By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Going into the 2021 field hockey season, William & Mary coach Tess Ellis took a pragmatic approach to the non-conference portion of her team's schedule. The CAA games were what mattered most, and that would be the Tribe's best path to the NCAA tournament.
 
This year, with the return of eight players who started at least 14 games last season, Ellis' perspective has changed.
 
"It's still building on those non-conference games, but this year, if we want to be a contender, we need to be ranked in the top 15," she said. "If we make it to the conference final and don't win it, we want a chance to get an at-large bid."
 
Once again, the Tribe's non-conference slate is demanding with six of its 11 opponents ranked in the coaches' preseason top 25. That includes No. 19 Old Dominion, which W&M hosts in Friday's 5 p.m. opener at Busch Field.
 
But Ellis believes this year's team, with its experience and depth, can handle it.
 
"I've had teams with experience, but I haven't had this kind of depth from my bench," Ellis said. "All these young girls have learned from some very good players in front of them. Especially this senior class, they came in as talented freshmen.
 
"It takes two or three good years to gather the knowledge of how other teams play and how we counter-act a team that might play with a different system than we do. We've always had talent. Now, we have talent with playing experience, and it goes deep."
 
The front line loses three-year captain Cara Menges but returns starters seniors Lauren Curran and Lily Saunders and junior Mollie Schuma. Ellis also is excited by the addition of Aidan Rossman, a graduate transfer who started three seasons at American.
 
"We're probably six deep in our forward line, which means we can keep the speed and pressure on the opposition," Ellis said.  "It also gives us speed on our attack, which is super important."
 
In the midfield, the Tribe returns four players who started all 16 games last season — seniors Sally Snead and Tabby Billingham, junior Jayden Moon and sophomore Pyper Friedman.
 
"This is the strongest group we've had in quite some time," Ellis said. "The biggest strength in our midfield this year is that any of them can overlap into that forward line and be quite dangerous taking shots at the top of the circle."
 
Another plus is that Moon and Friedman competed in Senior Nexus Championship with USA Field Hockey in July.
 
"A couple of girls did high performance to get that extra training and come back with more knowledge," Ellis said. "So instead of being content with where we finished in the spring, these girls took the summer serious and picked up their hockey sticks."
 
On defense, W&M has more experience with seniors Audrey Domovich, Ireland Miller and Jorja Morgan and junior Allison Goodwin. Morgan is coming back after missing the entire 2021 season with a knee injury.
 
In the goal, junior Maddie George is back after essentially splitting playing time with Kimi Jones last season.
 
All in all, an experienced lineup, including those coming off the bench.
 
"We had a good group with our first 13 or 14," Ellis said. "You look at this group, and you're looking at 16 to 18 that will be rolling."
 
In a vote by the CAA's seven head coaches, Delaware was the overwhelming choice for first in the preseason poll. The Blue Hens, who are the three-time defending champion, received six first-place votes. The only reason the vote wasn't unanimous is because coaches cannot select their own team.
 
Northeastern was picked second followed by conference newcomer Monmouth and William & Mary.
 
Although the Colonial lost James Madison as a member, Monmouth is a solid replacement. The Hawks have won at least 10 games in six consecutive seasons and were 23rd in last season's final poll.
 
"We want teams in our conference to rank in the top 20 so when it comes to winning conference, we get an automatic bid to the final 16 and it's not like a play-in game," Ellis said. "Besides Delaware finishing in the top 12, we need three of us to finish in the top 12.
 
"Monmouth could do it. Northeastern on a given year could do it. And we could do it. It'll be interesting."