William & Mary field hockey continues its five-game homestand this weekend with a pair of matches at Busch Field.  The Tribe, No. 18 in the country for the second week in a row, will host Pacific University on Friday night at 7 p.m., before taking on La Salle Sunday at noon on Griffin Kids Club Day.  Both matches can be followed via live stats on TribeAthletics.com.

Special Events Ahead
The Tribe's home game against La Salle on Sunday, Sept. 24, will be Griffin Kids Club Day.  Families are encouraged to bring their young ones to meet the Griffin and sign up for the Griffin Kids Club, including a monthly newsletter from the Griffin, a membership card, and a prize pack redeemable at any regular season ticketed athletics event.  Also ahead on the calender is the Breast Cancer Awareness game on Sunday, Oct. 8, against Davidson.  Show your support for breast cancer survivors and research by wearing your pink to the game.

Scouting the Tribe
W&M held steady in the national rankings this week at No. 18, after losing a pair of tough matches to top-10 teams against No. 5 Virginia and No. 10 Boston College.  Senior Cammie Lloyd (Midlothian, Va.) leads the Tribe with 13 points on five goals and three assists, while Woodard Hooper (Reston, Va.) has four goals and an assist.  On defense, sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Connor (Bedford, N.Y.) had 21 saves last week alone to raise her season totals to 47 saves and a .758 save percentage to go along with a 1.96 GAA.  The Tribe defensive line has also been cooking along, leading the CAA and ranking fourth in the nation with five defensive saves.  Senior Erin Menges (Richmond, Va.) and sophomore Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.) are both tied for seventh nationally with two defensive saves each, and senior Katherine Hull (Fredericksburg, Va.) also made her first career defensive save against Boston College.

Scouting the Tigers
Pacific is 3-5 on the year and 0-2 in the America East, briefly reaching the top-25 last week before back-to-back losses to Cal and No. 12 Stanford.  The Tigers have a prolific and well-balanced offense, with four players with double-digit points already led by Savannah Burns with 13 (5g, 3a) and Kriekie van Wyk with 12 (5g, 2a).  On defense, Marlise van Tonger has played every minute in goal with a 2.63 GAA and 41 saves on a .667 save percentage.

Scouting the Explorers
La Salle is 4-2 on the year and 1-1 in the Atlantic 10, with all four of their wins coming via shutout.  Defense has been the name of the game for the Explorers, who also have five defensive saves to rank tied for fourth in the NCAA, and whose goalkeeper, Emma Provost, ranks top-five in the nation in both GAA (0.83, fifth) and save percentage (0.881, third) while making 37 saves.  Summer Pierson and Katie O'Grady both have a pair of defensive saves as well.  On offense, seven different players have scored La Salle's seven goals, with three of them also making assists for three points apiece.

The Series
- This will be just the third meeting all-time between W&M and Pacific, following previous Tribe wins in 1991 (3-0) and 2005 (4-0).  All three games have been played in Williamsburg.
- This is the first time that La Salle and W&M have met since 1988, a 2-0 Tribe win Philadelphia.  Of the current Tribe team, only head coach Tess Ellis and assistant coach Mark Egner were alive for the game, while assistant coach Martu Loncarica would come along later that fall.

News and Notes
- Woodard Hooper is tied for second nationally this season with three game-winning goals.  She ranks behind only national scoring leader Tara Vittese of Virginia and Maddie Latino of Indiana, who each have won four games for their clubs.

- W&M's No. 18 ranking this week is the highest for the Tribe since reaching No. 17 midway through the 2006 season.  Since 1993, the highest W&M has been ranked in the coaches poll was ninth, in the second poll of the 2000 season.

- The Tribe has been ranked for 98 games since 1993 coming into this weekend, with a 49-49 (.500) winning percentage in those matches.  When the Tribe has been favored in those matches, its winning percentage has jumped to 39-20 (.661).

- All three of the Tribe's losses have come to top-10 ranked teams.

- W&M was ranked No. 13 in the first NCAA RPI release this week, by far its best since the NCAA began publicly releasing mid-season RPI standings in 2013.  Previously, the best the Tribe had been ranked was 28th in the first release of the 2015 season.  W&M has played or will six of the top nine teams in the RPI, counting all three of its ACC opponents (Duke, Virginia, and Boston College) as well as Michigan and CAA rivals Delaware and James Madison.

- The W&M defense made three defensive saves in the loss to Boston College, its best total since making four against Old Dominion back in 2005.  Cassidy Goodwin made two stops and Katherine Hull one, all to preserve what was then a 0-0 deadlock.

- Connor made 14 saves against Boston College, beating her previous career high by three saves.  That was the most saves in a single game by a Tribe goalkeeper since the 2009 season, and combined with the three defensive saves, W&M's 17 total stops were the most for a single game since 2002.

- With both UC Davis and Pacific on the schedule, this the first year since 1985 that W&M will play multiple West Coast teams in the same year.  Back then, it was San Jose State (who no longer has a team) and Stanford who had the honors.  Currently, there are only four West Coast field hockey teams in the NCAA - UC Davis, Pacific, Stanford, and California.

- 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 (Newcastle, NSW) was also a member of the All-CAA and all-state second teams, while Annie Snead, Cassidy Goodwin, 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, the line-up included 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.

- At the end of the 2016 season, W&M ranked sixth 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.

Record Watch
- Morgan Connor: 10th Career Wins (14), 13th Career Goalie Minutes Played (1904), 13th Career Goalie Starts (26), 13th Career Saves (140)
- Booter Ellis: T-3rd Season Assists Per Game (0.50), T-11th Career Defensive Saves (8), 13th Career Games Started (63)
- Woodard Hooper: T-16th Season Game-Winning Goals (3)
- Cammie Lloyd: 8th Season Shots Per Game (5.0), T-12th Season Penalty Stroke Attempts (1), 15th Season Points Per Game (1.62), 5th Career Shots Per Game (2.87) T-5th Career Penalty Strokes Made (2), T-5th Career Penalty Stroke Attempts (3), 8th Career Goals Per Game (0.54), 9th Career Points Per Game (1.25), T-10th Career Goals (28), T-12th Career Game-Winning Goals (5), 13th Career Points (65), 14th Career Shots (149)
- Emma MacLeod (Richmond, Va.): 16th Career Goals Per Game (0.32)
- Erin Menges: T-6th Career Assists Per Game (0.25), T-11th Career Assists (15), T-11th Career Defensive Saves (8)
- Team: 14th Shots Per Game (15.38)