Fans were treated to the best-played match of the year on Sunday afternoon at Busch Field, as the William & Mary field hockey team took No. 10 Delaware deep into overtime before eventually falling, 3-2.  The Tribe moves to 4-6 on the year and 1-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association after the loss, while the Blue Hens improved to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in league play.

Going up against a high-octane offense from the Blue Hens, the Tribe knew that it had to get on board early, and it did.  In the fourth minute, junior Cammie Lloyd (Midlothian, Va.) drove into the circle and ripped a shot from just inside the circle into the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead, and her eighth goal of the season.  Delaware would find the answer, however, in the 18th minute, scoring the rebound after a great defensive save by freshman Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.) stopped the initial try.

Just two minutes later, Lloyd again put her team ahead by a goal, this time off a corner following passes from Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.) and Erin Menges (Richmond, Va.) set her up for a perfect shot from the top.  For the season, Lloyd raised her average to 0.9 goals scored per game, ninth-best all-time at W&M and the highest since Hall-of-Famer Ann Ekberg '03 averaged 1.1 goals per game in 2002.  Once again the Blue Hens would answer, this time after the halftime horn had blown.  Off a corner, freshman Morgan Connor (Bedford, N.Y.) saved the initial shot, and sophomore Caroline Arrowood (Chesapeake, Va.) made a stick stop on the next shot.  The third time proved too much, however, and the teams went into the huddle tied 2-2.

After all the scoring in the first half, the second half saw the defenses and midfields take over, with possession flowing back and forth and even though the total number of shots stayed the same, the cages stayed empty.  That brought on 7v7 overtime, where Delaware finally won after 10 minutes on a high shot from deep to the far upper 90, which wasn't going to be stopped by anyone under seven feet tall.  For the game, the Tribe faced a 26-10 deficit in shots, and trailed 10-4 on corner opportunities.  That included a 6-1 advantage to Delaware in the second half, which is an amazing testament to W&M's defensive effort.  In goal, the freshman Connor made a total of 10 saves, her second-best outing of the season behind only the season opener against No. 4 Duke.

William & Mary hits the road this weekend for one match, traveling up to Boston to take on Northeastern at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9.