WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - In a shootout between a pair of nationally-ranked teams, the
William and Mary field hockey team came up on the short end of the stick,
falling to No. 18-ranked Drexel, 4-3, on Friday night at Busch Field. Sophomore
Brittany Hopkins jumped started the No. 21-ranked Tribe with two goals in
staking the College to a 3-0 lead less than 24 minutes into the game, but
Drexel reeled off four unanswered, including a pair off penalty corners in the
second half to pull out the come-from-behind victory. W&M fell to 9-4 overall
and 2-2 in CAA action, while the Dragons remained perfect in league play at
3-0, improving to 10-3 overall.
The Tribe came firing out of the gates, scoring inside the
first two minutes. Off a common foul, senior
Christine Johnson unleashed a long
pass into the circle, where Hopkins worked around a Drexel defender and
deflected the ball into the left-side boards to give W&M the early 1-0
lead. It was Johnson's fifth assist of the season.
W&M scored a pair of goals over a two-minute and
eight-second span to push the lead to 3-0. Hopkins struck for the second time
at the 21:31 mark from the left side of the circle. Freshman
Pip Saunders
collected a ball on the left side of the area and pushed it through to Hopkins,
who finished from a sharp angle under the Drexel goalkeeper and into the
far-side boards. The two goals on the night brought Hopkins' season total to
three.
Just over two minutes later it was again Saunders setting up
the Tribe for a score. From her knees, the Tribe rookie sent a shot on cage
that was blocked by the Dragon goalkeeper, but junior
Taylor Hodge was there to
push the loose ball into the open cage. Hodge's second goal of the season gave W&M
a three-goal cushion in the 24th minute. Saunders tallied her fifth helper of the
season, tying for the team lead.
It looked as though the Green and Gold would take the 3-0
advantage to the locker room, but Drexel had other ideas, scoring twice over
the final 51 seconds of the first half to pull within a goal. Sophomore Meghan
Plank drove to poke in a pass from freshman Lauren Hibshman at the 34:09 mark
to put Drexel on the scoreboard, and then less than 30 seconds later, it was freshman
Danielle Grassi scoring from nearly the same spot. Grassi's first goal of the
season closed the W&M advantage to 3-2 going into the intermission.
On its second successive penalty corner in the opening
stages of the second half, Drexel drew even at three. Amanda Fleischut scored the
equalizer off a hard shot from the top of the circle at the 44:25 mark. Plank
and Hibshman each recorded assists on the play.
The Dragons dialed up the same combination in the 57th
minute for what proved to be the game-winner. Fleischut tallied her second goal
of the game and eighth of the season on another hard attempt from the top of
the circle to put Drexel on top for good at 4-3. Plank added a second assist to
go along with her goal, while Hibshman registered her third assist on the four Dragon
goals.
For the game, Drexel outshot W&M by the narrowest of
margins at 11-10, placing eight on goal compared to the Tribe's seven. The
Dragons held a 4-1 advantage in penalty corners, while both goalkeepers
finished with four saves.
W&M returns to action when it hosts Towson on Sunday,
Oct. 7. The match carries a 1 p.m. start time from Busch Field.
