By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
When Aly Trumbull came to William & Mary in August of 2020, she had enough college credits from high school to be classified as a sophomore. Her plan was to graduate in three years, thus becoming the fourth W&M alum in her family, and find a one-year graduate program.
 
Sure enough, Trumbull earned her B.S. in applied mathematics last spring and is now working on her M.S. in business analytics. But there were some alterations along the way, like joining the Tribe field hockey team and helping coach a local high school team.
 
Maybe it wasn't all planned that way, but Trumbull loves how it has turned out.
 
"It's all been super fun," she said.
 
Growing up in Northern Virginia, Trumbull was a soccer player. That kept her busy in the spring, but she wanted to find a sport for the fall. Her older sister, Brittony '19, had played field hockey in high school. And that sport, Aly reasoned, had many similarities to soccer.
 
As a senior, her team won the Class 6 championship and she made the All-State team. Yet when she came to William & Mary, continuing her field hockey career wasn't part of the initial plan. That soon changed.
 
"After my first semester here, I realized I had the time in my schedule," she said. "So I emailed Tess (Ellis, the Tribe's head coach) to introduce myself and tell her I played in high school and was looking for a team. I told her I'd be more than happy to come on as a practice player and do whatever."
 
Trumbull had a family connection. Her mother, Elizabeth (Overstreet '87), was a volleyball player at W&M. Her coach was Deb Hill, who remains in Williamsburg and is good friends with Ellis.
 
"Deb called me and said, 'One of my former player's daughter is coming to William & Mary, would you consider her for a practice player or walk-on?'" Ellis recalled. "Deb spoke very highly of the family and of Aly. She thought she would be a good addition to the team, which she has been."
 
It was the fall of 2020, and the season was canceled because of the pandemic. Teams were allowed to practice under strict health guidelines, which turned out to be good for Trumbull's situation.
 
"I wasn't expecting anything to come of it because they were practicing in pods and not playing games at the time," said Trumbull, whose aunt, Tiffany Overstreet, earned her MBA from Mason in 2009. "But it ended up working out because she needed more players to fill up the pods practice when people were not able to come."
 
Trumbull was officially on the roster. She played in one game in the '21 season and two in '22. This season, she's appeared in all nine of the Tribe's games as a defender. She's taken two shots, one on goal.
 
"She's worked really hard on her tackling and passing skills," Ellis said. "With each game, especially now that we have Friday-Sunday games going, we're relying on subs off the bench to give us time.
 
"It's nice we can get her in the rotation and she's getting more comfortable with each game. It's been nice to see her getting more playing time."
 
Trumbull isn't just playing field hockey — she's also an assistant coach at Jamestown High, where she has been a Young Life leader since her freshman year. She is working with the varsity and JV teams.
 
"I'm able to do William & Mary practice and then head over to the high school most days," Trumbull said. "It's worked out very nicely. I've loved it."
 
Trumbull has kept a busy schedule, but it didn't keep her from graduating with a GPA of 3.96 — "Those A-minuses will kill you," she joked. Soon will come her M.S. in Business Analytics and the real world, which she expects to involve data science or analytics.
 
On the pitch, Trumbull's team is 3-0 in league play going into Friday's home game against Hofstra. One more win would guarantee the Tribe a spot in the four-team CAA tournament, which it missed last year for the first time since 2015.
 
Of W&M's five overall losses, three have come against top-10 teams. The Tribe has a win over No. 12 Wake Forest on its resume.
 
"I think we all feel a lot more confident, so it's nice we're winning CAA games and competing with good opponents," Trumbull said. "It's not blind confidence. It's nice to have a little bit of swag with William & Mary sports."