By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

For the first time since her initial season in 2020, William & Mary lacrosse coach Colleen Dawson was able to take her team on a legitimate preseason retreat. As in, load up the vans and head a few hours up the road.

The coaches and players talked about a lot of things on that trip to Charlottesville, but little of it had to do with strategy. Virtually all of it was about themselves.

"It was a time for us to bond and go over how we're going to set our standards and come up with a team slogan," Dawson said. "We came up with 'Me, You, Us.'

"Brian (Mann, Director of Athletics) always says to take care of yourselves and each other so you can take care of our student athletes. We put our own spin on it. The commitment is 'Take care of yourself, take care of each other, so we can take care of business.'"

Business has already started, and the season begins Saturday at noon against Villanova at Martin Family Stadium. The Tribe will play seven non-conference games before starting its Colonial Athletic Association schedule against Hofstra at home on March 18.

W&M is coming off a 4-12 (0-6 CAA) season in which injuries led to freshmen seeing more playing time than expected. It included non-conference wins over Old Dominion and Longwood and, although a winless conference record, close losses at Elon and Delaware.

But the Tribe returns 13 players who started at least six games last season — seven of whom started at least 14 games.

The top returning scorer is sophomore midfielder Serena Jacobs, who had 23 goals and 10 assists for 33 points. She had five goals and an assist in the Tribe's win over Longwood. Her shooting percentage of .535 was the best on the team of those who had more than six shot attempts.

"She's currently our most experienced midfielder, which seems a little crazy since she's only a sophomore," Dawson said. "She played a ton of minutes last year and had some really big moments."

Also back in the midfield are sophomores Paige Gilbert and Miranda Bate, and junior Meg Baxter. Dawson is hoping senior Sydney Sloan, who missed last season with an injury, will be back in the lineup soon. A freshman to watch is Kate Draddy.

The top returning attacker is senior Sarah Cipolla, who had 18 goals and nine assists last season. Also back are Sam Van Gieson, who made the CAA's All-Rookie team, and senior London Simonides, who had a season-ending injury in the 2022 opener.

Others in the mix include sophomore Delaney Roth and freshman Sydney Witwer.

Strength and experience can be expected on the defensive end this year, where W&M returns the Carolines -- Donovan, a senior, and Hertzberg, a junior. Both started all 16 games last season with Donovan leading the team in caused turnovers (19) and Hertzberg in draw controls (59).

Juniors Courtney Vasquenza and Kathleen Cozzi, who combined for 31 starts last season, and sophomore Claire Doto also return.

"We're really excited about our defense," Dawson said. "We have strength in numbers there."

In the goal will be Elise Palmer, who started all 16 games as a freshman last season. In 10 of those, she played all 60 minutes.

"Welcome to your freshman year, you're starting every game, good luck," Dawson laughed. "She handled it super well."

The addition of Stony Brook, ranked No. 7 in last season's final poll, makes an already-strong CAA stronger. The Tribe didn't win a conference game last season, but going into her fourth season, Dawson likes the mix of her roster's experience and youth.

"We're returning a ton of people on defense," she said. "But we're definitely still a young team, especially on the attacking end.

"We had a lot of people who played last year as freshmen, and you can expect to have some new faces on the field this year. We're excited about the strength they've brought in to push our team in the right direction — just like our freshmen class did last year."