After a three-game losing streak, William and Mary hosted Delaware in Martin Family Stadium, April 12, with the hopes of breaking that streak and winning one of the last few games of the regular Colonial Athletic Association season. After entering overtime, the College narrowly defeated the Blue Hens 12-11.
Less than a minute into the game, Blue Hens attacker Christine Long scored, and within the next seven minutes, the Blue Hens propelled themselves to 4–0, setting the trend for the game in which the Blue Hens would continually be in the lead.
With 18 minutes left in the first half, freshman midfielder Lauren Russell scored the College’s first point, bringing the tally to 4-1. Within a minute of Russell’s goal, Tribe freshman midfielder Belle Martire scored her 32nd goal of the season bringing to College to a score of 4-2.
Recognizing that the College was catching up, Blue Hens attacker Caroline Farley propped up the Blue Hens 5-2. The Blue Hens were subsequently given a free position attempt, but midfielder Claire D’Antonio’s attempt was blocked by the Tribe’s junior goalkeeper Elsa Rall.
The following free position attempt granted to the College was successfully converted into a goal when Tribe sophomore attacker Sophie Kopec scored with nine minutes left in the first half. A subsequent goal by Martire, her 33rd goal, brought the score to 5-4.
With five minutes left in the first half Tribe senior attacker Maddie Torgerson scored her 15th goal of the season, bringing the tally to 5-5, and evening the score for the first time in the game.
Assisted by Russell, Kopec tore ahead of the Blue Hens, with another goal to make it 6–5. As the first half finished, the College was not content with its lead, Torgerson tacked on a final goal of the first half, putting the Tribe up 7–5.
Opening the second half, both teams struggled to find their offensive rhythm, but 8 minutes in, Blue Hens Caroline Farley broke the silence with a goal, bringing the score to 7–6. Farley went on to bring the Blue Hens back into the lead, scoring two additional goals and setting the score at 9-7.
With the efforts of Tribe junior attack Makenzie Schulze and Martire, the score was equalized yet again to 9-9. Martire was a noticeable presence in the game, scoring yet again to bring the score to 11–9 with just two minutes left in the half.
Freshman defender Starr Howard was given a yellow card, and the referees allowed D’Antonio a free position shot, which she subsequently made, bringing the score to 11-10.
With 23 second left in the game, the Blue Hens called a timeout, hoping to equalize the score and go into overtime, a successful gambit due to a goal by Blue Hens midfielder Mia DeRuggiero with 13 second left on the clock.
Ending the second half with an 11-11 tie, the College and the Blue Hens were forced to go into overtime to determine the victor of the match. After a fiercely contested overtime round, during which the Blue Hens had a failed free position attempt, a goal by Martire with 22 seconds left in overtime saved the game, 12-11.
“It was a dog fight from top to bottom,” head coach Hillary Fratzke said. “I’m really proud of the girls. We talked about it all week — finding a better way. Honestly, that was the only thing they could do out there. They scored that last goal man-down after we got our fourth non-releasable yellow card. It was pure gut.”