William and Mary hosted fourth-ranked James Madison Friday in a Colonial Athletic Association matchup. The Tribe (4-9, 0-2 CAA) managed to keep the score close in the first 15 minutes, but the Duke (12-1, 3-0 CAA) offense overwhelmed the College en route to a blowout victory. The loss was the Tribe’s fifth straight, and it remains winless in CAA play this season. The College’s offense was stymied by the Dukes as they cruised to a 21-4 victory to stay undefeated in conference.
The Tribe conceded two goals in the first three minutes, quickly falling behind the Dukes, 2-0. However, the College’s defense held the Dukes scoreless over the next ten minutes. In that span, the College netted two goals of its own. Just over five minutes into the game, senior attacker Abby Corkum scored off of an assist from freshman midfielder Anne Milwicz. Nearly five minutes later, the Tribe evened the game at two goals apiece when sophomore midfielder Meredith Hughes scored an unassisted goal.
Despite the surge in scoring, the Tribe was unable to seize the lead, and the game slipped away from the College over the next ten minutes. The Dukes scored the next six goals, including two goals apiece by midfielder Elena Romesburg and attacker Kristen Gaudian. Both Romesburg and Gaudian have scored over 40 goals this season for the Dukes. The College finally ended the Dukes’ scoring run to cut the lead to 8-3, but the Dukes answered with three more to take an 11-3 advantage going into the break.
In the second half, the Tribe was only able to muster one goal, when Hughes scored her second goal of the evening with just under 23 minutes remaining. The Dukes scored seven goals in the last 23 minutes to finish off the College, 21-4.
Hughes was the only multi-goal scorer for the College, leading the Tribe with two goals in its setback. On the other hand, the Dukes had 11 players score and four players with at least three goals. Romesburg led the Dukes in the victory with four goals, giving her 44 goals on the season.
The College will play its final home game of the season when eighth-ranked Towson visits Martin Family Stadium. The Tigers will be the fourth top-ten team in the country that the Tribe has faced this season. The College will look to pull an upset on the Tigers and end its five-game losing streak. The game will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 15.