Thursday, Oct. 30, No. 2 seed William and Mary women’s soccer (7-7-4, 5-2-2 CAA) threw the kitchen sink at No. 3 seed Elon (11-2-5, 4-2-3 CAA) during its Coastal Athletic Association playoff opener, outshooting the Phoenix by an 18-11 margin and generating eight corner kicks to its opponent’s three. It was not enough. Crippled by a fourth-minute goal, the Tribe suffered a 1-0 loss at Martin Family Stadium in Williamsburg, Va., bringing to an end one of the program’s best campaigns of the decade.
“We all walked off thinking there probably wasn’t much more we could have done,” William and Mary head coach Julie Shackford ’88 said.
William and Mary rode a three-game winning streak into the evening, its imposing backline having shut out opponents for the final 282 minutes of the regular season. However, Elon interrupted the Tribe’s run of defensive dominance in immediate fashion. Following an opening stretch that yielded nothing but an off-target shot by freshman midfielder Mia Abbey, William and Mary was called for a foul near midfield. From her team’s half of the field, Elon sophomore defender Jessica Hill powered a free kick towards the mass of bodies congregated in the Tribe’s penalty area.
Improbably, the ball made its way through the scrum, bouncing over heads and past feet until three players stood between it and the goal: freshman keeper Gwen Doughty, senior defender Nora Green-Orset and Elon senior midfielder Ashlee Brehio. In the hope that her cleats would beat Doughty’s gloves to the ball, Brehio dashed towards the net. By mere inches, she won the race.
Before it could find its rhythm, William and Mary was saddled with its first deficit since Oct. 10, a hindrance Shackford said put the Tribe on edge and affected its composure during the opening period.
“It’s hard when you go down early,” Shackford said. “You know, I think that really hurt a little bit mentally, at least through parts of the first half.”
However, the emotional effects of Elon’s early goal were reflected in neither the box score nor the Martin Family Stadium crowd, which remained vocal and supportive. For most of the first half’s remainder, William and Mary controlled the ball, outshooting the Phoenix 8-7 and creating several promising opportunities. In the 18th minute, senior forward Ivey Crain came agonizingly close to evening the score, clanging a point-blank shot off the right leg of Elon sophomore goalkeeper Katie Bisgrove, while junior midfielder Lindsay Wilson’s 36th-minute try was denied by the crossbar.
Elon’s offense kept Doughty busy, but two spectacular individual plays prevented the Phoenix from extending its advantage. With the visitors on the Tribe’s doorstep in the 27th minute, senior defender Leila Greene scurried behind Doughty and headed away a shot that was sure to find the back of the net. 17 minutes later, Green-Orset tracked down streaking Elon sophomore forward and midfielder Jess Beck, tackling her from behind after she broke past William and Mary’s line.
A fiercely competitive first half gave way to a more lopsided second half, as the Tribe generated ten shots to Elon’s four. Crain opened the period with a low shot that rolled just wide of the left post. Soon after, freshman forward and CAA Rookie of the Year Ellie Leffler challenged Bisgrove with a powerful right-footed try. In the 76th minute, Abbey got in on the action, redirecting a Crain pass and forcing Bisgrove to make a diving save. It felt as if it was just a matter of time until William and Mary got on the board.
However, an equalizer never came. In the second week of conference play, senior forward Sheridan Brummett scored a late goal that lifted William and Mary to a comeback victory over Elon. Unlike that play, her 86th-minute attempt to replicate that feat was swallowed by Bisgrove. As the game’s final seconds drained off the clock, the Phoenix began celebrating, having avenged its September defeat, while the Tribe solemnly left the field.
Disappointed with the result, Shackford nevertheless praised her team, which posted the program’s best conference winning percentage since 2015.
“Could we have played a couple of their shots a little lower? Sure, but I mean, that’s soccer,” Shackford said. “I’m really proud of the way they played, and it’s tough to even get into the playoffs with 11 out of the 12 [CAA] teams being able to beat up on each other on any given day. So to get there was a big thing, and then I think, you know, always playing a good team twice is always tough.”
Shackford thought William and Mary’s offense played well enough to even the score, but she credited Bisgrove for making six saves.
“It’s tournament time, it’s going to be tight, and, unfortunately, we gave up a goal really early,” Shackford said. “You know, I don’t feel like we were chasing the game. I certainly think we had the better of the chances, and, you know, I think their goalkeeper made some outstanding saves. I thought in the second half, we were all over them and, you know, certainly could’ve got one but, credit to them, they did what they needed to do, got that one, stayed tight and condensed, and made it tough for us.”
William and Mary now turns its attention to an offseason in which it must replace an eight-player senior class that has contributed to 31 victories since 2022. Shackford described the group, which includes leading scorer Crain and defensive stalwarts Greene and Green-Orset, as one that left a substantial mark on the program.
“That group grew so much,” Shackford said. “Eight came in and eight stayed, and in this day, that doesn’t always happen. They stayed together for four years. They grew. A lot of them are starting, and there were several walk-ons in that class. I think they did as much as they could, and they brought the team together, defended the culture, helped grow the culture.”
The Tribe’s current freshman class includes Leffler, Abbey and Doughty, all of whom played significant roles during the 2025 campaign and were named to the CAA All-Rookie team. Despite the upcoming roster churn, Shackford called William and Mary’s future “bright.”
