As the Colonial Athletic Association season winds to a close, William and Mary (6-9-1, 3-4-1 CAA) was shut out by Delaware (4-11-1, 3-5-0 CAA) in one of its final matchups of the season Thursday, 2-0.
The College was peppered by a barrage of Delaware shots in the first minutes of the match, starting with a shot in the fourth minute and facing three more in the next few. One finally broke through in the eighth minute, as Blue Hens forward Riley Dixon scored her first of the season off a rebound to put the home team up, 1-0.
The first shot for the Tribe came from freshman forward Renee Kohler just seconds after the next kickoff, but after that ended up in the arms of Delaware goalkeeper Kamryn Stabelin, the College spent much of the half on defense. It ended up putting up just three shots to the Blue Hens’ 10 in the first.
The College came out of the gate stronger in the second half, with junior midfielder Charlotte Hyland getting off a shot in the first few minutes that was blocked away from the goalmouth. But just two minutes later, it was the Blue Hens again that found the back of the net, as Dixon wove through the Tribe defense to put up her second of the season and night to put Delaware up 2-0. Although the Tribe made a push to come back and ended up leading Delaware in shots during the second half, 7-3, it couldn’t break through Stabelin and would eventually be forced to concede the 2-0 shutout.
Dixon led both teams with four shots on goal, while Kohler, senior midfielder Arundel Miguelez, sophomore defender Alex Kuhnle and sophomore forward Courtney Miles were the only players to register shots on target for the Tribe.
With the 2-0 loss, the College falls to 3-4-1 in the conference, putting it fifth, behind James Madison, Northeastern, Charleston and Hofstra, but still holding them in a playoff spot. With just one more match left in the regular season, the Tribe is looking to climb up the rankings in a game against Northeastern, a squad that was undefeated for the first six contests of the season but is now riding a two-game losing streak. This final matchup with be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at Albert-Daly field.