Just two days after falling in a 4-3 heartbreaker to No. 18 Drexel, No. 21 William and Mary rebounded to finish on the other end of a 4-3 decision, dropping Towson at home Sunday with an overtime goal from junior midfielder Chaney Manganello.
The win gave the Tribe 10 on the season, moving the team to 10-4 on the year and 3-2 in conference play, good for fourth place in the CAA right now.
Towson set the tone early with a goal just one minute into the game when Kesley Fielder found the back of the cage for the first time this season, putting the Tigers up 1-0.
The Tribe fired back with a quick response in the fifth minute. Senior forward Leah Zamesnik dribbled into the penalty circle and found senior forward Allison Moran with a pass near the post. Moran did the rest, putting it past Towson’s goalkeeper for the equalizer and her fifth goal of the year.
But they say a team’s most vulnerable after scoring, and the College looked it, conceding another Tigers score a mere 36 seconds later. This time it was Towson’s Kelsey Jenkins who gave the Tigers another one-goal lead.
Not long after, the College responded again. In the 20th minute, sophomore midfielder Brittany Hopkins controlled a pass from Manganello and drove to the goal before finding sophomore midfielder Kayleigh Ross, who tapped it past the netminder to level the score at two goals apiece. It was Ross’s third goal of the year.
Just a few minutes later, it was the College that took the lead when freshman forward Pip Saunders found the back of the cage off an assist from junior defender Taylor Hodge for her fourth goal of the year, putting the Tribe on top 3-2.
Finally, the teams settled down for a time and the back-and-forth scoring stopped. Despite the close score, the Tribe closed out the half looking like the far more aggressive team, tallying 15 shots — eight on goal — to Towson’s three total shots over the first 35 minutes.
The lopsided shot totals didn’t stop the Tigers from striking first in the second half, though. With less than five minutes to play in regulation, Towson earned its second penalty corner of the day. Kate Nolan sent the ball into the circle, where Heather Jenney sent it past redshirt freshman goalkeeper Cate Johnson — who had relieved senior Elizabeth Frey at the start of the second half — to tie the game at 3-3 and ultimately send it into overtime.
The College didn’t wait long to win it in extra time. Fewer than six minutes into the overtime the Tribe earned a penalty corner and Manganello took the pass from senior defender Maria Caro and rifled the ball into the right side of the cage for the winner.
The Tribe finished with a resounding advantage in shots, 33 to five, and penalty corners, 18 to two. The Tribe will return to action Friday when it takes