By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
William & Mary's men's soccer team went into Saturday's regular season finale against Monmouth needing a win, and only a win, to secure the final spot in the CAA tournament. With two and a half minutes remaining, the Tribe was tied.
 
Until finally, with a two-man advantage, Alexander Levengood's looping goal from just outside the 18-yard box gave W&M a 2-1 lead in the 88^th minute. The Tribe held on for a win that, combined with Charleston losing to Hofstra earlier in the day, clinched the No. 6 seed in the tournament.
 
The Tribe (5-6-6, 3-3-3) will play the No. 3 Pride Thursday at 6 p.m. in Wilmington, N.C. The teams tied 0-0 in their regular-season game.
 
It took a dramatic finish to get there.
 
"It came down to the last couple of minutes of the last game, and the league is really difficult in that way," Tribe coach Chris Norris said. "Even the teams at the top, if you look at how close their games were, the margins were really fine.
 
"I'm just happy we were able to do enough to get ourselves in position to compete for a championship. We know at this point of the season, it doesn't matter what the number (seed) is. It's about going out and performing."
 
The Tribe played with a man advantage after Monmouth was issued a red card in the 63^rd minute. When the Hawks drew a second red card 11 minutes later, W&M was playing 11-on-9. Which was unfamiliar territory.
 
"We prepare a little for playing man up but never for two up because it's so uncommon," Norris said. "Fortunately, we were able to keep persisting and fight until the last minute."
 
In the tie at Hofstra on Sept. 24, the Tribe held the Pride without a shot on goal. W&M had three corner kicks to Hofstra's none.
 
"We actually felt like if there were to be a winner on that day, it probably would have been us," Norris said. "Hofstra does have some dangerous guys and you can never really count them out."
 
Women 4^th, men 3^rd in CAA XC
Behind top-10 runs by sophomore Arianna DeBoer and freshman Sofia Istnick, the Tribe women finished fourth out of 12 teams in the CAA Cross Country Championship in Newark, Del.
 
DeBoer came in eighth overall in the 6K event with a time of 21:51.50. Istnick was literally on her heels at 21:51.90. Each received All-CAA honors.
 
W&M had seven runners in the top 50, five in the top 40.
 
"It's a younger squad, so we don't have that experience, but they were really aggressive," W&M coach Forest Braden said. "They went and made it happen. Sofia took it from the gun and was leading the race through halfway.
 
"That kind of toughness was really inspiring. To see them just go after it, that's something that's going to help them next year and the year after that to compete for the title."
 
On the men's side, the Tribe came in third out of 10 teams, its 35^th consecutive year with a top-three finish. Jacob Jones was W&M's top finisher on the 8K course with a time of 25:23.0 (14^th overall). He received All-CAA honors for the second year in a row.
 
Nate Jennings was 20^th with a time of 25:37.10.
 
"I think we would have been third if we had our best day," Braden said. "That's where we are this year.  Three of our top five from last year were on the shelf for different reasons, and we didn't have the depth to make up for their loss.
 
"But I still think we left some points out there. We should have had a couple of guys in the top 10."
 
More from last week
Volleyball went 0-2 over the weekend with a pair of 3-1 losses at Towson, which has lost only one match all season. The Tribe (11-9, 6-6) fell to seventh in the CAA standings with four matches remaining in the regular season. Eight teams will make the conference tournament. …
 
In its final game of the season, W&M field hockey gave up two goals in the 10 minutes for a 2-1 loss at American.
 
On tap this week
Thursday: Men's soccer vs. Hofstra in CAA tournament, 6 p.m., Wilmington, N.C.
Saturday: Men's swimming at Delaware, 10 a.m.; Women's swimming vs. James Madison, 10 a.m. (at Newark, Del.); Football at Hampton University, 1 p.m.; Women's volleyball vs. Delaware, 2 p.m., Kaplan Arena.
Sunday: Women's volleyball vs. Delaware, 2 p.m., Kaplan Arena.