WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—The William & Mary women's soccer team opens their 2024 home schedule on Thursday evening when they welcome Commonwealth rival Old Dominion to Martin Family Stadium.
Kick is set for 7 p.m. with the match broadcast on FloFC.
TRIBE NOTES
Last Time Out
W&M (0-1, 0-0 CAA) played a strong opening 45 minutes against Radford in the season lid lifter, outshooting the Highlanders 5-0 in the first half, but were unable to find the back of the net. The reigning Big South champs the last two years, Radford got off to a strong start in the second half grabbing a 3-0 lead 12 minutes into the frame. The Tribe tried their best to ratchet up the pressure, with
Peyton Costello scoring in the 69
th minute off a cross from
Gabriella Kurtas, but the Highlanders took the final decision 4-1. W&M owned a 20-6 advantage in the shots.
Not Bad, Rook
Peyton Costello's goal in the second half at Radford not only served as the Tribe's first goal of the season, but the first of her career in her collegiate debut. The freshman from Stony Brook, N.Y. took a cross from
Gabriella Kurtas in the 69
th minute and fired a sharp angle shot from the left wing that deflected off the goalie, the post, and into the back of the net. Teammate and current junior,
Ivey Crain, was the last W&M rookie to score in her collegiate debut, netting a pair of goals against Virginia Tech in 2022.
Yeah, We've Met Before
The Tribe and ODU (1-1, 0-0 SBC) have an expansive history being roughly an hour apart and the Monarchs being former CAA members. Thursday's meeting in Williamsburg will be the 32
nd all-time between the two in women's soccer. W&M holds a commanding advantage in the series with a record of 24-5-2 against the Monarchs. ODU will be looking for just their fourth ever win at Martin Family Stadium, a place where the Tribe holds a 14-3 all-time advantage. Last year's meeting in Norfolk ended in a 1-1 draw. Despite their overall struggles in the series, ODU is 2-1-1 in their last four matches with W&M.
2023 Recap
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 the first ever unbeaten non-conference slate in program history with a record of 3-0-3.
Running it Back
The Tribe 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 2024, including all three All-CAA honorees from a year ago,
Nicole Sellers,
Ivey Crain and
Molly Widderich. In total 24 of the Tribe's 30 goals from a season ago return for 2024.
Preseason Predictions
The CAA released their preseason awards and poll 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.
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.
