Dear Friends of Tribe Athletics, 

A week from today, Homecoming & Reunion Weekend 2025 begins. Many of you plan to make the trip to Williamsburg to enjoy the numerous fun-filled activities scheduled for Oct. 16-19. If you are, I would like to invite you to the raising of two banners at Kaplan Arena on October 18, when we celebrate our Women's Basketball team for its 2025 CAA Championship and its first NCAA appearance and win. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m.

Most of you know the story about how the Tribe, as a 9-seed, won the CAA Tournament, earning W&M's first-ever NCAA tournament appearance and then a win over High Point in the First Four game.  Now you have the opportunity to congratulate Coach Erin Dickerson Davis and the team in person!
 
As CAA champs, the Tribe has been getting plenty of attention and Coach E and the squad are gearing up for this year's campaign.  If you have a few minutes, take a look at this video  and see how she prepares the team to "turn the page" and "be a united team" as she welcomes a large crop of first-year and transfer students after losing six seniors to graduation.  It's good stuff and will have you looking forward to their first game, which is at 7 p.m., Nov. 6 at Davidson.

New Athletics General Manager

I am so excited to let you know that we've hired Larry Pulley '74, former longtime dean of W&M's Raymond A. Mason School of Business, to serve as Interim General Manager  for the next year.  You've heard me mention time and again that intercollegiate athletics are constantly evolving, and that the Tribe must be quick to adapt to the changing environment to achieve our championship goals.  Larry is going to be a massive help with all of our sports as we navigate roster management, the transfer portal, NIL, potential player revenue sharing and strategic planning.  He is also going to help us develop the position description for the future GM. The next time you see him, please congratulate and thank him for what he is doing for the Tribe.
 
Notable

• Men's Soccer goalkeeper Ryan Eapen earned the CAA's Defensive Player of the Week honors.  He didn't allow an opponent to score over the last week, helping the Tribe pick up victories against American and UNCW.

• Linebacker Luke Banbury was selected the CAA Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. He helped lead W&M to a 38-34 win vs. North Carolina A&T with a career-high 17 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, and 2.0 sacks. His sack on 4th and goal from the 3-yard line with 2:49 remaining helped seal the victory.
• Women's Tennis had an impressive showing over the weekend at the Cissie Leary Invitational. Facing players from Maryland, Princeton, Penn, St. Joseph's, Drexel and Cornell, the Tribe had a combined 19-9 singles record and a 10-2 doubles mark over the three-day event.  Next up are the ITA Atlantic Region Championships Oct. 16-21.
• In Men's Tennis, Nikita Bortnichek, Bryan Volk, Austin Cohen and Dylan Chou posted 2-1 singles marks over the three-day River City Open. The Tribe is back in action at the ITA Atlantic Region Championships Oct. 9-13
• Women's Soccer defeated Charleston 1-0 on Sunday. The Tribe secured the victory with a second-half goal from Ivey Crain despite being outshot 21-9. Gwen Doughty made six saves to preserve the shutout.

• Perry Irons and Women's Cross Country took home titles at the Fire Tower Project Run hosted by Appalachian State.  In her first career 6K, Perry won the race in 20:49. Men's Cross Country finished second in the 11-team field led by Brendan DiStefano, who was the event runner-up. The Tribe returns to action at the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday, Oct. 17.
• In Men's Basketball, Chase Lowe and Kyle Pulliam were named preseason All-CAA and the team was picked fourth in the preseason poll by the league head coaches.

• Women's Basketball was chosen to finish sixth in the CAA's preseason poll, which the CAA's 13 head coaches voted on.  The Tribe's Cassidy Geddes was named preseason All-CAA Second Team. Cassidy was the team's second leading scorer last year.
• Talon Dingledine of Men's Golf was named the CAA Golfer of the Week. At the Nemacolin Collegiate Invitational, hosted by West Virginia, he put together a 6-under total, tied for the seventh-best in program history, for a T-6 finish.
• Football's Trey McDonald is a semifinalist for the 2025 Campbell Trophy. The award, which is announced by the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame, honors an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the nation for combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.

A Century of Success

A belated Happy Birthday goes to Coach Marv Levy, who turned 100 on Aug. 3!  He was the head coach for the Tribe from 1964 to 1968, before going on to head coaching stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills.  A member of both Pro Football's and W&M's Halls of Fame, Coach has set the standard for wins in Buffalo (123) that current head coach and Tribe alum Sean McDermott '98 is currently pursuing!
   
Did You Know? 

En route to their Sept. 27 game vs. Villanova, the football team had an unexpected stop.  Under Armour, our official apparel outfitters, offered to host them at its corporate headquarters in Baltimore. Chris Ports, our UA sales rep, gave the coaches and players a comprehensive tour of the company's campus, including a tour of their testing lab, viewing some prototypes still in development, and a walk-through in their new Under Armour Stadium.  Looks like a good time for the Tribe!
 
 The Week Ahead  

It seems as if during the fall, there is never a day without the chance to see the Tribe in action.  That's not quite true, but we have many exciting events leading up to and including Homecoming & Reunion Weekend (see the schedule of events), so I'm sure there is something that will entice you to campus.  Whether you are in the mood for a parade, a carnival, a presidential conversation or a field hockey, volleyball, football, or soccer game ( Athletics composite calendar), please make plans to head our way!

Go Tribe!




Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics