After watching her team cough up two early leads, head coach Christine
Halfpenny walked onto the field midway through the first half of
William and Mary’s game against Drexel Sunday and took a moment to
talk with senior goalie Emily Geary.
Whatever Halfpenny said worked.
Moments later, the senior goalie came up with back-to-back point
blank saves to stonewall the visiting Drexel Dragons, clearing the way
for the team’s offense to carry the No. 18 Tribe (8-5, 3-1 CAA) to its
fourth victory in five games with a 15-9 win. The victory followed the
team’s 15-9 victory over Hofstra Friday.
On a sunny Senior Day at Martin Family Stadium, Geary and her six
classmates went out in style, recording a rousing victory over the
visitors. Sophomore attacker Krystin Mackrides led all scorers with a
career-high four goals and one assist, followed by senior Grace
Golden’s three goals and one assist. Defensively, Geary notched five
saves and led a strong backline effort, which appeared rejuvenated
after a shaky start.
“I thought we rose to the challenge and really showed some true grit
and character,” Halfpenny said. “We are in a good place right now. The
team is coming together nicely [and] we are finding some new
confidence.”
After relinquishing an early lead, the Tribe turned a 4-4 tie into a
6-4 halftime edge. Coming out of the break, the College completed its
five-goal run with the first three scores of the second half to
stretch the lead to 9-4. Mackrides recorded two goals in the span
which was also fueled by goals from Golden and seniors Maggie Anderson
and Molly Wannen.
“We moved the ball [today],” Halfpenny said. “There was a lot of
sharing. We also really finished on our shots which was something
coming off of Friday night’s game we were focused on.”
But the Dragons did not go down easily. After yielding five straight
goals, Drexel buried four of its own to bring the score to 9-8. The
teams traded tallies before Geary made her second set of clutch
back-to-back saves on Dragons’ leading scorer Jaclyn Klunder to
preserve the 10-9 edge.
“We have a high-pressure defense — it’s high risk, high reward,” Geary
said. “We are not going to let teams get comfortable.”
The Dragons did not find the comfort zone for the rest of the
afternoon and could not crack Geary for the final 12 minutes of the
game, and the College registered five unanswered goals in the final
minutes to increase the final margin to 15-9.
“Down the stretch, when we needed that save when it was a one goal
game, Emily comes up huge,” Halfpenny said. “The four back there that
hold it down, [senior Kaitlyn Gambrell, senior Sara Jonson, senior
Sarah Mulvey and junior Denise Lenihan], were all remarkable.”
The Tribe will play its final three games of the regular season away
from Williamsburg. Its next match is set for Friday at Delaware.
