WILLIAMSBURG, Va.— Coming off its first trip to the CAA semifinals since 2017, the William & Mary women's soccer team lifts the lid on its 2024 season with a trip to Radford on Thursday evening. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+.
The match is also the first athletic event for W&M Athletics in the 2024-25 academic year.
| Game #1 - William & Mary at Radford |
| Date |
Thursday, Aug. 15 |
| Time |
7 p.m. |
| Location |
Radford, Va. (Cupp Stadium) |
| Live Video |
ESPN+ |
| Live Stats |
Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites |
W&M | RAD | CAA | NCAA |
| Statistics |
W&M | RAD |
TRIBE NOTES
A Look Back
The Tribe had a successful 2023 season with a record of 9-4-7, 6-3-3 CAA, culminating in a trip to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2017.
Julie Shackford's sixth season at the helm of her alma mater also saw W&M post their first ever unbeaten non-conference slate with a record of 3-0-3.
After outlasting Northeastern in a seven-round penalty shootout in the quarterfinals, the Tribe's season came to an end against eventual CAA champion Towson in the semifinals. Three Green and Gold players earned All-CAA honors a year ago,
Nicole Sellers (First Team),
Ivey Crain (Second Team) and
Molly Widderich (All-Rookie).
Defensively the Tribe was extremely solid a season ago, posting eight clean sheets and holding opponents to a measly nine shots per game, with less than four of those shots being on goal.
Running it Back
Shackford's squad returns a whopping 23 players from a successful 2023 season. Even more impressive is that zero undergraduates decided to depart the program via the transfer portal from 2023 to 2024. That is the fourth most returners without an undergraduate departure in Division I. Eastern Michigan leads the way with 27.
Seven of the program's top-nine scorers from 2023 return for the upcoming season, including all three All-CAA honorees (Sellers, Crain, Widderich). In total 24 of the Tribe's 30 goals from a season ago return for 2024.
History with the Highlanders
W&M looks to continue a six-game win streak over Radford, that dates back to 1985, in what will be the first meeting between the two sides since 2013. Overall, the Tribe holds a 7-4-1 series advantage over the Highlanders but are 0-2 in games at Radford. Thursday's match will be the first trip to Radford since 1983 for W&M.
Getting Off on the Right Foot
Dating back to 2014, the Tribe is 4-0 when kicking off a season with a true road game, including last year's 4-0 win at Temple to get the 2023 season underway. Overall, the Green and Gold is 3-1 in their last four season lid lifters.
Preseason Predictions
The CAA released their preseason awards and poll last week, as voted on by the conference's 14 head coaches. Monmouth was picked as the conference's preseason favorite with five first-place votes. The Tribe was selected to finish fifth, with Hofstra, Towson and Northeastern slotted between them and the Hawks to complete the top-five.
Ivey Crain earned a spot on the Preseason All-CAA Team with
Molly Widderich and
Nicole Sellers receiving honorable mentions. All three players received postseason All-CAA awards last year.
Tribe Ties
As a program very rooted in its history,
Julie Shackford '88 has built a staff around her in which all five members have W&M ties. Her associate head coach,
Marsha Lycan '87, was a teammate of Shackford's with the Tribe, while graduate assistant
Zoe Doughty just finished her career as a goalkeeper with W&M last season.
John Daly is in his fourth season as a volunteer assistant after spending 31 seasons as the program's head coach, and recent addition to the staff,
Caeden Fong, spent the last three seasons as a member of the men's team.
Scouting the Highlanders
Radford enters 2024 as the reigning Big South champions and an NCAA Tournament berth a year ago. The Highlanders posted a 12-6-2, 6-1-1 Big South record in 2023 and went 8-0 at home. Their last home loss was October 2022.
