WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's soccer team opens its final road swing of the regular season with a pair of Colonial Athletic Association matches this weekend. The Tribe travels to UNCW on Thursday, Oct. 10, before heading to Northeastern on Sunday, Oct. 13. Kickoffs are set for 7 p.m., and Noon, respectively.
Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary looks to get back into the win column after a pair of heartbreak double-overtime setbacks last weekend. The Tribe opens a three-game road swing at UNCW on Thursday and at Northeastern on Sunday. Junior
Alex Kuhnle (4 g, 1 a) and sophomore
Renee Kohler (2 g, 5a) lead the team in points with nine. Redshirt senior
Sarah Segan is just off the pace with three goals and six assists. Meanwhile, seven different players – Kohler, redshirt senior
Sarah Segan, redshirt junior
Lauren Kelly, junior
Courtney Miles,
Alex Kuhnle, and
Colleen Norton, as well as freshman
Kayleigh Shackford – have all scored goals this season. In goal, both senior
Katelyn Briguglio and sophomore
Maisy Fling have seen action for the Tribe this year. Briguglio has seen the bulk of the action with 11 games and nine starts. She owns a 2.08 goals-against-average with 55 saves, and two shutouts. Fling has started three times and appeared in four games, with a 2.96 goals-against-average, and eight saves.
Scouting the Seahawks
UNCW (7-4, 3-1 CAA) has reeled off three straight wins as it hosts the Tribe on Thursday night. The Seahawks have topped Northeastern (2-0), Charleston (5-0), and Towson (1-0) on their recent run. Audrey Harding (5 g, 3 a) and Emily Moxley (3 g, 7 a) lead the offense with 13 points apiece. Morgan Nanni is just outside of the double-figure mark in points with four goals, one assist, and nine points. Sydney Schneider, who played for Jamaica in the 2019 Women's World Cup, has started every game for UNCW. She has posted a 1.03 goals-against-average, 38 saves and two shutouts. Schneider has also combined with Anna Johnston, who has played in two matches, for two more shutouts.
Scouting the Huskies
Northeastern (4-8-1, 1-2-1 CAA) looks to get back in the win column as it hosts a pair of games this weekend at home. The Huskies, which are coming off of a 4-3 loss at James Madison, host Delaware on Thursday, before welcoming W&M on Sunday. Chelsea Domond leads the NU attack with five goals, three assists, and 13 points. Kerri Zerfoss is just off the pace as she also has five goals, two assists, and 12 points. Megan Adams and Angeline Friel have split time in goal for the Huskies. Adams has started nine games with a 1.34 goals-against-average, 28 saves, and two shutouts. Friel has seen action in six games with four starts, a 1.59 goals-against-average, and 22 saves.
Series History vs. UNCW
W&M and UNCW meet for the for the 29th time in series history on Thursday night in the Port City. The Green and Gold lead the all-time series 24-3-1, but the Seahawks picked up a 3-1 victory in the game in Williamsburg a season ago. Last year, UNCW scored a pair of first half goals from Marissa Vincent and Grace Bondurant, before Redshirt senior
Sarah Segan cut it to one in the 49th minute. The Seahawks added a late insurance goal in the 80th minute from Dominique Martinez.
Series History vs. Northeastern
The Tribe travels to Boston for the 18th meeting between Northeastern and W&M on Sunday afternoon. The Huskies lead the all-time series 8-5-3, including picking up a 1-0 victory in the regular season finale in Williamsburg last season. In that contest, Olivia Ware scored a 33rd minute goal, while Nathalie Nidetch made three saves to preserve the clean sheet.
What's Ahead
W&M plays its final road game of the regular season next weekend when it travels to Philadelphia. The Tribe squares off with Drexel on Saturday, Oct. 19. Kickoff between the Tribe and Dragons is set for 1 p.m.
CAA Scoring
After averaging just 0.9 goals per game in the non-conference schedule, W&M has seen an up tick in goal scoring since the conference season has started. The Tribe is averaging 1.5 goals per game in its four CAA matches, and is now scoring 1.1 goals-per game for the season.
Makes You Wanna Stay
The William & Mary women's soccer team has gone to double-overtime in each of the last two contests, and four times this season. W&M is 0-2-2 in overtime this season, while the Tribe owns a 0-3-3 record in extra time under head coach
Julie Shackford. The four overtime matches are the most in a single-season since the Tribe played four overtime contests in 2016.
Norton Notching Goals
After scoring in the exhibition, junior
Colleen Norton had gone scoreless in the first 10 games of the season. However, the junior has found the back of the net in two of the last three contests for the Tribe. For her career, she has three goals, four assists, and 10 points, all in the last two seasons.
Kohler Getting Going
Sophomore
Renee Kohler has been getting into the attack over the last 11 games and has all of her points over those contests. The sophomore leads the team with five assists as she had her second two-assist game against Elon last Thursday. Her two goals, five assists, and nine point stat line has already surpassed her freshman year mark.
Kuhnle's Big Week
Junior
Alex Kuhnle catapulted herself to the team lead in points, thanks to a five-point weekend against James Madison and Towson. The junior scored a goal in the 45th minute against the Dukes, before setting a career-high with three points (goal and assist) against the Tigers on Sunday afternoon. Kuhnle now leads the team with four goals, one assist, and nine points.
Home Sweet Home
W&M has been really tough to beat at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field in 2019. The Tribe has posted a 3-1-1 record in Williamsburg this season. The Green and Gold has posted a 115-42-23 (.703) record since the current facility opened in 2003.
Lineup Shuffle
W&M has had 18 different players earn at least one start this season at some point. Six players – juniors
Kelsey Hamer and
Mariana Hershner, sophomore
Maisy Fling, as well as freshmen
Emily Crocco,
Jillian O'Toole, and
Kayleigh Shackford – have earned their first career starts this year.
All CLASS
W&M women's soccer senior
Sarah Segan was named one of 30 national women's soccer candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for
Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. She is the third Tribe player (Caroline Casey and Clara Logsdon) in the last five years to be a candidate for the award, and joins Elon's Luke Matthews as the only two representatives from the CAA.
Weekly Awards
Senior Katelyn Brigulio won the Tribe's first weekly award of the season when she was named the CAA's Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 9. It was the second-time the senior has won the award, and was honored after making eight saves, and conceding only one goal in 200 minutes of action against High Point and Fairleigh Dickinson.
Balanced Attack
After having 11 goal scorers in the 2018 season, the Tribe is off to a similar start in 2019. The Tribe has had seven –
Alex Kuhnle,
Renee Kohler,
Sarah Segan,
Kayleigh Shackford, and
Courtney Miles,
Lauren Kelly, and
Colleen Norton – different goal scorers this season.
Second Half Success
A season ago, W&M made its living on scoring goals in the second half of games (13 of 18). In 2019, that trend seems to be the same as the Green and Gold scored seven of its 12 markers in the game's last 45 minutes. Last weekend, the Tribe bucked the trend as it scored three of its four goals in the first half.
Experienced Lineup
W&M returns nine starters from last year's team, as well as a handful of starters that made spot starts and played valuable minutes last season. The Tribe also returns 72.2-percent of its goal-scoring, 85.7-percent of its assists, 76-percent of its points, and 88-percent of its minutes played in goal from a season ago.
Segan Tabbed to Preseason All-CAA Team
Redshirt senior
Sarah Segan was named to the Preseason All-CAA Soccer Team. Segan is the Tribe's returning leading scorer and coming off of a First-Team All-CAA selection in 2018. She finished last year with six goals, four assists, and 16 points starting 16 of the Tribe's 17 matches. For her career, Segan has appeared in 50 matches with 48 starts, scoring 24 goals, 10 assists, and 58 points. The Fogelsville, Pa. native has earned four all-conference postseason honors as she has been named to the All-CAA First-Team, All-CAA Second-Team twice, and picked up an all-rookie nod after her freshman season.
Bleeding Green and Gold
Three of W&M's freshmen are following in their mother's footsteps as members of the Tribe women's soccer program.
Kayleigh Shackford whose mom, Julie, played from 1984-87 and is the current head coach,
Jillian O'Toole whose mom, Nancy, played for the Tribe from 1984-87, and
Zoe Doughty whose mom, Margaret League, played 1992-96. The family connections just stop with Tribe women's soccer. Sophomore
Addie Puskar parents and grandparents, and six other uncles, aunts, or cousins that attended W&M. Freshman
Emily Crocco's father, Gary, was a two-sport athlete (football and baseball) for the Tribe, while her uncles Dave and Steve Wiley, were on the football team, and her aunts, Jennifer (Volgenau) Wiley and Sofia (Cedergreen) Wiley were women's soccer players. Senior
Hannah Keith's father, Barry, is a member of the class of '92, freshman
Caroline Monahan's aunt is a member of the class of 1983, redshirt junior
Lauren Kelly's brother, Colin, was a member of the class of 2016, and
Mariana Hershner's uncle, Ron, is a member of the class of 1971.
New Kids on the Block
W&M welcomes eight true freshmen and a transfer to their roster for the 2019 season.
Laurel Hagen,
Emily Crocco,
Kayleigh Shackford,
Jillian O'Toole,
Madeleine Hayes,
Sophie Geslao,
Zoe Doughty, and
Shelby Hachtel are all true freshman, while sophomore
Hannah Potter joins the Tribe as a transfer from Kentucky.
Setting the Slate
W&M will play an 18-game schedule in the 2019 season. The 18-game slate features five games against 2018 NCAA Tournament teams and seven home games at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field.
