Scouting the Tribe
W&M opened the 2017 campaign with a 1-0 setback at Michigan on Friday night. The Green and Gold surrendered a first-half penalty kick to the home Big Ten side, and despite holding a 6-3 advantage in shots and a 5-1 cushion in corner kicks during the final 45 minutes, the Tribe could not find the equalizer. In its lone exhibition game of 2017, W&M topped Navy, 3-1, thanks to three goals over an eight-minute, first-half stretch. Senior
William Eskay scored twice over a near three-minute span, beginning in the 11th minute, and junior
Antonio Bustamante added the third. Both players factored in all three goals as Bustamante recorded a pair of assists and Eskay notched one. The Tribe was named the favorite to win the Colonial Athletic Association by vote of the league coaches, garnering five of the nine first-place votes. W&M placed five players on the preseason all-conference team led by Bustamante as the preseason player of the year. Juniors
Marcel Berry and
Ryder Bell garnered preseason All-CAA honors, while Eskay and sophomore
Tanner Shane were named honorable mention.
Scouting N.C. State
The Wolfpack opened the season with a 3-2 home win over Florida Atlantic on Friday night. N.C. State twice trailed by a goal, but rallied with a trio of markers over a seven-minute stretch. Tanner Roberts, Stephen Elias and Manny Perez scored in the win for the Wolfpack. In the exhibition portion of its schedule, the Wolfpack went 1-0-1, including a 4-1 win at No. 24 UConn on Aug. 19. N.C. State scored all four goals in the second half, three in the final 10 minutes and a pair from Roberts. The Wolfpack is led by first-year head coach George Kiefer who took over the reigns after spending the last 15 years as the head man at South Florida. Last season, N.C. State went 5-12 overall, including a 1-7 ACC mark. They added 11 newcomers to the mix for 2017 and the group was highly regarded, ranking ninth nationally by Top Drawer Soccer. The Wolfpack returns 80 percent of both its goals and assists from last season. Julius Duchscherer led N.C. State with nine goals and 22 points.
Series History: W&M vs. N.C. State
The Wolfpack leads the all-time series with the Tribe at 4-3 and have won the last two meetings. In the seven-game series, both teams have scored nine goals. N.C. State won the most recent meeting in Raleigh, 1-0, during the 2014 season. The Wolfpack also downed the Tribe, 2-1, in Williamsburg in 2013.
Facing the ACC
The Tribe faces a trio of ACC opponents during the 2017 campaign with the first coming against the Wolfpack on Monday. The Green and Gold also face North Carolina (Sept. 13) in Cary, N.C., and host Virginia Tech (Oct. 18). It marks the third time in the last five years that W&M plays three ACC teams in a season, and it's the fifth consecutive season that the Tribe has faced multiple ACC opponents. Over the last six years, the Green and Gold tallied four wins against ACC counterparts. In total, the Tribe faces four teams from Power 5 conferences this season, including its season opener at Michigan. The four major conference foes are the most on the Green and Gold slate since 2007. During head coach
Chris Norris' tenure, the Tribe owns seven wins and four ties against Power 5 Conference opponents.
CAA Favorite
W&M was selected as the preseason favorite to win the Colonial Athletic Association by vote of the league's nine head coaches. The Tribe received five first-place votes and totaled 61 points to outdistanced second-place Hofstra, which tallied three first-place votes and 52 points. The Pride was the 2016 regular season CAA Champion, before falling to the Tribe, 3-1, in the CAA Semifinals. UNCW, which received the other first-place vote, was third in the standings followed by Elon and reigning Champion Delaware. Charleston and JMU tied for sixth in the poll, while Northeastern and Drexel rounded out the standings.
Preseason Hype for Bustamante
After a stellar sophomore campaign, junior
Antonio Bustamante was well recognized during the preseason. The United Soccer Coaches (USC) named him to the Watch List for the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, which is college soccer's version of the Heisman Trophy. He is the second Tribe player and first since Nat Baako in 2010 to be named to the national player of the year watch list. The CAA head coaches voted Bustamante as the league's preseason player of the year after he ranked second in the CAA with 24 points and third with 10 goals in 2016. Most recently, Bustamante garnered preseason All-America honors by the
College Soccer News and was selected to
Top Drawer Soccer's Top 100 Players to Watch list. He was second team All-America selection and ranked No. 50 on the Top 100 list. Bustamante was a First Team All-CAA and All-Midwest Region selection last season and has 15 goals over his Tribe career.
Eskay's Exhibition Excellence
Senior
William Eskay enjoyed a strong exhibition performance in the win over Navy, tallying two goals and an assist. He scored both goals over a two-minute-and-40-second stretch starting at the 10:27 mark. He added an assist on
Antonio Bustamante's goal in the 19th minute, giving the Tribe three goals in eight minutes. For his career, Eskay has 16 goals and 14 assists. Last season, he ranked eighth in the CAA in points (17) and third in assists (7), while adding five goals.
Up Next
W&M plays its second-straight home game, welcoming Patriot League preseason favorite Loyola (Md.) to Williamsburg on Friday, Sept. 1. The contest carries a 7 p.m. start time and the live stream will be available at TribeAthletics.com.
