The William and Mary field hockey team broke out of a recent scoring drought Monday night, engaging in a shoot-out with ACC foe Virginia before ultimately falling 4-3 at Busch Field. The Tribe is now 6-8 on the year, while the Cavaliers improved to 7-10 overall.
W&m came out firing in the first half, taking ten shots and putting seven of them on-target. After Virgnia's Elly Buckley scored twice in the first 20 minutes to put the Tribe in a 2-0 hole, the Green and Gold offense, which had been knocking on the door, finally began breaking through. After a breakaway chance in the 27th minute was waved off due to a foul, the Cavalier's were awarded a free hit at the dotted circle just outside the shooting area. Freshman
Emma Clifton (Loomberah, NSW) hung around, and correctly guessed the direction of the hit and was able to pick it off after just five yards with an open field in front of her. After tucking into the top of the shooting circle, Clifton lofted a shot over the charging goalkeeper and buried it in the top netting for her fourth goal of season, and cut the lead in half.
Just over three minutes later, W&M again found itself on the attack deep in the Virginia zone. Sophomore
Chaney Manganello (Richmond, Va.) gathered the ball high on the wing, and rocketed a pass through the shooting circle to junior
Ashley Kyle (San Diego, Calif.), five yards out on the far post. Kyle made the stop, spun, and tucked her shot between the post and the goalkeeper sliding over to even the score at 2-2 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, both teams continued to play with an aggressive, flowing attack that repeatedly led to chances for more goals. The Cavaliers would capitalize first, despite an outstanding individual effort from
Jesse Ebner (Sinking Spring). At the turn of the 49th minute, Virginia had the ball at the left post and appeared on the verge of an easy goal when the redshirt-freshman darted in from behind, and got her stick to the ball, knocking it away for her first defensive save. The Cavaliers would score soon afterwards, however, off a corner and go back on top 3-2.
The lead grew back to two in the 62nd minute, after a Virginia player was able to gather her own rebound off of a
Camilla Hill (Williamsburg, Va.) save and found an open piece of net, but the Tribe would soon be back knocking on the door again. After drawing a corner, Ebner sent the ball in to Clifton, and redshirt-junior
Leah Zamesnik (Norfolk, Va.) provided the scoring stroke for her team-leading sixth goal of the season. In the final minute, the Tribe had yet another corner and a chance to send the match into overtime, but a Virginia player was able to get just enough of her stick on the ball to delect it out, and the clock expired before W&M was able to play back into a scoring position.
William and Mary's home schedule will come to an end this weekend with two curcial CAA tests. Friday, the Tribe will take on VCU at 7:30 p.m., before celebrating Senior Day against James Madison on Sunday at 1 p.m. All three teams are currently in the thick of the hunt for a spot in the conference tournament.
