It’s getting hard to tell how good junior midfielder Grace Golden is anymore.
Take this weekend for example, when Golden tied a single-game record with seven goals in William and Mary’s (7-5, 1-1 CAA) 17-12 win at Drexel Sunday. Her performance helped the Tribe split their games in conference on the weekend after losing 15-7 at No. 16 Hofstra Friday night.
But Golden, who scored five of her goals in the second half Sunday, barely even noticed that her eight points on the day tied her for fourth place in the program’s history.
“I was more concerned with winning the game,” Golden said. “But it was a pretty sweet feeling afterwards.”
If Golden remains unaffected, who then can put her performance in context to understand just how good the junior has become?
“[Grace] played a fantastic game,” Head Coach Christine Halfpenny said. “She brings a whole new level of lacrosse to the team, and is able to score in a number of different ways.”
Junior attacker Ashley Holofcener helped out Sunday, tallying three assists after sitting out Friday’s game against Delaware. Senior midfielder Mary Zulty and junior midfielder Molly Wannen totaled four goals apiece.
“If you look at the stat sheet [for the Drexel game], we were able to use a number of different scorers,” Halfpenny said. “I was happy we were able to balance our scoring back out.”
The College dominated the stat line against the Dragons, holding a 20-11 advantage in draw controls and a 19-14 advantage in ground balls.
But the most telling statistic, according to Halfpenny, was a 47 percent shooting percentage.
“We executed extremely well on Sunday, especially with shot selection,” Halfpenny said. “Shooting percentage was the key to the game.”
The Tribe outscored the Dragons 12-4 in the first half behind solid defense from junior goalkeeper Emily Geary, who finished the game with a season-high 14 saves.
The second half began with three quick goals by Golden in a span of less than four minutes. Later in the game, Golden added another pair of goals just 25 seconds apart. The teams traded goals late, but the Dragons fell short at the end.
Friday evening, the Tribe fell 15-7 at No. 16 Hofstra, wasting another outstanding performance from Golden who led the team with three goals, four draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers.
“Our kids did a good job to play a tough game on the road,” Halfpenny said. “In all areas besides scoring, we played very well.”
The game’s momentum changed quickly in the first half. After a quick goal to start the game from Wannen, the Pride scored eight unanswered goals over the remainder of the opening period.
Despite the 8-1 halftime score, the College led in shots 13-10 and held a 6-4 advantage in draw controls.
Although the Pride notched the initial goal of the second half, the Tribe responded with a 3-0 run to narrow the margin to five goals with 21:38 remaining. But a 4-1 Hofstra run proved too much for the College.
“I was extremely happy that we were able to take one of two on the road with our CAA openers this weekend,” Halfpenny said. “CAA play definitely does [give you] a homefield advantage, and our win puts us in a nice position to come out in the top four [in the conference].”
