The No. 23-ranked William & Mary field hockey team hits the road this weekend to close out the regular season, with a conference title on the line.  The Tribe will travel to Newark, Del., to face No. 12 Delaware on Friday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m., before continuing on to face Towson on Sunday at 1 p.m.  Links for live stats and live video of both games are available through TribeAthletics.com.

Live Stats on Friday
Live Video on Friday
Live Stats on Sunday
Live Video on Sunday

Scouting the Tribe
W&M re-entered the national poll this week at 11-5 overall, after picking up a pair of thrilling double-overtime victories last week.  The Tribe beat No. 5 Louisville, 2-1 on Thursday night, before downing Northeastern by the same count on Sunday.  Leading the way offensively is senior captain Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.), with seven goals and seven assists, while senior Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.) also has seven goals and senior Woodard Hooper (Williamsburg, Va.) has six goals and two assists, including the game-winner over Northeastern.  In goal, sophomore Kimi Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.) has a 1.75 GAA and 48 saves on a .696 save percentage.

Scouting the Blue Hens
Delaware is 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the CAA, winners of their last four including an 8-4 win over Hofstra and 7-0 against Drexel last weekend to clinch their spot in the CAA Tournament.  Femke Strien has been having a breakout season with 14 goals and four assists, while Ashlyn Carr has nine goals and two assists.  On defense, Sydney Rhodes has the vast majority of minutes in goal, with a 0.90 GAA and 38 saves on a .760 save percentage.

Scouting the Tigers
Towson is 3-14 on the season and 0-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association, but has been playing conference opponents very tough this season with only the last game, a 3-0 loss to Hofstra, being decided by more than a goal.  Samantha Aljets is the team's leading scoring with seven goals and six assists, while Georgia Beachley has added seven more goals and three assists.  On defense, Kasey Bubel leads the CAA with three defensive saves, and Tess Okkerse has a 2.99 GAA and 102 saves on a 0.675 save percentage.

The Series
- W&M and Delaware are meeting for the 27th time this weekend, with the Blue Hens holding a 17-9 advantage in the series.  Delaware had won 10 in a row until the CAA Championship game last season, which the Tribe won 3-2 in overtime for its first conference title.

- W&M leads the all-time series with Towson 25-3-1, dating back to a 1-1 tie in the 1967 season.  The Tribe has won seven in a row dating back to the 2012 season, but the Tigers won three of five before that.

Notes
- With a win on Friday, W&M can clinch a share of the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament.  The Tribe has only ever been the No. 1 seed once, in 2004, and won the regular season outright that year as well.  In 2003, W&M shared the regular-season title with Old Dominion, but was the No. 2-seed based on a head-to-head loss to the Lady Monarchs.

- The Tribe rejoined the Penn Monto/NFHCA National Coaches Poll this week, on the strength of its eight-game winning streak.  The Tribe is ranked No. 23, its highest ranking since the 2018 pre-season poll (when W&M was 22nd), and six opponents are also ranked.  Reigning NCAA Champion North Carolina remained undefeated and unanimous at No. 1, while Duke is No. 4 and Louisville is No. 5.  Delaware checks in at No. 12, while Old Dominion is No. 19 and Monmouth No. 21.

- Since the start of the 2017 season, W&M is 26-10 (.722) in games decided by one or two goals.  That includes a 15-7 (.682) mark in one-goal games, and 11-3 (.786) in two-goal games.

- Over the last two seasons, the Tribe has proven itself very comfortable in overtime.  W&M is 9-4 (.692) in extra hockey, and winners of three in a row this season.  When taking out games that go to a shootout, W&M's record improves to 9-2 (.818) over the last two years.

- Thursday's win over No. 5 Louisville was the first for the Tribe over a top-five team since Oct. 13, 2013, when W&M beat No. 5 Virginia 2-1 on the road.  It was also W&M's first win over an ACC team since that game.

- The last time W&M beat a ranked team in Williamsburg was Sept. 14, 2012, a 1-0 upset of No. 11 Boston University.  The last win over a top-five ranked team at home was Oct. 5, 1995, 3-2 against Virginia.

- W&M tied a program record on Sunday by playing in its third consecutive overtime contests.  The Tribe also played three overtime games in a row during the 2008 season, and during the 2002 season.

- The Tribe's three-straight overtime wins ranks second in school history, behind only the 10-game win streak in overtime games between Oct. 13, 1987, and Sept. 17, 1991.  W&M also won three overtime games in a row at the end of last season, against James Madison, No. 14 Delaware in the CAA Championship game, and Monmouth in the NCAA Opening Round; as well as between the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

- Coming into the week, the W&M senior class has a four-year record of 45-30 (.600), the most wins for any senior class since 2006 (also 45) and the best winning percentage since 2004 (.654).  They are one of just 19 four-year classes (out of 92 total) to collect 45 or more wins during their time on campus.

- The Tribe started 4-0 in conference play for the second year in a row, and the third time overall (also in 2004).

- W&M's current eight-game winning streak is one of just three active streaks in the country eight games or longer.  Defending NCAA Champion North Carolina has won 39 in a row, and No. 9 Princeton matches the Tribe with eight wins in a row.

- The Tribe's 8-0 streak is tied for the fifth-longest winning streak in school history, and the longest since the 2002 team won nine in a row.  It is also the seventh-longest unbeaten streak in program history.  W&M's longest-ever winning streak was 11 in a row, back in 1975, while the longest streak without a loss was 16 games (12-0-4) in 1976.

- The Tribe leads the nation with 84.2% (16 of 19) of field players who have seen action this year having scored either a goal or an assist.  Only two other teams, Michigan (15 of 18, 83.3%) and Providence (13 of 16, 81.3%), have over 80% scoring, and only two other teams (Maryland, with 22 total players, and Saint Joseph's, with 24) have had more players in absolute terms score a point with 17 each.

- With the win over Northeastern, W&M currently has a seven-game winning streak over conference opponents dating back to last season.  That is tied with the 2002 and 2004 teams for the second-longest conference winning streak in program history.  The school record streak is eight games in a row, back in 1989.  After losing the first conference game of the season to Old Dominion, the Tribe won the final six games in the regular season and two in the tournament before facing the top-ranked Monarchs in the championship game again.

- Goodwin was named the CAA Player of the Week on Oct. 22, after scoring four goals in two wins over Drexel and Lafayette.

- Woodard Hooper scored the game-winner against Northeastern, her 12th career game-winner.  That ranks her third among active players in Division I, behind only Michigan senior Meg Dowthwaite (with 16) and Stanford junior Corinne Zanolli (14).  Hooper also ranks fourth all-time at W&M in game-winning goals, and is 12th in school history with 29 career goals so far.

- At Davidson, senior captain Annie Snead (Midlothian, Va.) picked up her 26th career assist to pass Emma Clifton '15 as W&M's all-time assists maker.

- Van de Kamp and Snead (as an alternate) were both picked to represent W&M at the Victory Sports Tours/NFHCA Senior Game this season.  W&M's two picks were the most since 2005, and ranked the Tribe as one of just 11 teams in the nation to have two players chosen.

- Snead was named the CAA Player of the Week on Oct. 9, after scoring three goals and three assists in wins over James Madison and Georgetown.  That included a career-best six points, two goals and two assists, in the Tribe's 7-2 win over the Hoyas.

- Freshman Lily Saunders (Mount Joy, Pa.) was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on Oct. 2, after scoring the Tribe's first goal against Vermont.  That sparked W&M on to score three unanswered for its second win in a row.  Saunders' goal was the first of her career, and the first for a freshman this season.

- W&M is 129-1-1 (0.989) in games in which it scores at least five goals.  The Tribe has won 118 in a row in those games, dating back to the 1945 season.

- Van de Kamp's four penalty strokes made not only leads all players in the NCAA this season, but is also leads all teams so far in 2019.  North Carolina has also scored four penalty stroke goals from multiple players, while the Tar Heels, Stanford, Maine, and Providence have all taken five attempts.

- Junior Haley Hopkins (Springfield, Va.) is tied for the team lead in game-winning goals with three, the latest coming against No. 5 Louisville in double-overtime.

- This year marks the first time that W&M has ever been picked as the pre-season favorite in the CAA.

- Senior captain Christie van de Kamp is the first player in the roughly decade-long pre-season CAA voting to be named the Pre-Season Player of the Year for W&M.  She was joined on the pre-season all-conference team by fellow seniors Annie Snead, Cassidy Goodwin, and Woodard Hooper.  Sophomore Cara Menges (Richmond, Va.) was named honorable-mention as well.

- Head coach Tess Ellis is in her 24th season at W&M and seventh as head coach, with a 67-65 career record (26-14 in CAA games).

- Sophomore Kimi Jones is the reigning Colonial Athletic Association and VaSID State Rookie of the Year, after going 10-3 with 58 saves and a 1.96 GAA as a freshman in 2018.

- Freshman Amber Bode (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) is just the third player from Illinois to ever play for W&M, and the first to do so since Jackie Adams in 1943.

- Another freshman, Tabby Billingham (Dallinghoo, Suffolk, England) is the third Englishwoman in team history, and the first to hail from Suffolk.  She joins her teammate junior Caitlin MacLean (Devizes, Wiltshire, England), as well as Jill Tester (Brighton, Sussex, England) who played as an exchange grad student in 1952.