Friday, William and Mary traveled to Philadelphia for a matchup against Drexel in the first of three consecutive road contests for the College. The Tribe was looking to pick up not only its first victory in Colonial Athletic Association play, but also its first win away from Martin Family Stadium this season. After two blowout losses last weekend, the College played a much more competitive game with the Dragons. However, despite a close first half, a stretch of three straight goals by the Dragons to open the second half proved to be disastrous for the College. The Dragons held on for the rest of the game in order to secure a 14-9 victory over the Tribe.
After never taking a lead in its previous two games, the Tribe (4-11, 0-4 CAA) jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first minute of the game on a goal by sophomore attacker Audrey Hoeg. However, the College’s lead last for just 30 seconds before the Dragons (4-10, 1-3 CAA) scored the next two goals. The Tribe would not lead again for the remainder of the game.
The College did tie the game again at 2-2 when freshman attacker Sophie Kopec broke a nearly 10-minute scoring drought, scoring her 15th goal of the 2018 campaign. Following another go-ahead goal by the Dragons, the Tribe evened the score again with just over 11 minutes to play in the first half when senior midfielder McKinley Wade scored the College’s third goal of the evening, but the Dragons scored the final goal of the first half to extend their lead to two goals going into final 30 minutes of the game.
The Dragons scored three goals in less than four minutes at the start of the second half. After a nearly 14-minute scoring drought, the Tribe finally began to chip away at the Dragons’ 10-5 lead. Junior attacker Maddie Torgerson and Corkum both scored their second goal of the night to bring the Tribe within striking distance, only trailing 10-7 with over 18 minutes to play. Nevertheless, the Dragons recovered and scored three goals of their own to push the lead back to five, 13-7 with barely more than seven minutes to play in the game. The Dragons coasted for the last few minutes to claim a 14-9 victory over the College.
The Dragons were led by a huge night by midfielder Courtney Dietzel. She scored six goals to earn an elusive double hat trick. The Dragons also got valuable offensive contributions from midfielders Lucy Schneidereith and Colleen Grady. Schneidereith recorded a hat trick and Grady had four assists and a goal. On the other side, the Tribe had three players with multi-goal games in a losing effort. Torgerson, Corkum and Wade each scored twice for the College. Wade also had one of the Tribe’s two assists on the night.
Later this weekend, the College will attempt to end its losing streak at seven games. The Tribe will continue its road trip when it takes on Delaware Sunday afternoon. After the matchup with the Blue Hens, the College will conclude regular season action when it travels to Elon Saturday, April 28.
