The No. 22-ranked William & Mary field hockey team plays at home for the first time this weekend, hosting longtime-rival Old Dominion on Friday at 6 p.m., and Lafayette on Sunday at noon.  Both games will be hosted at Busch Field, where attendance is free of charge, and can also be followed via live stats on TribeAthletics.com.

Scouting the Tribe
W&M opened the year with a loss on the road at No. 3 Duke, 4-0, last weekend.  Junior goalkeeper Morgan Connor (Bedford, N.Y.) made seven saves in the effort, and shots were recorded for classmates Woodard Hooper (Reston, Va.), Annie Snead (Midlothian, Va.), and Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.).

Scouting the Lady Monarchs
Old Dominion went 2-0 on the opening weekend of the year, downing Michigan State 2-0 and Kent State 1-0.  Erin Huffman scored the game-winner in both games, while Amie Olton has the third goal for ODU.  In goal, the Lady Monarchs used a different goalkeeper in each game, with Kealsie Robles making four saves and Cam MacGillivray stopping one attempt.

Scouting the Leopards
Lafayette also started the year 0-1, with a 3-1 setback against Fairfield.  Caroline Turnbull scored the goal for the Leopards, while Sarah Park made seven saves.  Lafayette will play Richmond on Friday before coming to Williamsburg.

The Series
- Long-time conference and national rivals, W&M and ODU have meet 59 times since the 1973 season, with the Lady Monarchs holding a 47-12 advantage in the series.  Last year, the Tribe won 3-2 in Norfolk for its first road win since the 1977 season, while the last time W&M won at home was in 2004, en route to the CAA regular season title.
- This weekend will be the fourth meeting all-time between W&M and Lafayette, and the first since 2003.  The Tribe holds a 2-1 advantage, with wins in 1983 and 2003, while the Leopards took the 1991 meeting, 4-2.

News and Notes
- With a win on Friday, W&M would have its first back-to-back wins over ODU since the Carter Administration.  The Tribe, then ranked No. 11, upset No. 9 Old Dominion 2-1 to claim the state championship on Nov. 1, 1980.  One week later, at the regional championships, the rankings were reversed by the result the same as a 3-2 W&M win propelled the Tribe to the region title and a spot in the AIAW National Championships.

- Two wins this weekend would give W&M a 2-1 start to the year for the third time in the last four seasons.

- The CAA pre-season poll reflected last year's regular season finish, with W&M picked third behind Delaware and James Madison.  Northeastern was picked fourth, followed by Drexel, Hofstra, and Towson.

- Seven of W&M's 2018 opponents appeared in the pre-season NFHCA coaches poll.  In addition to No. 3 Duke, other ranked teams included No. 1 UConn, No. 7 Virginia, No. 9 Delaware, No. 14 Wake Forest, No. 15 Stanford, and No. 17 James Madison.

- This year will mark the first time that the Tribe has ever played west of the Mississippi River.  W&M will head to California in October, facing Pacific on Oct. 13 and Stanford on Oct. 15.

- Fans will have nine new faces on the sidelines this year, including seven freshmen and two transfers.  That includes sophomores Ashley Drum (Virginia Beach, Va.), a transfer from Iowa, and classmate Haley Hopkins (Springfield, Va.), who came to Williamsburg from the University of Virginia.  Freshmen include Kimi Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.), Maggie Hubert (Stafford, Va.), Rachel Gantz (Lancaster, Pa.), Jillian Murphy (Greenwood Village, Colo.), Hallie Larsen (Richmond, Va.), Cara Menges (Richmond, Va.), and Jorja Morgan (Wakerley, QLD, Australia).

- Both Hopkins and Menges are sisters of former W&M standouts.  Brittany Hopkins '15 scored nine goals and 11 assists from 2011-14, and Erin Menges '18 graduated last spring as a two-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year with 10 goals, 18 assists, and 12 defensive saves.

- Over the summer, Christie van de Kamp was named to the Team USA U21 Junior National Team for the second year in a row.

- Both van de Kamp and senior Jenny McCann (Annandale, Va.) will serve as team captains this season.

- Junior goalkeeper Morgan Connor is averaging 11 wins per year in her career so far at W&M, and enters this year just 14 wins shy of the all-time record of 36 held by Cindy Heldt '79.

- Head coach Tess Ellis begins her sixth year at the helm of Tribe field hockey, with a record 44-53 (17-13 CAA).  In just five years, Ellis already has three coaching awards, including CAA Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014 and was named the 2017 SynapseSports.com National Coach of the Year.

- All-time in the month of August, the Tribe is 19-14.