By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
It was never a foregone conclusion that any of them, let alone all three, would come. There was no maternal pressure, not even of the subtle variety.
 
Yet Zoe Doughty, Jillian O'Toole and Kayleigh Shackford were part of William & Mary's 2019 recruiting class in women's soccer. Each is a second-generation member of the program, playing on the same team her mother did all those years ago.
 
Their names on the pitch were Marci League (Doughty), Nancy Reinisch (O'Toole) and Julie Cunningham (Shackford). League played from 1992-95, an era in which the Tribe twice made the Sweet 16. Reinisch and Cunningham were together from 1984-87 and made the NCAA tournament each year.
 
Cunningham now goes by Julie Shackford and is in her fourth season as William & Mary's head coach. Although O'Toole was the only one of the three she recruited, Shackford loves the message that having all three in the program sends.
 
"They all had other offers on the table," she said. "And on some level, they probably fought that 'you should look at William & Mary' thing they got from their parents. It really is incredible that they all ended up at the same place."
 
Kayleigh Shackford, the team's top scorer this fall, was the first of the three to commit. That came during her sophomore year of high school when the legendary John Daly was the Tribe's head coach. Her mother had recently left college coaching, supposedly for good, after 25 years.
 
A year later, Daly announced his retirement. W&M contacted Julie to gauge her interest. She immediately consulted Kayleigh.
 
"I didn't want to tell her no — it's her alma mater," said Kayleigh, a junior forward/midfielder. "She was going to be done with coaching until she got the call to come back. I told her yes. She loves what she does and she's good at it
 
"She doesn't let the mom and coaching get in the way of each other. She's very professional on the field and treats me like any other player. At times she's a little harder on me, but I'd say the good outweighs the bad."
 
Doughty, a junior goalkeeper, didn't think much about William & Mary until her junior year of high school when a friend recommended she attend Daly's camp. She did, and she and Daly liked what they saw.
 
"I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to play soccer here," Doughty said. "It was a matter of opportunity. I wasn't seeking it out.
 
"When Kayleigh and Jillian committed, it was really cool. In the summer before our freshman year, when we all came in for captain's practices, we talked about our moms' experiences. We heard all the different stories."
 
O'Toole has known both Kayleigh and Julie Shackford practically since birth. Her family is from Montclair, New Jersey, which is about 50 miles from where the Shackfords lived in Princeton.
 
O'Toole, a junior midfielder, ended up being Julie Shackford's first recruit as the Tribe's head coach.
 
"As I was being recruited for soccer, I didn't consider William & Mary that much until the end of the process," she said. "It ended up being a great fit. There was no pressure from them, but my parents are very happy that I'm here.
 
"Initially, I was looking at schools that were pretty close to home, and I was kind of scared to come here because it was so far. But I knew Kayleigh because our moms are friends, and that made me feel more at home."
 
Each family has further William & Mary connections. Kayleigh's aunt, Kristen Jesulaitis '91, played soccer for the Tribe from 1987-90. She married John Cunningham '91, who is Julie's brother. Cousin John Mitrovic '83, played football for the Tribe from 1980-82.
 
Doughty's father, Baker '96, threw the javelin on the track team at W&M. Uncle Todd '97 (Baker's twin brother) was on the football and track teams.
 
O'Toole's father, Eric, is a 1989 Tribe alum.
 
Also of note: The coaching staff is made up almost entirely of W&M soccer alums — Shackford '88, assistants Marsha Fishburne Lycan '87 and Grace Barnard '11, and director of operations Kellie Ernst '10. The only exception is Daly, a volunteer assistant, although he was recognized an honorary alumnus in 2016.
 
Doughty, O'Toole and Shackford came in with the benefit of their mothers' experiences at William & Mary. They stressed the value of relationships and teammates.
 
"My mom talked to me a lot about the comradery and friendships you build," Doughty said. "I grew up, kind of like Jillian and Kayleigh, visiting my mom's teammates and going on vacations with them.
 
"That was something she really prepared me for and set the expectations. I've made my best friends here."
 
The pandemic, which canceled W&M's traditional fall season in 2020, has made that bond stronger.
 
"Our team has this motto that we can't take anything for granted anymore," Kayleigh Shackford said. "We only get four or five years of playing college soccer with our best friends, so let's go out there and regret nothing."
 
Following their mothers' path to Williamsburg wasn't planned, but it's been a fun journey.
 
"I think about it a lot from our moms' perspective," O'Toole said. "Especially for Kayleigh and me. Our moms were best friends in college, and then they raised two daughters who ended up playing at the same school as them.
 
"That's just super cool. And what if we have daughters someday and they grow up to play soccer together?"