By
Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
In scoring only six goals last season, William & Mary women's soccer had a clear area of need on the recruiting trail. In signing Georgian
Ivey Crain, Tribe coach
Julie Shackford believed she found an instant remedy.
So she has. Crain leads her team and is third in the Colonial Athletic Association with six goals, three of which came in her last two games. With at least eight more games remaining, she has the most goals by a true freshman at W&M since Emory Camper's seven in 2011.
Of her 20 shots this season, 12 have been on frame. Crain has converted half of those.
"She's a natural finisher and has a nose for the goal," Shackford said. "Those are things you don't really coach.
"Wherever the ball is, that's where she is. She just finds the back of the net. It's instinctual with her."
Crain showed that early with two goals on three shots in her first game, a 4-3 loss to Virginia Tech. After six consecutive games without finding the net, she has scored four goals in her last four games. She scored twice in the Tribe's 2-0 at Hofstra on Sunday as W&M went 1-0-1 on its four-day trip to Long Island.
Undefeated in its last four games, the Tribe (5-4-2, 1-0-1 CAA) will host UNCW Thursday night. That will begin a four-game home stand after a three-game road swing.
Volleyball splits a pair at Elon
For the second weekend in a row, William & Mary followed a disappointing Saturday with a bounce-back Sunday. Tribe coach
Tim Doyle is proud of how his team bounced back, but also a little perplexed as to why it keeps being necessary.
"At our weekly captains' check-in meeting, I'm going to say, 'What do we have on Sunday that we need to get going on Saturday?'" he said. "Truly, I'm not quite sure. We've come out a little flat on the Saturday matches and then really pieced it together on Sunday."
The previous weekend at home, W&M followed a 3-2 loss to UNCW on Saturday with a 3-0 win on Sunday. This time at Elon, the Tribe responded to a 3-0 defeat on Saturday with a 3-2 victory on Sunday.
"We lost the first set (25-17) on Sunday," Doyle said. "So that was four straight set losses. Then in set two, we got down 8-2 before we finally made a come-around.
"We had a string of four and half sets where it just wasn't good. Then we started making plays."
The Tribe took the second and third sets, then Elon recovered to force a fifth. After scoring five consecutive points to take a 7-2 lead, the Tribe cruised to a 15-10 win.
Kaitlyn Ferguson had five of her 15 kills in the deciding set.
W&M (7-5, 2-2) is in sixth place, smack dab in the middle of a league race that has three teams at 4-0 and three teams at 0-4.
More from last week …
Women's golf finished second in the Elon Invitational with the second-best 54-hole score in program history. Grad student Sarah Houle was the individual runner-up at 1-under (212), one shot behind the winner. Freshman Grace Lu was fifth at 2-over (215). …
Men's golf finished tied for 11
th at the River Run Collegiate in Davidson, N.C. Grad student Matthew Feinstein, a week after
his stunning win at the VCU Shootout, was 11
th individually at 1-over (217). He shot a 4-under 68 on the final day. …
After back-to-back losses to ranked teams, W&M field hockey bounced back Sunday with a 7-1 win over Central Michigan. Grad transfer Aidan Rossman had two goals and two assists. Lauren Curran scored her sixth and seven goals of the season. …
Men's soccer picked up its fourth draw of the season, its first in conference play, on a scoreless Saturday night against Hofstra. The Tribe has shut out three consecutive opponents. …
W&M women's tennis won all three doubles championships and two of the five singles events in the Tribe Invitational. Raffaela Alach and Elisa Van Meeteren, Kensie Cricchio and Alexandra Vesikallio, and Alisia Manolescu and Julia Monroe won the doubles finals. Sofiya Kuzina and Manolescu won in singles.
In men's tennis, Joseph Brailovsky and Daniel Pellerito each went 3-1 in the Richmond Open at VCU. …
On tap this week:
Tuesday: Men's soccer vs. George Mason, 7 p.m., Martin Family Stadium.
Thursday: Women's soccer vs. UNC Wilmington, 7 p.m., Martin Family Stadium.
Friday: Men's and women's cross country at Paul Short Run, Bethlehem, Pa.; Women's tennis (Day 1) at Navy Blue & Gold Invitational, Annapolis, Md.; Field hockey at Monmouth, 3 p.m.
Saturday: Women's tennis (Day 2) of Navy Blue & Gold Invitational, Annapolis, Md.; Men's soccer at Charleston, 1 p.m.; Volleyball vs. Stony Brook, 1 p.m., Kaplan Arena; Football at Stony Brook, 3:30 p.m.; Men's and women's swimming at UNC Wilmington.
Sunday: Women's tennis (Day 3) of Navy Blue & Gold Invitational, Annapolis, Md.; Women's golf (Day 1) in Navy Fall Invitational, Annapolis, Md.; Women's soccer vs. Charleston, noon, Martin Family Stadium; Field hockey at Virginia, 1 p.m.; Volleyball vs. Stony Brook, 1 p.m., Kaplan Arena;
Monday: Women's golf (Day 2) in Navy Fall Invitational, Annapolis, Md.; Men's golf (Day 1) in East Carolina Ironwood Collegiate.
