Tribe struck early on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Boston, taking an early 1-0 lead over the Huskies.  On a corner kick, Bristol sent a great ball in to the 18-yard box.  The pass found a wide-open Schaffer in the middle of the area, who headed the ball beautifully in to the back of the net for the score.  The goal was Schaffer's CAA-leading 13th of the season and it gave the Tribe a 1-0 advantage over Northeastern.

In the 14th minute the College nearly doubled its lead over the Huskies.  On the attack, sophomore Audrey Barry back-heeled a great pass to Bristol, who found herself in space on the right side.  Bristol cracked a shot to the far post, but her attempt went off the post and was cleared out of danger.

After nearly getting its second goal 10 minutes earlier, Schaffer and the College struck in the 24th minute.  On a throw-in, Rutter sent a pass to Camper at the top right corner of the 18-yard box.  Camper quickly played a pass off to Schaffer, who blasted a low shot towards the far post, burying it for her 14th goal of the season.  With just over 20 minutes left in the first half, William and Mary led Northeastern, 2-0.

In the 34th minute, the Tribe's high-powered offense was back at it, scoring its third goal of the match.  With possession in the midfield, Schaffer played a great through ball down the right side of the pitch to a streaking Barry.  With just the keeper to beat, Barry made a great shot, beating the NU goalie to the far post for the score.  Barry's second goal of the season gave the Tribe a 3-0 advantage.

In the second half, the Northeastern offense amped up its attack, searching desperately for a way to get back in to the match.  In the 48th minute, NU's Greta Samuelsdottir netted a goal, bringing the Huskies to within 3-1, but that's as close as it came, as the College held on for the victory.

For the match, Northeastern out shot the College, 20-19, taking 14 of those attempts in the second half.  The Tribe did get more of their looks on goal, however, as W&M had eight on target to six for Northeastern.  Rutter, Barry, and Camper each had three shots to lead the College.

With the victory, William and Mary extended a pair of impressive streaks.  The Tribe has now won nine matches in a row, matching a nine-match winning streak in 2002..  The College also ran its unbeaten mark to 10 matches, the longest stretch since the Green and Gold went unbeaten in 15 matches back in 2006.

The No. 21 William and Mary Tribe women's soccer team will continue its five-match road trip on Friday, October 21 when the College will head to Harrisonburg to face the James Madison Dukes.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with live stats available at TribeAthletics.com.