William and Mary kicked off a three-game, non-conference road stint with a victory over Oregon Friday, extending its early-season winning streak to three games.
The Tribe took down the Ducks 12-8 in a team effort that featured hat tricks from three different players. Senior midfielders Molly Wannen and Grace Golden, as well as sophomore attacker Krystin Mackrides each scored three goals, while senior goalkeeper Emily Geary held Oregon to eight scores and logged nine saves. Mackrides also caused two turnovers and assisted Golden’s second-half goal.
The Ducks got out of the gate first, jumping to a 3-1 lead early in the first period. All three of Oregon’s goals came within the first 14 minutes of the first half, as Oregon midfielder Jess Drummond twice beat Geary between the pipes off a pass from Shannon Popst.
But the Tribe dominated the final minutes of the first half, putting up three unanswered scores to tie the game 4-4 at the end of the period. Golden scored the second goal of the game with 15 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the half, beating the Ducks’s keeper on an unassisted attack.
Wannen scored four minutes later on a free position shot following a foul, tying the game at 3-3 before Mackrides gave the College a 4-3 lead with 4:39 remaining in the half off a pass from senior attacker Ashley Holofcener.
Oregon tied the game with 54 seconds remaining in the first. But the Tribe drew first blood in the second period with Mackride’s second score, before once again conceding a goal to Oregon, which tied the game 5-5. From there, the College pulled away from the pesky Ducks, scoring six in a row — starting with a score on a free position start from Wannen — before Oregon got on the board again.
The College protected the ball incredibly well in the second half, turning it over just four times in the final 30 minutes. The Tribe also forced 15 Oregon turnovers in the second half, thanks largely to a strong College defense led by senior defender Sarah Johnson.
By the time the Ducks began their own 3-1 scoring run starting with 7:34 left in the game, it was too late.
The two teams split ground balls but the Tribe took advantage of holes in Oregon’s defense by firing off 34 shots, 10 more than the Ducks, who helped the Tribe’s cause by turning the ball over 25 times.
After dropping its first game of the season at No. 4 Duke, the Tribe has performed well so far in the non-conference portion of its schedule. The team is currently No. 25 in the nation, and still has five games before opening CAA-play at George Mason April 8.
The team will travel to Charlottesville Wednesday to take on No. 5 Virginia.
