WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's soccer team opens Colonial Athletic Association play with a split weekend. The Tribe travels to James Madison on Thursday, Sept. 26, before playing host to Towson on Sunday, Sept. 29. Kickoffs are set for 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
Hear from head coach
Julie Shackford as she discusses the Tribe's match at Princeton last week,
Sarah Segan being a candidate for the Senior CLASS award, and the upcoming matches with JMU and Towson. The video feature is available through the above link, or by clicking
here.
Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary looks to get back to the win column as it opens CAA play this weekend. The Tribe plays at James Madison on Thursday, before hosting Towson on Sunday. Sophomore
Renee Kohler leads the Tribe with six points (two goals and two assists). Meanwhile, six different players – Kohler, redshirt senior
Sarah Segan, redshirt junior
Lauren Kelly, junior
Courtney Miles, and
Alex Kuhnle, 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 owns a 2.45 goals-against-average with 36 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 Dukes
James Madison, which was picked to finish second in the CAA, won the regular season a year ago and enters league play with a 3-7 record. The Dukes also have a split weekend as they travel to Delaware on Sunday after hosting the Tribe on Sunday. Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Haley Crawford and Claire Meiser lead the Dukes in points with matching stat lines of two goals, five assists, and nine points. Ebony Wiseman leads the team in goals with four, and has added an assist, and tied for the team lead in points with nine as well. Hannah McShea has started all 10 matches in goal for the Dukes, while Alexandra Blom has relieved her twice. McShea owns a 2.48 goals-against-average, and 35 saves.
Scouting the Tigers
Towson enters CAA play with a 3-5-1 record and play a pair of road games to start conference play. The Tigers travel to Northeastern on Thursday night, before trekking to Williamsburg on Sunday afternoon. Jenna Blank leads the attack with four goals, two assists, and 10 points. Both Lexi Littlefield and Demi Pierre have scored twice with four points. The Tigers have used three goalies this season, Lindsey Pazdziorko (seven games, five starts), Hannah Warner (three goals, two assists), Delaney Mitchell (two games, two starts). Pazdziorko has a 1.37 goals-against-average, 37 saves, and two shutouts. Mitchell hasn't allowed a goal in her 58 minutes, making five saves, while Warner has a 2.50 goals-against-average and nine stops.
Series History vs. James Madison
The Tribe and Dukes meet for the 42nd time in program history on Thursday night. The Green and Gold leads the all-time series 22-15-4 between the longtime rivals, but James Madison picked up a 2-1 in Williamsburg last year. With the scored tied 1-1 and the Tribe down a player, Sophie Brause scored the game-winner in the 76th for James Madison.
Series History vs. Towson
W&M and Towson meet for the 18th time in series history on Sunday afternoon in Williamsburg. The Tribe leads the all-time series 13-2-2 overall, including a 1-0 lead in Maryland last season. In the match, redshirt senior
Sarah Segan in the seventh minute, while classmate
Katelyn Briguglio made six saves in the clean sheet.
What's Ahead
W&M once again has a split weekend, next weekend in CAA play. The Tribe travels to Elon on Thursday, Oct. 3, before hosting Delaware on Sunday, Oct. 6. Kickoffs are scheduled for 7 p.m., and 1 p.m., respectively.
CAA Openers
Dating back to the 2009 season, W&M is an even 5-5 in CAA openers overall. However, the Tribe dropped last year's CAA opener at Charleston 2-1. Furthermore in those 10 seasons, W&M is 6-3-1 in their CAA home openers, but fell to UNCW 3-1 in CAA home openers.
Segan Named National Candidate for the Senior CLASS Award
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.
Kohler Getting Going
Sophomore
Renee Kohler has been getting into the attack over the last seven games and has six points over those contests. She recorded two assists at Liberty before goals against High Point and No. 4 Virginia. She has already surpassed her point output from last season when she had a goal, one assist, and five points.
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 six –
Alex Kuhnle,
Renee Kohler,
Sarah Segan,
Kayleigh Shackford, and
Courtney Miles,
Lauren Kelly – 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 six of its eight markers in the game's last 45 minutes.
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.
