TRIBE 0, TOWSON 2
Uncharacteristic mistakes cost the College of William and Mary Saturday night.
Playing its first CAA match of the season, the Tribe (4-1-2, 0-1 CAA) could not find the back of the net in a frustrating 2-0 loss to Towson University (5-2, 1-0). The College’s first loss of the season came against the same team that ended its 2007 season in the CAA quarterfinals.
“There was an all-around effort problem,” senior co-captain Doug McBride said. “We came out kind of flat and weren’t sharp.”
Towson’s first goal followed an errant pass in the midfield by Tribe sophomore forward Alan Koger, which allowed the Tigers to feed the ball into the box and free forward Tommy Appel-Schumacher for a one-on-one match-up with sophomore goalkeeper Andrew McAdams. Appel-Schumacher took a few touches before wrapping the ball around a sprawling McAdams to register the match’s first goal in the 49th minute.
The College’s second major mishap occurred in the 81st minute when sophomore back Nick Orozco tripped Towson’s Matt Beckman in the box, leading to a penalty kick goal and a 2-0 deficit.
Tribe Head Coach Chris Norris, who characterized his team’s miscues as “ridiculously bad mistakes,” was unhappy with the Tribe’s performance.
“The goals in the second half broke us open, but, for the most part, defensively we were decent,” Norris said. “We needed some more quality in the final third.”
The College played without junior forward Andrew Hoxie, who missed his second game of the season due to a nagging leg injury he sustained Sept. 14. Sophomore forward Jimmy Carroll, who made his first appearance with the Tribe sincetransferring from Virginia Tech, filled in for Hoxie and registered one shot on goal.
Carroll ignited the Tribe offense moments after stepping on the pitch, taking a low feed from Koger and forcing Towson goalkeeper John Steele to lunge to his left and punch the ball wide for a corner kick.
The College outshot the Tigers 16-9 with Towson managing only two shots on goal — not including the penalty kick. On the season, the College has registered 42 more shots than their competition this season, but only three more goals.
After defeating Campbell University 3-2 Tuesday, the Tribe practiced only once prior to Saturday’s contest due to inclement weather and poor field conditions.
Norris and McBride both mentioned limited practice as affecting the game, but neither sought to blame the loss on the lack of practice time.
“[The loss] potentially has a lot of value because until you are exposed a little, until you feel vulnerable, you don’t feel the pain of a tough loss,” Norris said. “If we can internalize some of the things that happened here tonight and continue to believe in what we are doing, this game can have great value.”
The value of the Towson defeat will first be tested tomorrow when the College travels to James Madison University for a 7 p.m. match. After the Dukes, the Tribe will face two more conference foes on the road before returning home Oct. 11.
