WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's soccer team opens the 2019 regular season with a split weekend. The Tribe hosts George Washington in its season opener on Thursday, Aug. 22, before trekking to No. 15 South Carolina on Sunday, Aug. 25. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. kickoffs.
Hear from head coach Julie Shackford with her first weekly check-in. She discusses the start of the new season, preseason prognostications, and the upcoming matches with George Washington and South Carolina. The video feature is available through the above link or by clicking here.
W&M News and Notes
Scouting the Tribe
The William & Mary women's soccer team opens the regular season as it plays a split weekend by hosting George Washington and traveling to No. 15 South Carolina on Sunday. Head coach
Julie Shackford, a 1988 W&M grad, is in her second season at the helm of the Tribe after stops at Princeton and Carnegie Mellon. The Tribe returns its top four point scorers, including 2018 First-Team All-CAA selection
Sarah Segan, who registered six goals, four assists, and 16 points. The Tribe also returns Third-Team All-CAA selection
Lauren Kelly on the backline and goalkeeper Kaitlyn Briguglio, who started 15 matches in goal last season.
Scouting the Colonials
George Washington also enters the regular on Thursday night when it travels to Williamsburg on Thursday night in its lone game of the week. The Colonials finished last season 10-8-1, 6-4 in the Atlantic 10. GW returns its top-six point scorers from last year, including its leading scorer Sofia Pavon, who scored nine goals, six assists, and 24 points. However, the Colonials do lose their starting goalkeeper from last year they do return Erica Lorenzana, who appeared in four games with a 1.45 goals-against-average and two saves.
Scouting the Gamecocks
South Carolina opens the regular season on Thursday night as well by hosting NC State in Columbia. The Gamecocks open the 2019 regular season ranked No. 15 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll after finishing last year by advancing to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. USC returns three of its top four point scorers from a year ago, including its leading scorer Lauren Chang, who finished with eight goals, two assists, and 18 points. The Gamecocks also return their starting goalkeeper Mikayla Krezeczowski, who started all 20 games with a 0.57 goals-against-average, with 51 saves, nine shutouts, and 14 wins.
Series History with George Washington
W&M and George Washington meet for the 18th in series history. The Tribe leads the all-time 13-2-2 but has not played an official game since 1999 when the Tribe won 5-1. However, W&M and George Washington tried to meet twice in 2013 and 2014 but both games were stopped because of inclement weather.
Series History with South Carolina
Thursday's meeting between the Tribe and South Carolina will be the second in series history. The Green and Gold leads the series 1-0. The first meeting between the two schools was in the 2008 NCAA Tournament as the Tribe topped the Gamecocks 3-2 in overtime. Danielle Collins scored in the 35th minute, but South Carolina scored a pair of goals to take the lead. Claire Zimmeck answered with goals in the 79th minute, and 93rd minute to secure the win for W&M. Last year, the Gamecocks and Tribe were stopped early in the match because of rain.
What's Ahead
The Tribe continues its three-match road trip next weekend as it travels to both Liberty and Northwestern on Labor Day Weekend. The Tribe plays the Flames on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m., before traveling to Chicago to play the Wildcats on Sept. 1 at 2 p.m. EST.
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.
Selected Sixth
The William & Mary women's soccer team was selected to finish sixth in the Preseason CAA Poll. Defending CAA Tournament Champion Hofstra (78 points, seven first-place votes) were picked to reclaim its title while defending regular-season champ James Madison (74 points, three first-place votes) was tabbed second. Northeastern (third, 67 points), Charleston (fourth, 52), and Drexel (fifth, 47 points) are the teams ahead of the Tribe. Delaware (seventh, 34 points), UNCW (eighth, 32 points), Elon (ninth, 16 points), and Towson (10th, 10 points) round out the preseason poll.
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. 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.
