The William & Mary field hockey team kicks off the 2017 season this weekend with a pair of home matches.  The Tribe hosts No. 2 Duke on Friday at 6 p.m., before taking on Fairfield Sunday at noon.  Both matches will be played at Busch Field, and can be followed via live stats on TribeAthletics.com.

Scouting the Tribe
W&M returns over 86% of its scoring from a year ago and over 99% of its defensive production, from a team that went 5-1 in CAA play and finished second in the regular season.  In the field, Tribe returners include pre-season All-CAA picks Erin Menges (Richmond, Va.), Cammie Lloyd (Midlothian, Va.), and Estelle Hughes (Newcastle, NSW), while in goal sophomore Morgan Connor (Bedford, N.Y.) returns after playing every minute as a freshman.

Scouting the Blue Devils
Duke begins the season ranked NO. 2 in the country by the NFHCA, and reached the NCAA Final Four last season before falling to national champion Delaware.  The Blue Devils return pre-season All-ACC pick and All-American Alyssa Chillano, who led Duke with 13 goals and 32 points in 2016, as well as Ashley Kristen, an all-region second-team member last fall.  In goal, Sammi Steele started all 20 games last year with a 1.38 GAA and a .730 save percentage.

Scouting the Stags
Fairfield went 8-13 last year and finished second in the MAAC, but lose their top three scorers from a year ago.  Tops among returnees are Hannah Pike, with 22 points (8g, 6a) and Jaclyn Gallagher (3g, 8a), while in goal, they will be looking at a pair of fairly new faces with a combined 70 minutes of collegiate experience.

The Series
- W&M and Duke are meeting for the 35th time, with the Blue Devils holding a 25-8-1 lead in the series back to 1975.  The two teams have met every year but one since 1984, and this will be the highest ranking Duke has ever had in the meeting.  Last year in the season opener, W&M went down to Durham and scored four goals on No. 4 Duke, joining Syracuse (who were playing at home) as the only teams to score more than three against the Blue Devils all season.
- This will be the third time that the Tribe and Fairfield have squared off, with the series all tied at 1-1.  W&M won the first meeting 5-0 back in 2007, before the Stags returned the favor 3-2 last season.  Both teams have won on their own field so far.

News and Notes
- W&M was picked to finish third in the CAA pre-season poll, behind defending NCAA Champion Delaware and James Madison.  The Tribe lost to Delaware 3-2 in overtime in 2016, and beat the Dukes 4-3 in overtime in the regular season before falling in the conference semifinals, 2-0.

- Tribe players had an outstanding summer on the Team USA circuit, with six players being invited to the YWNC, and five of those earning an invitation onwards to the Team USA selection camps.  Erin Menges was named to the National Developmental Squad, while Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.) was chosen for the U21 National Team and Annie Snead (Midlothian, Va.) was named an alternate to the U21 team as well.

- At the conclusion of spring training, the team selected Erin Menges and Katelyn Rennyson (Centreville, Va.) as team captains.

- W&M returns every all-conference honoree from a year ago, including Erin Menges who was the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-CAA, all-region, and all-state.  Also back is Cammie LLoyd, a first-team All-CAA and all-state choice at forward, as well as Booter Ellis (Delmar, Del.), who joined Menges on the all-region, all-state, and all-conference second teams.  Estelle Hughes was also a member of the All-CAA and all-state second teams, while Annie Snead, Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.), and Morgan Connor were all named to the CAA All-Rookie team.

- Eight of the Tribe's 18 regular season opponents begin the year in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Pre-Season Top-25.  In addition to No. 2 Duke, future opponents include No. 3 Delaware, No. 10 Virginia, No. 11 Michigan, No. 12 Boston College, No. 19 James Madison, No. 23 Old Dominion, and No. 25 Pacific.  Additionally, the Tribe scrimmaged against No. 25 Liberty during camp.

- The last time W&M beat a top-5 team was during the 2013 season, a 2-1 win over No. 5 Virginia in Charlottesville.  

- This will be the 12th time W&M has faced the No. 2 team in the nation dating back to 1993,  and of those, fully half have come in Williamsburg.  Of the rest, three were on the road, and three were neutral-site games.  Before Friday, the last time W&M face No. 2 was back in 2002.

- At the end of the 2016 season, W&M ranked sith nationally with 12 defensive saves.  In the individual rankings, Cammie Lloyd was 23rd overall with 0.79 goals per game and 25th with 1.89 points per game, while Erin Menges was 10th in the nation with five defensive saves.

- Cammie Lloyd begins her senior campaign looking to climb the W&M career charts in a number of categories.  Her 23 career goals in 15th all-time, and she ranks just outside the top-16 with 52 points.  She is currently eighth all-time with 0.52 goals per game, ninth in points per game at 1.18, and 12th with five game-winning goals.  Her numbers are all the more impressive considering she didn't record a single point as a freshman.

- Also appearing in W&M's career charts and looking to move up is senior Emma MacLeod (Richmond, Va.), 16th all-time with 0.33 goals per game, while Erin Menges is tied for 11th with 15 assists, fifth with 0.28 assists per game, and 15th with six defensive saves.  Booter Ellis is just outside the top-10 of defensive saves, 11th in school history with eight overall and tied for ninth among active NCAA players nationwide.  If Morgan Connor can equal or exceed her 93 saves from a year ago, she'll vault all the way up to 10th on W&M's career list in that category.