Despite a strong finish, William and Mary (1-2) dug itself into a hole too deep to emerge from Thursday at Liberty (1-2). The Tribe fell behind 4-0 before scoring two goals in the final 19 minutes, falling to the Flames 4-2.
Both the College and the Flames attempted 15 shots, but the Tribe was often on its back foot, only managing to possess the ball for 43 percent of the contest. The first half was tightly played, with neither team managing a goal until Liberty capitalized on a cross to the back post that Flames midfielder Kailey Neef slipped past Tribe goalie Maisy Fling.
Liberty carried its momentum through halftime and ramped up the pressure in the second half, netting two goals in the first two minutes of the period and another in the 71st minute.
The Tribe rallied in the final stages of the match, with junior defender Alex Kuhnle finding the back of the net off an assist from sophomore midfielder Renee Kohler. The teams traded possession until the 89th minute, when freshman forward Kayleigh Shackford scored her first goal of the season off a Kohler free kick, her second assist of the night.
Tribe head coach Julie Shackford labeled poor tempo as a key factor in the defeat.
“We are very disappointed with our performance tonight,” Shackford said. “It was one of those games where we never established a rhythm and struggled to execute in all areas. We pulled ourselves out and got on the scoreboard, but we ran out of time.”
The Tribe will travel to Evanston, Illinois to face Northwestern (0-2-1) in its next contest Sept. 1 to attempt to move back to .500 on the year.