DAVIDSON, N.C. – The William & Mary lacrosse team earned its second consecutive road victory with a thrilling 9-8 win at Davidson on Thursday evening.
 
Freshman Belle Martire scored the game-winner with just 0:18 remaining, and classmate Starr Howard secured the ensuing draw to help W&M (4-3) earn the hard-fought, non-conference road win against a previously unbeaten Davidson (6-1) squad.
 
Junior goalie Elsa Rall also played a significant role in the triumph, as she totaled a career-high 20 saves – an impressive figure that ranks as the second-best single-game performance in school history and is just three shy of the program's record. Additionally, she totaled a single-game school-record 10 ground balls.
 
The closely contested matchup featured six ties, and neither team led by more than two goals at any point.
 
W&M trailed 6-5 midway through the second half but rattled off three unanswered goals to build an 8-6 advantage with 12:24 remaining.
 
Although Davidson knotted the score on a goal by Braeden Dial with 1:47 remaining, Howard secured the following draw and W&M used its final timeout with 1:36 left to help set up Martire's game-winner.
 
Tribe Standouts
In addition to Rall's record-setting performance, Martire led the Tribe with three goals on just three shot attempts.
 
Senior Maddie Torgerson and junior Meredith Hughes also came up big with two goals apiece.
 
Howard finished with a team-high four draw controls, which included the final two of the contest during the pivotal closing minutes.
 
Inside the Numbers
Davidson outshot the Tribe, 39-18, and owned narrow advantages in ground balls (23-20) and caused turnovers (10-8).
 
W&M posted a .500 shooting percentage, while Davidson scored on just 23.1 percent of its attempts.
 
The Wildcats committed just seven turnovers.
 
Thirteen of Rall's career-high 20 saves came in the first half.
 
The Opposition
Dial led the Wildcats with four goals, while Sophia Sgroi totaled three draw controls.
 
Notes
Rall now has two of the top four single-game save totals in school history, as she totaled a career-high 18 at Richmond last season … Rall's 10 ground balls eclipsed the previous single-game school record of nine set by Jacque Orsi in 2000 … Howard now has 36 draw controls through the first seven games and needs just five more to break into W&M's single-season top-10 list … Martire has scored at least three goals in four of seven games this season and leads the team with 20 goals … W&M improves to 7-1 all-time against Davidson and is 73-23-1 all-time versus teams currently competing in the Atlantic 10 … Thursday's game marked the second of five consecutive road contests for the Tribe.
 
Up Next
W&M will return to action when it plays at VCU on Sunday at 1 p.m.