The No. 25-ranked William & Mary field hockey gets the 2019 season underway on Sunday afternoon, hosting No. 3 Duke at Busch Field.  The first touch is scheduled for 1 p.m., and live stats are available through TribeAthletics.com.

Live Stats

Scouting the Tribe
W&M was picked to finish first in the Colonial Athletic Association this season, after winning its first conference title in 2018 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16.  Senior captain Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.) became the first W&M player to be voted the Pre-Season CAA Player of the Year, one of a conference-best and program-record five players to earn pre-season honors for the Tribe.

Scouting the Blue Devils
Duke opened its season on Friday night, downing No. 9 Penn State 4-1 in Durham.  The Blue Devils reached the NCAA quarterfinals last fall, and were picked to finish second in the ACC this season.  After one game, Olivia Sahaydak is the top scorer with a pair of goals, while Leah Crouse has both a goal and an assist and Hannah Miller adds another goal.  On defense, goalkeeper Sammi Steele made a pair of saves against one goal allowed to earn the win.

The Series
W&M and Duke have met 36 times before, dating back to the 1975 season.  The two teams have met every year since 2013, and the Blue Devils hold a 27-8-1 advantage in the all-time series.  Last year's game was a 4-0 Duke win, and the last Tribe victory came 2-1 in Williamsburg back in 2001.

News and Notes
- NCAA field hockey is operating under new timing rules this season, bringing the NCAA in-line with the international game.  Previously, teams played two 35-minute halves, but now, games will consist of four 15-minute quarters, with a two-minute break between quarters 1-2 and 3-4.  Halftime (10 minutes) and overtime (up to two 10-minute 7v7 golden-goal periods, followed if needed by a penalty shootout) remain unchanged.

- W&M is 47-176-7 all-time against ranked teams, including a 2-50 mark against teams ranked in the top-three nationally.  The two wins came against No. 1 Saint Louis, 1-0, at the 1979 AIAW National Championships, and 3-0 in the 1980 national tournament against No. 3 Ursinus.

- As a ranked team, W&M is 111-80-6 overall, going 15-43-2 as the underdog in ranked match-ups.

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

- The Tribe was picked at No. 25 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Pre-Season Poll, the first time W&M has been ranked since the pre-season poll in 2018.

- Four of W&M's opponents this season appeared in the Pre-Season Top-25, including No. 1-ranked North Carolina, No. 3 Duke, No. 12 Louisville, and No. 16 Delaware.  Additionally, the Tribe faced No. 11 Virginia in a pre-season scrimmage.

- Head coach Tess Ellis begins her 24th season at W&M and seventh as head coach, with a 56-60 career record (22-14 in CAA games).

- 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 (Midlothian, Va.), Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.), and Woodard Hooper (Williamsburg, Va.).  Sophomore Cara Menges (Richmond, Va.) was named honorable-mention as well.

- Van de Kamp, Snead, and Menges were voted by their teammates as team captains for the 2019 season.

- With the three captains, W&M returns the top three active assist-makers in the CAA.  In 2018, Snead scored 12 assists, breaking the single-season school record that had stood since 1979, while van de Kamp had nine helpers and Menges six.

- Hooper tied for the CAA lead in goals scored (13) and game-winning goals (four) in 2018, and is also the top-returning points-scorer from a year ago with 27 (13 goals, one assist).

- Goodwin and junior Ella Donahue (Midlothian, Va.) both rank among the CAA's top-five returning athletes in defensive saves, with Goodwin making two stops and Donahue one in 2018.

- In goal, sophomore Kimi Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.) is the reigning CAA 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.