TRIBE 13, No. 10 BOSTON 14
The College of William and Mary (2-2) led no. 10 Boston University for over 52 minutes before giving up game-tying and game-winning goals to the Terriers in a 14-13 double-overtime loss Saturday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field.
“I am really proud of our team today,” Head Coach Christine Halfpenny said. “We just had a few key turnovers towards the end of regulation that allowed [Boston] to stay in the game.”
Halfpenny was referring to the 18 giveaways the Tribe committed; and while weather conditions seemed to worsen toward the end of the game, the wet ball and slick field were not the only reasons for the Tribe’s sloppy play.
“We have some youthful kinks we need to work out, so that hopefully the next time we’re in this situation, we’ll come out on top,” Halfpenny said.
These “kinks” were not apparent early in the match when the Tribe jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead on goals by sophomore attacker Ashley Holofcener and junior attackers Mary Zulty and Katie Rees.
The team’s crisp passing in the first half kept the College in the lead and in control, allowing the Tribe to take an 8-6 advantage into the break.
The College scored 5 consecutive goals after BU tied the match at 8-8 early on in the second half. Senior midfielder Clare Dennis highlighted the 5-0 run, scoring 2 of her 3 goals in 8 seconds to push the lead to 12-8. Sophomore attacker Maggie Anderson tallied another score 4 minutes later, but that was the last goal the team could muster against the Terriers, who scored the final 6 goals of the match.
Boston’s senior captain Sarah Dalton, who broke her team’s single-season goal record with 71 last season, recorded 4 first-half goals against sophomore goalkeeper Emily Geary, including 1 opportunistic goal 19 seconds after Holofcener was tagged with a yellow card and the Tribe was forced to play shorthanded. The 5’9” Dalton finished with 8 goals, including back-to-back leaping and diving scores in the middle of the second half to cut the Tribe’s 5-goal lead to 13-10.
“We knew who she was, and we tried to put pressure on the feeder to prevent [Dalton] from getting the ball,” Halfpenny said. “We had the right game-plan, but her stick was just taller than ours.”
Her stick rallied the Terriers from being 5-down to double-overtime winners. Dalton led a Boston attack that outshot the Tribe 34-27.
The College travels to no. 16 Stanford University Sunday for a 3 p.m. match in Palo Alto, Calif.
