By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
When Colonial Athletic Association play begins in October, William & Mary's field hockey team will be no stranger to elite competition.
 
Five of the Tribe's first seven games, all out of conference, will be against teams ranked in the top 25 of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association preseason poll. They are No. 16 Penn State (Sunday's opener at home), No. 8 Virginia, No. 23 VCU, No. 10 Liberty, and No. 12 Duke.
 
To make matters more challenging, those five teams played an average of 14 games during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 season. William & Mary played five.
 
So if W&M brings a losing record into its CAA opener against Hofstra on Oct. 1, don't read too much into a pair of numbers separated by a hyphen.
 
"I'm not a coach who worries too much about my record," said Tess Ellis, who is starting her ninth season leading the Tribe. "We need to have strength of schedule to push us to the level that when we do play the teams in conference, we'll be well prepared.
 
"We will be competitive, but we've got to keep our goals realistic. For every one game, we need to improve like we played three games. And by the time we get to conference, we need to have that experience under our belt."
 
The Tribe went 3-2 last spring with two games canceled — one due to COVID issues at Hofstra, one because of weather conditions at Northeastern. W&M qualified for the CAA tournament, where it lost 1-0 to eventual champion Delaware on a goal with less than five minutes remaining.
 
This fall, Ellis will count heavily on All-CAA midfielder Cara Menges, who for the third consecutive season will serve as a team captain. She has eight goals and 10 assists in her career.
 
"She's a true competitor on and off the field and personally sets standards," Ellis said. "The way she trains, the way she plays, is always at an extremely top level."
 
Of course, as one of the conference's top players, Menges is guaranteed to draw added attention from defenders.
 
She will need help from Sally Snead, who will switch between midfield and forward, along with Jayden Moon and Maddie McGaughey. Ellis also expects freshman Pyper Friedman, who attended the U-21 USWNT selection camp last winter, to have an impact.
 
Among the forwards, Ellis is counting on juniors Lily Saunders and Lauren Curran, sophomore Mollie Schuma and freshman Sara Bartzen to increase their production.
 
Last spring, W&M was third in the CAA in shots per game (12.8) but sixth in goals (1.2). The Tribe's shooting percentage of .094 was last.
 
"One of the key things is winning corners and getting shots on cage," Ellis said. "If we can get corners, we can get a couple of extra points on the scoreboard."
 
Statistically, W&M was the best defensive team in the Colonial last spring by allowing 1.2 goals on 8.3 shots per game. The Tribe returns defenders Tabby Billingham (a co-captain) and Audrey Domovich in the back and goalkeepers Kimi Jones and Maddie George.
 
"Our new assistant, Ayla Halus-Johnson, played (keeper) at Penn State," Ellis said. "She brings a lot of experience to the goalkeeper position and overall defense."
 
With five of its first seven opponents ranked, William & Mary will face a steep acclimation curve over the next five weeks. Ellis' goal isn't so much an impressive non-conference record as it is to be a stronger team on the first day of October than the final week of August.
 
"We need to know what level the top levels are playing so we can play catch-up really quick," she said. "If we hang tough as a group, as a team, we can compete in our conference because we've done our homework before the exams."