By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Following a 3-0 loss at Georgetown on Sept. 11, William & Mary needed a morale boost before starting conference play. The Tribe got it with back-to-back shutout wins over Longwood and East Carolina, which put it at .500 (4-4-1) going into this week's trip to the Empire State.
W&M played two complete games by taking advantage of its limited scoring chances and not giving up any netters. Forward
Elaina Longjohn had a goal in each win, and freshman
Ivey Crain also scored against Longwood.
"From a momentum perspective, it was definitely important," Tribe coach
Julie Shackford said. "It was a great bounce-back after the Georgetown game, where we learned a lot. We put a lot of that into our game plan over the last two games.
"The team defense from the forwards on back was phenomenal in terms of challenges won, transition to the attack and winning first and second balls. I think we did a really good job."
W&M will head north for games at Stony Brook on Thursday and Hofstra on Sunday.
"I think things are starting to click for us," Shackford said. "We have a lot of kids off the bench who are helping and giving us significant minutes. We're pretty optimistic. Every game in the conference is usually a derby and evenly matched, but our team is a good head space to compete."
After long bus ride, men's soccer blanks Stony Brook
Adding points to the standings is always a challenge. Doing so on the road is even tougher. But that's what the Tribe did with a 2-0 win at Stony Brook, some 440 miles from home.
Alexander Levengood assisted
Marcos Villeda's first goal at 33:43 and scored at 80:28 (with an assist from
Augie Cooper). The Tribe outshot the Seawolves 14-10 (8-6 on goal) and keeper
Danilo Nikcevic had six saves.
"It's not an easy place to go play," W&M coach
Chris Norris said. "It's a turf field, and it can be confusing at times with a lot of lines on the field for various sports. And it was hot because it was a mid-day kickoff.
"But I think the response was very good overall. Getting points of any kind on the road in CAA play is critical, and certainly getting a win is huge."
W&M (2-2-3, 2-1) is in a three-way tie for third place in the CAA standings. With no mid-week game, the Tribe will host Hofstra (4-2, 2-1) Saturday night. The Pride lost to Stony Brook 2-1 on Sept. 3.
Volleyball bounces back after tough Saturday
William & Mary's five-match winning streak ended Saturday in its conference opener against UNC Wilmington. The Tribe had a 2-1 lead in sets but couldn't close the deal.
Twenty-four hours later, W&M responded with a dominant 3-0 win over those same Seahawks, closing it out with a 25-10 score in the third set. It was exactly what head coach Tim Doyle wanted to see — although, of course, he would have preferred the win on Saturday as well.
"When we recruit, we're looking for a personality type that hates to lose," he said. "When you are that competitive and hate to lose like that, the one thing you want is a second chance as quickly as possible against the same team.
"When we play these back-to-back CAA matches, the turnaround from Saturday to Sunday is so important. To see that growth from day one to day two, to see that ability to make tweaks to our system, that was important to see."
From Saturday to Sunday, W&M improved from 10.6 kills per set 14 and its attack percentage nearly doubled from .149 to .293. The Tribe also averaged a season-best three service aces per set.
Grad transfer
Taylor Burrell was outstanding with 14 kills and a .520 percentage. She also had three aces and three block assists for 18.5 points.
"Taylor's serve was the difference maker," Doyle said. "Her serve was gnarly."
Cross country sweeps CNU Regional Preview
The William & Mary men's and women's cross country teams both finished first in the CNU Regional Preview Friday.
The women had six of the top seven finishers with
Catherine Garrison (21:48.0),
Arianna DeBoer (22:06.9),
Sofia Istnick (22:17.8),
Lucy Young (22:18.6),
Jennifer Tsai (22:35.4) and
Tessa Dobrinski (22:45.4). Each is either a freshman or sophomore.
On the men's side,
Tyler Lipps finished second overall with a time of 24:16.7.
Jacob Jones (24:38.3) and
Sam Pritchard (24:41.7) came in fourth and fifth, respectively.
"The women ran a nice race," said
Alex Heacock, director of track and field/cross country. "Our youngsters really stepped up and continued to progress.
Catherine Garrison is running really well now along with some of the other freshmen.
"Tyler
Lipps ran a really good race, which is a huge positive for us. I think that's probably the first time he's been our number one in cross country evert, so that was good. And with guys down the lineup stepping up, that bodes well as we start to get into the meat of the schedule in the next couple of weeks."
Garrison and Lipps were named the CAA Runners of the Week on Tuesday for their efforts.
On tap for this week:
Monday: Men's golf at River Run Collegiate (Davidson, N.C.); Women's golf at Elon Invitational (Burlington, N.C.).
Tuesday: Men's golf at River Run Collegiate (Davidson, N.C.); Women's golf at Elon Invitational (Burlington, N.C).
Thursday: Women's soccer at Stony Brook, 6 p.m.
Friday: Men's tennis at VCU Fall Tournament.
Saturday: Volleyball at Elon, 2 p.m.; Football vs. Elon (Zable), 3:30 p.m.; Men's soccer vs. Hofstra (Martin Family), 7 p.m.; Men's tennis at VCU Fall Tournament.
Sunday: Field hockey vs. Central Michigan (Busch), 11 a.m.; Women's soccer at Hofstra, noon; Volleyball at Elon, 2 p.m.; Men's tennis at VCU Fall Tournament.
