Friday, William and Mary hosted Brown in the third match of the four-game home stand. After 84 minutes of a hard-fought game, the Tribe (2-2) walked away with a 4-3 double-overtime victory over the Bears (1-2).
The Bears scored within the first five minutes of the match off a penalty corner and remained in the lead for the following 15 minutes.
After the Tribe dropped down a goal, it gained a spark of momentum and kept play in its attacking half for the majority of the next four minutes.
Junior forward Woodard Hooper gained a brief look at goal, followed by more commotion in front of the Bears’ goal in which the Tribe nearly evened the playing field.
Freshman midfielder Jorja Morgan then put the College on the scoreboard as she hammered the ball into the back of the cage past Bears goalkeeper Katie Hammaker in the 22nd minute.
In the 31st minute of the game, Hooper got a one-on-one look at goal with a ball centered from the left but was unable to get a solid contact.
The Bears slid ahead in the 32nd minute when midfielder Emma Rosen broke through the defense and crossed the ball from the left to forward Gina Openshaw. Openshaw connected with the ball to place it just behind the Tribe’s junior goalkeeper Morgan Connor, who had come off her line to pressure the breakaway.
In the last minute of the half, the College drove the final goal of the half into the back of the cage. Originating from the left outside flank, the ball was crossed near the arc to the right side. Sophomore midfielder Caitlin Maclean passed the ball to senior midfielder Estelle Hughes, who placed the ball past the keeper.
The teams entered the second half in a draw. In the 11th minute of the second half, Hughes scored for the second time off a cross from the right from senior defender Caroline Arrowood to give the Tribe a 3-2 advantage.
A minute later, Connor made a diving save to keep the Tribe in the lead.
The coming minutes were fluid, with neither team gaining clear momentum. In the 56th minute, Bears forward Anya Nayak collected the ball off a pass from defender Rachel Lanouette, before sliding the ball past Connor to tie the game for the third time.
The regulation period ended in a 3-3 tie, propelling the match into overtime. Neither team scored in the first 10-minute overtime period, so the game moved into a second period of overtime.
Within the first minute of the second overtime period, the Bears had a two-on-two situation in which freshman goalkeeper Kimi Jones made an impressive save to keep the Tribe in the game in her first appearance this season.
Closing in on the end of the match, the College earned a penalty corner in which junior midfielder Christie van de Kamp sent the ball to Hughes, who sent it back to van de Kamp, allowing her to fire at the goal. Hammaker made a skillful save, but to no avail; Hughes followed up mere seconds later with the game-winning goal.
“I think we just played with a lot of heart,” Hughes said. “It wasn’t our best game, but we worked for the whole 70 minutes — the overtime and at the end of the game, it was just pure effort and hard work.”
While Hughes had a successful night, earning three of the Tribe’s four goals, the College’s success is due largely in part to a defensive line that withheld numerous attacks.
“Giving a shoutout to our defense in whole, I don’t want to pick one player over the other,” head coach Tess Ellis said. “I thought Cara Menges as a freshman stepping up with her speed in the midfield gave us opportunities, if it was to feed to Estelle or overlapping forward,”
Several other players also contributed significantly to the game, noted by Ellis, including Hughes, van de Kamp, junior forward Annie Snead and Morgan.
“[They] gave a lot out there tonight,” Ellis said.
The Tribe will play Virginia Commonwealth Sunday at 1 p.m. on Busch Field to complete its four-game home stand before hitting the road for two consecutive games.