The William and Mary field hockey team continued its strong start to the season on Sunday afternoon, powering past Appalachian State 7-2 in a neutral-site match. The Tribe improves to 2-0 with wins over the Mountaineers and Davidson on Saturday, while ASU falls to 0-2 on the year.
Box Score
Senior forward Allison Moran (Wynnewood, Pa.) was the woman on the spot against the Mountaineers, scoring a career-high two goals and two assists to lead her team to victory. On the other end of the field, redshirt-freshman Catherine Johnson (Charlottesville, Va.) went the distance for the win in her first collegiate game, stopping five shots. In between the two, a veritable bevy of stats piled up with six other players recording either a goal or an assist and 10 putting at least a shot on goal.
The goal-scorers in the match included senior Ashley Kyle (San Diego, Calif.), who was credited with the game-winner when she shot past the Mountaineer goalkeeper in the fourth minute. It was her second goal of the season, and the second time she has been the first W&M player to reach the back of the net. Sophomores took care of the other four goals, with Brittany Hopkins (Springfield, Va.), Emma Clifton (Loomberah, NSW), redshirt-sophomore Taylor Gladey (Mountaintop, Pa.), and Kayleigh Ross (McLean, Va.) scoring in that order. Besides Moran's two helpers, redshirt-senior Leah Zamesnik (Norfolk, Va.) and junior Giovanna Golen (Charlotte, N.C.) were each credited with an assist.
The game got off to a quick start for the Tribe just over three minutes in, when Zamesnik and Kyle connected for the winning tally. In the scrum after a corner attempt fell apart, Zamesnik found herself with the ball and the Appalachian goalkeeper working to block her from the goal. The fifth-year flipped the ball over the keeper to Kyle on the back side of the play, who calmly slotted her shot into the lower right corner.
In the middle of the 13th minute, Hopkins struck to extend the lead to 2-0. The sophomore attacker stripped an ASU defender of the ball, then charged into the top of the circle. As the goalkeeper came out to challenge, Hopkins ripped an easy chip shot up and over into the back of the boards. Then it was Clifton's turn, deftly manouevering in from the right side and scoring with a reversed stick. The 3-0 score would hold up for the rest of the half, as W&M held the absolute edge with an 18-0 advantage in shots and 9-0 lead in corner opportunities.
The College once again eased up in the second half, but still managed to take on four more goals in only five shots. Moran accounted for each of the first two in a space of about 90 seconds, beginning at the end of the 44th minute. On the first, Golen intercepted an attempted clearing pass and swiftly redirected it to Moran at the top of the circle, who then turned and buried her shot into the back of the net. Shortly thereafter, Moran found herself on a breakaway about 30 yards out, and ran it into the top of the circle for another powerful, cracking shot into the boards.
Five minutes later, Moran was in position to help another teammate get on the board. She drove the ball from 40 yards out, then dished to Gladey on the far side of the circle. The sophomore fired her shot past the sliding keeper and into the back post for the first goal of her career. Appalachian State scored the next two goals to cut the lead to four, at 6-2, but with just about six minutes remaining the Tribe put the capper on their impressive afternoon. Moran was once again the playmaker, channeling an entry pass from Mia Cherry (Yorktown, Va.) on the left side to find Ross near the goal on the baseline. The young midfielder was able to rip off a powerful one-timer past the keeper and into the net, recording her first goal in the process.
W&M's impressive output on Sunday ranks highly on several record-books. The seven goals is the most scored by the Tribe since the match against Kent State in 2005, which was another 7-2 victory. Both performances are tied for the seventh-most goals ever scored in a single game. Taking goals and assists together, today's 18 points is tied for eighth in school history, and again is the most scored since the Kent State match (20 points, on seven goals and six assists). Combined with the five goals scored Saturday against Davidson, the Tribe's 12 goals to start this fall is the second-most ever in the first two games of the season, behind only the 1974 team (14 goals). That year, W&M beat Old Dominion 9-0 in the season-opener and followed with a 5-1 win over Goucher College.
William and Mary continues its season-opening road trip next weekend, with two more matches against NorPac foes. On Friday night, Aug. 31, the Tribe will be Farmville to take on Longwood at 7 p.m. Two days later, Sunday, W&M will face Liberty at 2 p.m. in Lynchburg.
