WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary men's soccer team concludes a stretch of three consecutive Tuesday home matches as they welcome nationally ranked North Carolina on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
The match will be an enhance broadcast on TribeAthletics.TV and will feature multiple camera angles and replay. The stream is available for FREE and HD as well. Also if attendance reaches 750 fans, all fans in attendance will receive $15 off coupon to Anna's Brick Oven Pizza.
TribeAthletics.com caught up with head coach
Chris Norris to discuss the setback at Delaware, some newly found roster depth, and the match with North Carolina. The video preview is available through the above link or by clicking
here.
Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary, which started to receive votes in the NSCAA Top 25 last week, looks get back into the win column as they host nationally ranked North Carolina on Tuesday. The Tribe saw its five-match winning streak come to an end in heartbreaking fashion with a last second double overtime goal at Delaware Saturday. Freshman
Reeves Trott leads the Tribe offense with 10 points on four goals and two assists. Junior
William Eskay is just off of the pace with three goals, two assists, and eight points, while sophomore
Ryder Bell is third on the team with two goals, two assists, and six points. Redshirt junior goalkeeper
Phil Breno has played every minute in goal so far this season. He owns a 0.83 goals-against average, with 23 saves, and three shutouts.
Scouting the Tar Heels
North Carolina, which was ranked second in the country last week, heads to Williamsburg with a 5-1 record, and looking to build off of a win against Pitt on Friday. The Tar Heels lost their first game of the season to East Tennessee State last week. Tucker Hume leads the attack with three goals, one assist, and seven points. Zach Wright is just off of the pace with two goals, two assists, and six assists. Eleven different players have registered points this season for UNC. James Pyle has played every minute in goal this year. He has posted a 0.50 goals-against-average, 12 saves, and four shutouts.
Series History vs. North Carolina
The Tribe host UNC for the 17th time in program history on Tuesday night. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series by 2-12-2 mark. It is the fourth consecutive year that the two teams have met, with the series being deadlocked at 1-1-1 the last three meetings. A season ago, W&M earned a 1-1 tie against the No. 4 Tar Heels. Sophomore
Ryder Bell scored the Tribe's goal and W&M played nearly 40 minutes with 10 men because of a red card.
The Road Ahead
W&M returns to CAA play as it travels to UNCW for a match on Saturday, Sept. 24. The Tribe then returns home for a pair of conference matches starting on Wednesday, Sept. 28 against James Madison, before hosting Northeastern on Saturday, Oct. 1.
First Time's A Charm
Due to some injuries, a trio of Tribe players made their first starts this season. Redshirt sophomore
Geoffrey Young and true freshmen
Ricardo Acosta and
Reeves Trott made the start. It was the first career start for both Acosta and Trott.
Five for Fighting
The Tribe scored five unanswered goals in the second half to take a 5-1 victory at Campbell on Saturday night. It was the most goals W&M has scored in a single match since the 2013 CAA Semifinals when the Green and Gold picked up a 6-3 victory over UNCW. The five markers were the most in any half Nov. 9, 2000 wen they beat UNCW 8-0. It was the most second half wins since the Green and Gold scored six in 9-0 victory over Delaware on Sept. 8, 2000.
On a Roll
W&M won five games in a row from Aug. 9-Sept. 13, before suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss in the final second of double overtime versus Delaware. The win streak is the team's longest since the team won seven in a row from Oct. 6-27, 2010. That season, the Green and Gold won the CAA regular season and tournament championship and advanced to the Third Round of the NCAA College Cup.
Weekly Awards
Freshman
Reeves Trott picked up his second straight CAA Rookie of the Week honor after registering six points on two goals and two assists in the Tribe win at Campbell for the week of Sept. 12. He won the award the previous week after he scored a pair of game-winning goals as W&M topped No. 21 Coastal Carolina and Liberty last week.
Off on the Right Foot
The Tribe has taken the first lead in five of its six matches, so far this season. In the first two contests, W&M was able to do so at a quick rate with both goals coming before the 10-minute mark. Junior
William Eskay scored in the fifth minute against George Washington, before sophomore
Ryder Bell tallied in the eighth minute against Coastal Carolina.
Ranked Victories
With its win over No. 21 Coastal Carolina, the W&M men's soccer team has defeated a ranked opponent in seven of the last eight seasons. That includes a stretch of at least one ranked win from 2009-13. The Green and Gold also defeated a pair of No. 1 teams in a 10-day span back in 2013.
Record Versus Non-Conference Opponents
The Tribe played three games against Big South (3-0), which is the most of any conference aside from the CAA. W&M plays against the ACC and Atlantic 10 (0-1) twice, and have games against the Sun Belt (1-0), Big East (1-0), and Big Ten.
Connect Four
The Tribe had four players honored with CAA All-Preseason honors on Thursday afternoon. Junior
William Eskay and sophomores
Marcel Berry, and
Antonio Bustamante earned Preseason All-CAA honors. Sophomore
Ryder Bell was tabbed to the preseason honorable mention team.
Preseason Projections
W&M was selected to finish fifth in the CAA Preseason Poll by a vote of league's head coaches. Hofstra was selected to repeat as champion. Delaware (second), Elon (third), and UNCW (fourth) rounded out the top four.
Rated Rookie
Now sophomore
Marcel Berry became just the third player in school history to be named the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2015. However that was not where the awards stopped. He was named the No. 46 best freshman by TopDrawerSoccer.com and was a Third-Team Freshman All-American by College Soccer News. Berry appeared 17 games with 15 starts, scoring three goals, four assists, and 10 points.
Summer Championship
Sophomore
Ryder Bell helped his summer team AFC Cleveland to the NPSL championship this summer. Bell scored a goal to ice the victory in stoppage time. He finished the summer with two goals and four points, but also added a pair of goals in a friendly.
Setting the Slate
W&M welcomes 11 opponents in 2016, including preseason top 25 teams No. 8 North Carolina, No. 10 Georgetown, and No. 21 Coastal Carolina. The Tribe will also head to No. 17 Virginia later in the season.
Familiar Faces
The Tribe returns nine of its 11 starts from last season and also returns 20 players from the team. Of those returners four them scored double-figure points for the Tribe including
William Eskay,
Ryder Bell,
Marcel Berry, and
Antonio Bustamante. That quartet are also returning All-CAA players.
New Kids on the Block
The Green and Gold has five true freshman on the roster in
Ricardo Acosta,
Julian Ngoh,
Daniel McBride,
Tanner Shane, and
Reeves Trott. Along with the freshman, W&M welcomes transfers redshirt junior
Phil Breno (UMBC) and redshirt freshman
Hristo Bustamante (George Mason).
