The No. 25-ranked William & Mary field hockey team splits its two games this weekend, hosting the newly-combined Long Island Sharks for the first time ever on Sunday, Sept. 8, at 11 a.m., before traveling down to Norfolk to take on national powerhouse Old Dominion at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10.  Both matches can be followed via Live Stats on TribeAthletics.com, while Tuesday's game will also be streamed live with a subscription to ODU's Monarch Media package (starts at $9.95 per month).

Live Stats for Sunday
Live Stats for Tuesday
Live Video for Tuesday ($$)

Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary opened the season last weekend, falling to No. 3 Duke, 4-0.  Sophomore captain Cara Menges (Richmond, Va.) led the Tribe with a pair of shots in the contest, and senior Cassidy Goodwin (Gloucester, Va.) picked up the CAA's first defensive save of the season.  In goal, Kimi Jones (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Morgan Connor (Bedford, N.Y.) each played a half, with Jones making three saves and Connor adding another stop.

Scouting the Sharks
Long Island began its inaugural season as a combined program last week, falling to Longwood 4-0 despite holding a 16-8 advantage in shots.  Sammy Bell led the offensive effort with an astonishing 11 shots, eight of them on-cage, while in goal, Rachel Vellis made a pair of saves.  The Sharks take on VCU on Friday afternoon before coming to Williamsburg.

Scouting the Lady Monarchs
Old Dominion likewise began the year with a loss, falling 3-0 to No. 11 Virginia.  Rebecca Birch and Alexandria Brewer each recorded a shot, while in goal, Cam MacGillivray made two saves.  The Lady Monarchs will take on American at home on Sunday afternoon before hosting the Tribe on Tuesday.

The Series
- Since 2000, W&M is 11-1 when playing programs for the first time, with the only loss a 1-0 setback to then-No. 10 Iowa in 2007.  Over those 12 games, the Tribe is out-scoring its opponents 45-11.  W&M is 2-2 all-time against teams currently in the Northeast Conference, with a 2-1 mark against Fairfield and a loss to Rider back in the 1988 season.

- On the other end of the spectrum is ODU, who W&M will be playing for the 72nd time this week, third-most of any opponent behind only Richmond (90) and James Madison (81).  The Lady Monarchs lead the all-time series 51-20, and won last year in Williamsburg, 4-3 in double-overtime.  W&M won 16 of the first 20 meetings between 1947 and 1980, and won the last time the two teams met in Norfolk, 3-2 in 2017.

News and Notes
- The last time that the Tribe won back-to-back road games against Old Dominion was 1977 and 1978.

- In 1974, W&M tied its still-standing school record with nine goals in a 9-0 win over ODU.  That record was originally set in 1927, the program's third year of intercollegiate play, in a 9-4 win over Longwood, and tied in 1950 (9-1 over VCU), 1974, and 1990 (9-1 over Lehigh).

- W&M is 5-1 all-time in games played on Sept. 8, and 6-3-1 all-time on Sept. 10.

- 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.

- As a ranked team, W&M is 111-81-6 overall, including 96-37-4 when favored.

- 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 is in her 24th season at W&M and seventh as head coach, with a 56-61 career record (22-14 in CAA games).

- Two members of the Tribe made their first career starts against Duke, junior Ella Donahue (Midlothian, Va.) and freshman Tabby Billingham (Dallinghoo, Suffolk, England).

- Senior captain Christie van de Kamp (Midlothian, Va.) 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, and Woodard Hooper (Williamsburg, Va.).  Sophomore Cara Menges 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 Donahue 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 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, Billingham 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.