NEWARK, Del. – Junior Pyper Friedman scored twice in the first half and William & Mary's defense led by senior Maddie George made it stand up as the Tribe advanced to the CAA Field Hockey Championship match behind a 2-0 win over No. 2 seed Drexel on Friday evening at Rullo Stadium.
 
After dropping its regular season match-up with the Dragons, 7-1, the Tribe (10-8) had the answers on Friday and advanced to its fifth CAA title match and first since 2018.
 
Friedman scored two goals in a game for the third time this season and George posted a season-high 10 saves in shutting out Drexel (14-6). She recorded double-digit saves for the third time in her career and picked up her third clean sheet of the season. It marked the most saves for a Tribe goalkeeper in a CAA Tourney since Cate Johnson had 11 in the semifinals vs. Delaware in 2013.
 
With under a minute remaining in the opening quarter, the Tribe earned its second penalty corner of the game and cashed it in. Off the chance, Allison Goodwin's initial shot was blocked by Drexel goalkeeper Megan Hadfield. The rebound spilled over to Friedman at the back post and she pushed it across.
 
Drexel surged to find the equalizer in the second quarter, but George and the Tribe defense was up to the task. George made back-to-back saves in the 22nd minute. The Green and Gold caught a bit of a break in the 25th minute as Stephanie Oleykowski's shot hit the crossbar and George denied the rebound. In total, George made four saves in the second 15 minutes.
 
Just 3:26 from the intermission, the Tribe converted another penalty corner. Goodwin played the ball to the back post to Friedman. After collecting the pass, the All-CAA First Team midfielder waited for the Drexel goalkeeper to drop and then chipped it over the top for her second goal in 12 minutes. Friedman pushed her season goal total to seven, while Goodwin recorded her first assist of the season.
 
The Dragons pulled their goalkeeper with 7:18 remaining but still could not crack the Tribe defense. George made a pair of saves on penalty corners in the 54th minute, but Drexel could only muster one more shot the roster of the way.
 
Scoring
15' | W&M – Pyper Friedman (unassisted)
27' | W&M – Pyper Friedman (Allison Goodwin)
 
Starters
Drexel - #77 Hadfield (GK), #3 Hellemont, #7 Rawa, #9 Leva, #11 Sanabria, #13 Foster, #22 Lever, #23 Chipman, #24 OLeykowski, #29 Getty, #99 Elsen
W&M - #1 George (GK), #2 Schuma, #3 Domovich, #5 Gruendel, #8 Friedman, #9 McGaughey, #12 Moon, #21 Goodwin, #24 McKinney, #27 Schwartz, #33 Curran
 
Up Next
The Tribe faces CAA regular season Champion Monmouth in the CAA title match on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m. The contest, which is for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, will be streamed on FloLive.