William and Mary (3-5) failed to snap a three-game slide Wednesday night, losing 3-1 at home to Richmond (4-5). Despite controlling most of the game, the Tribe was unable to turn offensive pressure into points.
“We certainly had our chances,” Head Coach Peel Hawthorne said. “We had ball possession and we had opportunities to score.”
Richmond jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes. Forward Katelin Peterson tipped in a shot from her teammate at the right goalpost to open the scoring. Forward Dani Pycroft scored eight minutes later off a penalty corner. The College went into the half having been out-shot 9 to 4.
“We were just not being as threatening as we can be,” senior captain Wesley Drew said. “We were not attacking good spaces. We were going to the corner when we should be attacking inside.”
The Tribe came out of the break re-energized, and had chances in the second half. Sophomore midfielder Leah Zamesnik found the back of the net twice, but had both scores called back for being a step outside the shooting-circle.
“Leah got pretty unlucky today,” Hawthorne said.
Richmond took a comfortable three-goal lead in the 54th minute of the match, when Peterson scored her second goal of the day — an unassisted blast past the reach of Tribe sophomore keeper Camilla Hill. Hill, coming off two strong games, finished the contest with seven saves in ten shots on goal.
The Tribe proved they had not given up 12 minutes later, when sophomore midfielder Kelsey Nawalinski took a fast break straight at the Richmond keeper. After a tangle, the Tribe was granted a penalty stroke. Drew was chosen for the honors and flicked the ball past the Spiders’ keeper to give the College their lone goal of the night.
Richmond ended the evening with 15 shots, compared to the College’s 11. Drew led the squad with four shots, followed by junior midfielder Jenna Cinalli and junior forward Rebecca Wagner who had three and two, respectively.
Although frustrated by the outcomes of the past several matches, the College knew what they must do to rejuvenate their offense in the coming matches.
“We have to play with emotion,” Hawthorne said. “We have to keep the pressure on and shoot with conviction. Right now we are too tentative.”
Drew agreed.
“It’s just about getting more confidence with every player,” she said.
The Tribe will be back in action this weekend when they take on Radford at 6 p.m. Friday and Northeastern at 11 a.m. Sunday. Both games will be at Busch field.
