By Dave Johnson

W&M Athletics

Women's soccer coach Julie Shackford began her fifth season at William & Mary expecting her team to take a significant step. The Tribe did by securing its first appearance in the CAA tournament since 2017.

With a 4-0 win over Hampton University on Sunday, W&M clinched the No. 7 seed in the eight-team field. The Tribe (7-7-4, 3-3-3) will go against No. 2 Drexel (10-2-5, 5-2-2) Thursday at 2 p.m. in Philadelphia.

"Our goal from the get-go was to get to the CAA tournament, and it's been four years in the making," Shackford said. "Obviously, this year we started to turn for better. Even with a couple of slip-ups, it was nice that we could control our own destiny."

In Sunday's win, W&M got goals from Gabriella Kurtas, Madison Moon, Ivey Crain and Kayleigh Shackford. Coach Shackford was able to play 25 players in the game, including two backup keepers.

Crain's goal was her ninth of the season. That's the most by a W&M freshman since Claire Zimmeck netted 11 in 2005.

"She's just a natural goal scorer," Shackford said. "She's not our most technical player and she's not our fastest player, but she finds a way to find the back of the net. Especially against teams so good defensively, that she's found a way to score nine goals is pretty remarkable."

Drexel is the only team in the tournament's field W&M did not play this season.

"I'm excited to play somebody different," Shackford said. "We have a lot of kids from the Pennsylvania-New Jersey area and the games will be well attended."

Volleyball sweeps Hampton University
After splitting its first four weekend matches against conference opponents, W&M needed nothing short of a sweep against Hampton University at Kaplan Arena. Mission accomplished with wins of 3-1 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday.

Eleanor Stothoff and Kaitlyn Ferguson combined for 53 kills and a .368 percentage. Setters Amy Schwem and Emma Minnick combined for 74 assists.

With the sweep, W&M (11-7, 6-4) moved into third place in the CAA standings. But there's still some work to be done in order to make the conference tournament for the first time since 2015.

"We're at the point of the season that we're also on a mission," head coach Tim Doyle said. "This team is competing for a playoff spot for the first time in a long time, and they were focused both days. They really played some disciplined volleyball overall.

"We have the tough part of our schedule coming up. We took care of business this weekend, and we had to, but we have some top teams coming up."

Starting with this weekend's trip to Towson (20-1, 9-1 CAA), which in nine conference wins has dropped only two sets.

More from last week
Men's soccer (4-5-6, 2-3-3) must win its final conference game Saturday against Monmouth to have a chance of making the six-team CAA tournament. The Tribe also would need at least a non-win by Northeastern or Charleston. …

Field hockey (9-7, 3-3) closed its conference schedule with a 4-0 win over Towson. The Tribe is in fifth place and will not make the four-team conference tournament. …

Women's swimming split a pair of meets over the weekend with a 166-128 win at Loyola (Md.) and a 163-131 loss at Towson. Annie Tuttle swept the breast stroke events both days, and freshman Sophia Heilen won both butterflies and 200 IM at Loyola and the 100 fly at Towson. …

Men's swimming went 0-2 on the same swing but got some strong individual performances by Will Glass, who won the 1000 free and was third in the 500 at Loyola, and Noah Fields, who was first in the 200 butterfly at Towson. …

In men's tennis, doubles teams George Davis / Bill Duo and Joseph Brailovsky / Andres Silva both advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA Atlantic Region Championship in Charlottesville. Davis/Duo upset Inaki Montes de la Torre and Ryan Goetz of No. 28 Virginia in the quarterfinals.

On tap this week
Tuesday: Men's soccer vs. North Carolina, 6 p.m., Martin Family Stadium.

Thursday: Women's soccer vs. Drexel in CAA quarterfinals, 2 p.m., Philadelphia.

Friday: Men's CAA Cross Country Championships, Newark, Del.; Women's CAA Cross Country Championships, Newark, Del.

Saturday: Football vs. Rhode Island, 1 p.m., Zable Stadium; Volleyball at Towson, 1 p.m.; Field hockey at American, 3 p.m.; Men's soccer vs. Monmouth, 4 p.m., Martin Family Stadium.

Sunday: Volleyball at Towson, 1 p.m.; Women's soccer semifinals, Philadelphia.