The William and Mary field hockey team pushed No. 9 Old Dominion to the very brink and even beyond Wednesday night, forcing overtime before ultimately falling 3-2 near the end of the first extra period.  The Tribe is now 10-7 on the year, while the Monarchs improved to 13-4 and picked up five points in the Optima Health Challenge.

Box Score

Freshman phenom Pip Saunders (Mittagong, NSW) scored both goals for the College, the first to take a 1-0 lead and the second to tie the score at 2-2 and force overtime.  Her first tally came early in the sixth minute, when she slotted the ball through traffic in the circle and past the late-reacting goalkeeper.  ODU would score thirty seconds later, and then the defenses would settle in for the rest of the half.

Coming out for the second half, the Monarchs wasted little time and took a 2-1 lead just 35 seconds in.  Saunders stood ready to respond, however, and scored the equalizer early in the 38th minute.  She arrowed her way through the ODU defense, and shot past the out-stretched arms of the goalkeeper to tally her team-leading seventh goal of the season.  Once again, after the early barrage both defenses re-asserted control, and neither team budged until the horn blew for overtime.

Playing seven-on-seven in the first overtime period, the two well-matched teams traded parries back and forth, but neither was able to find an opening to score and claim the win until just over two minutes left.  Senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Frey (Virginia Beach, Va.) challenged an ODU breakaway, but was whistled for a foul in the circle.  The Monarchs were awarded a penalty-stroke, their second of the game after Frey stopped one in the first half, but she was unable to duplicate that feat and Old Dominion escaped with a very lucky win.  For the game, Frey had eight saves, while redshirt-freshman Cate Johnson (Charlottesville, Va.) added three more.

William and Mary and ODU will meet again on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. in Williamsburg, with the second match in the series counting towards the CAA Tournament standings.  Before the contest, the Trbe will its six seniors in a brief ceremony.