The No. 23-ranked William & Mary field hockey team will begin its post-season quest this weekend in Newark, Del., with the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.  The Tribe, the second-seed after a 5-1 regular season in league play, will face Northeastern on Friday, Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. in the semifinals.  The winner of that game will then advance to the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.  All three games of the CAA Tournament can be viewed live with a subscription to FloSports.

Friday, Nov. 8 - 4 PM vs Northeastern
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Sunday, Nov. 10 - 1 PM vs winner of #11 Delaware/James Madison
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Want to Go?
The CAA Field Hockey Championships will be hosted at the University of Delaware's Rullo Stadium.  Admissions are $10 for adults and $5 for youths and seniors.  Any student from a CAA member institution will be admitted for free with a valid college ID.

CAA SAAC Community Service Initiative
Once again during the 2019-20 academic year, the CAA's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be accepting and encouraging donations to local service organizations at each of the league's championship events.  Toiletries are acceptable donation at every championship, and then each sport will have one additional item requested for donations.  For field hockey, fans are encouraged to donate canned food items.  At the conclusion of the championships this weekend, all donated items from both fans and the teams will be given to a local organization in the Newark, Del., area.

Scouting the Tribe
W&M finished the regular season at 12-6 overall and 5-1 in the CAA, and is seeded second for the league tournament for the second year in a row.  Senior captain Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.) was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, after leading W&M with eight goals and seven assists in 2019.  Seniors Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.) and Woodard Hooper (Williamsburg, Va.) have seven goals each, while senior captain Annie Snead (Midlothian, Va.) has six assists and sophomores Jorja Morgan (Wakerley, Queensland, Australia) and Cara Menges (Richmond, Va.) each have four assists.  In goal, sophomore Kimi Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.) has played the majority of minutes with a 1.81 GAA and 49 saves on a .671 save percentage.

Scouting the Huskies
Northeastern enters the tournament at 10-7 overall and 3-3 in CAA play, while boasting the league's most potent offense with 3.24 goals and 2.12 assists per game (8.6 points per game).  The leaders of that offense all earned All-CAA honors, with Lauren Rowe being named Rookie of the Year after leading the league in points with 16 goals and 11 assists.  Camille O'Conor was also named first-team All-CAA with eight goals and three assists, and freshman Alli Meehan made the second team with 11 goals and five assists.  In goal, Julia Gluyas has a 2.55 GAA and 86 saves on a .683 percentage, including a career-high 17 saves in the first game this year against W&M.

Scouting the Blue Hens
Delaware is ranked No. 11 in the latest NFHCA poll, and finished the regular season at 14-3 and 6-0 in the CAA to earn the number one seed.  Femke Strien was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Year after scoring 16 goals and six assists, and is joined up front by transfer Sophie Giezeman, with six goals and five assists, and by freshman Ashlyn Carr, who has nine goals and two helpers.  In goal, Sydney Rhodes was named first-team All-CAA with a 0.85 GAA and 41 saves on a .759 save percentage.

Scouting the Dukes
James Madison went 8-10 in the regular season and 3-3 in league play, losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Northeastern to earn the fourth seed this weekend.  Miranda Rigg repeated on the All-CAA first team with seven goals and four assists, while on defense, Kyle Zampiello has been impressive over the back half of the season with a 1.33 GAA and 15 saves on a .652 save percentage.

The Series
- Northeastern leads the all-time series with W&M 11-10, but the Tribe has won the last four in a row dating back to 2016.  This will be the third meeting between the two teams in the CAA Tournament, currently split 1-1 after Northeastern won in 2006 and W&M won last year, 2-0.  In the regular season meeting two weeks ago, the Huskies went ahead early, but the Tribe came back to win 2-1 in double-overtime on a penalty stroke by van de Kamp and an overtime goal by Hooper.

- Delaware leads the all-time series 18-9, and has won 11 of its last 12 against W&M including 5-1 on this same field last week.  The Tribe's last win in the series was a big one, however, 3-2 over the No. 14-ranked Blue Hens in overtime in the CAA Championship game last season.  That made the tournament series between the two teams 5-2 in favor of Delaware.

- JMU leads its series with W&M, which dates to 1930, 43-29-10.  The Tribe has won three in a row, matching it's longest-ever win streak, including a 5-2 win early last month in Williamsburg.  In the CAA Tournament, the two sides could play in their 22nd post-season match (dating back to 1976), a mini-series that JMU also leads, 15-6.

News and Notes
- This is the third year in a row that the CAA Tournament field has included the same four teams, and the second straight-year that the teams have kept the same seeding.  This is the first time since the CAA Tournament moved to qualifying (instead of all teams go) in 2002 that the participants have stayed the same for that long of a span.

- In addition to van de Kamp's CAA Defensive Player of the Year award, she was named to the All-CAA first team alongside classmates Goodwin and Snead.  Menges was named to the All-CAA second team, and freshman Sally Snead (Midlothian, Va.) was named to the CAA All-Rookie team.

- Goodwin is just the second player in school history (alongside Erin Menges '18) and just the 17th ever in the CAA to make all four all-league teams in her career (first, second, rookie, and tournament).  She is also the second player ever for W&M, along with Pippin Saunders '16, to be named to an All-CAA team every year of her career.

- The sisters Annie '20 and Sally '23 Snead are the third pair of sisters in school history to earn All-CAA honors, along with Lisa '97 and Kathy '01 DeJong and Erin '18 and Cara '22 Menges, but the first to achieve that feat in the same season.

- Head coach Tess Ellis was named the CAA Coach of the Year for the second season in a row and the fourth time in her seven seasons.  Her four Coach of the Year awards are the second-most in league history.

- W&M is in the conference tournament for the 31st time, second-most in league history behind only 32 for James Madison.  The Tribe is 25-29 all-time in tournament play, third in CAA history behind Old Dominion (57-5) and JMU (37-29).

- The Tribe is 18-12 all-time in the first game of the CAA Tournament, but just 5-20 in the semifinal round.  In the finals round, W&M is 5-4 with one championship won, and four wins in third-place games.

- W&M's defensive line has been exceptionally strong this season, allowing just 5.89 shots on-goal per game.  That's the lowest since allowing 5.74 per game in the 2001 season, and the fourth-lowest all-time (5.09 in 1979 and 5.76 in 1980).

- W&M remained at No. 23 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA national polls for the second week in the row.  Six opponents are also ranked, including No. 1 North Carolina, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Louisville, No. 11 Delaware, No. 18 Old Dominion, and No. 20 Monmouth.

- Since the start of the 2017 season, W&M is 27-10 (.730) in games decided by one or two goals.  That includes a 15-7 (.682) mark in one-goal games, and 12-3 (.800) 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 this season by playing in three 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 post-season, the W&M senior class has a four-year record of 46-31 (.597), the most wins for any senior class since 2005 (47) and the best winning percentage since 2004 (.654).  They are one of just 18 four-year classes (out of 92 total) to collect 46 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).

- The Tribe's 8-0 streak this season 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.

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

- 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 11th in school history with 30 career goals so far.

- At Davidson, senior captain Annie Snead 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 six 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 nd Penn have both also taken six penalty strokes, but have made only five each.

- Junior Haley Hopkins (Springfield, Va.) leads the team with four game-winning goals, against Vermont, Monmouth, No. 5 Louisville in double-overtime, and Towson.

- 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 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 68-66 career record (27-15 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.