For three years, William and Mary has come tantalizingly close to breaking into the elite ranks of women’s collegiate lacrosse. The Tribe fell in back-to-back CAA tournament finals in 2008 and 2009 and suffered a barrage of injuries that beset an otherwise promising 2010 campaign.

With this in mind, the Tribe’s much-heralded senior core, including CAA Preseason Player of the Year Grace Golden and 2010 CAA Defender of the Year Sarah Jonson, embarked on its final chance at glory in the College’s season opener against No. 4 Duke in Durham, N.C. Saturday.

Despite a furious second half rally, the Tribe (0-1) could not close the void left by a shaky first half, and the squad ultimately fell 14-11.

“I thought our team was very well prepared,” Head Coach Christine Halfpenny said. “Overall, from top to bottom, I walk away from this experience as being pleased with the effort our team gave us. I think it is an outstanding start to the season … We had some very minor execution errors that hurt us, but I am really excited about what we have to work with this season.”

Senior midfielder Maggie Anderson paced the Tribe with a career-high six goals, while senior midfielder Grace Golden added three goals and four ground balls and caused three turnovers.

Senior midfielder Ashley Holofcener — who finished the 2010 season ranked 13th nationally in assists and holds the school record for career assists — helped the Tribe spread the ball around with seven assists.

The match started out well for the College. Golden opened the scoring after just 1 minute, 31 seconds of play, giving the Tribe an early 1-0 advantage. The Blue Devils answered quickly, however, as Duke’s Kat Thomas sped up the field and scored an unassisted goal just 11 seconds later to even the match.

After Anderson added another Tribe goal off of a Holofcener assist with 25:58 remaining in the first half, Duke reestablished itself and went on a 9-1 scoring run to end the half with a decisive 10-3 advantage over the College.

“The first half was unfortunate,” Halfpenny said. “We didn’t really need 10 more minutes in the first half, we needed 10 minutes back. We allowed four goals in a minute-and-a-half stretch, and that is a really difficult thing to come back from. We weren’t able to connect on some of our fast breaks, and that ended up being the difference.”

During that span, the Blue Devils relied on balanced scoring; Thomas, Virginia Crotty, Christie Kaestner, Sarah Bullard and Maddie Salamone all managed to score at least one goal against senior goalkeeper Emily Geary.

Although Bullard added yet another Duke goal just 42 seconds into the second half, the College regained its composure and went on a run of its own. Senior Molly Wannen provided the Tribe with its first points in nearly 17 minutes of play with an unassisted score. From there, Anderson scored on two consecutive Holofcener feeds to cut the Duke lead to four.

Anderson’s performance, especially in the second half, resulted in her being named the CAA Player of the Week Monday, which pleased her coach.

“She just had a monster day,” Halfpenny said. “She just came out yesterday and was in the right place at the right time. Her execution on her shooting was clearly flawless, as she went 6 for 6 … She just really exploited [Duke’s] goalkeeper’s weaknesses.”

Despite Anderson’s best efforts, Thomas and Bullard added two more goals, pushing the Blue Devil advantage to 13-6 with 20 minutes to go, The margin proved too steep of a deficit for the College to overcome.

The Tribe went on a 5-1 run to close the contest, but it was not enough.

“We are going to take this game and we are going to learn from it,” Halfpenny said. “We are hoping to continue to hone in on our game plan and continue to get better.”

William and Mary ended its seven-game losing streak Sunday, dropping Georgia State 76-66 in a back and forth contest.

Led by junior guard Taysha Pye, the Tribe (3-22, 2-13) was able to pull away from the Panthers on the strength of record-breaking foul shooting.

“She’s letting the offense work for her,” Coach Debbie Taylor said of Pye, who finished with 20 points, 10 of which came from the stripe on as many attempts. “She was a little more smart offensively.”

The College was able to pull away from Georgia State with just over 6 minutes left in the second half. Following a steal by sophomore forward Emily Correal, freshman forward Kaitlyn Mathieu knocked down a three-pointer off an assist from Pye, extending the Tribe’s lead to 8. It would ultimately prove too much to overcome for the Panthers.

Pye and Mathieu, who finished with 14 points, led a group of four College players in double figures. The game left Taylor raving about the promise of her freshman center Mathieu.

“She’s such a bright spot. She understands the game and she loves to learn,” Taylor said. “Typically, down the stretch you see freshman get worn down, but she’s picking up.

The first half Sunday was hotly contested. The College jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but Georgia State climbed right back in. By the end of the first 20 minutes of play, the lead had changed hands 10 times with the Tribe clinging to a four-point lead.

In the second half, the Tribe’s free-throw shooting helped make the difference. The team finished having missed just one of 23 free throws for a team record 95.7 percent from the line.

The win over Georgia State comes on the heels of consecutive overtime losses to fifth-place Deleware and sixth-place Drexel. Now, just three games from the CAA tournament, the Tribe — albeit with little hope of significantly improving its seed — is excited to be playing some of its best basketball down the stretch.

“Obviously to play well down the stretch is something you hope for,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to see it all coming together.”

William and Mary (0-4) knew its chances of winning a series at No. 5 Oklahoma were slim. But sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team, especially a team as good as the Sooners.

“I thought we played well at times and at other times we just went up against a very good baseball team,” Head Coach Frank Leoni said. “Oklahoma, it would not surprise me if they were the No.1 team in the country some time this year.”

The Tribe lost all four games of the series, including the final two by a combined score of 26-5. The squad cannot help being disappointed in missing an opportunity to upset a top-ranked squad.

The College’s weekend [began? not ended] with a 13-1 defeat Saturday, as sophomore starter Brett Koehler was roughed up for six runs on nine hits in four innings of work. Freshman Matt Houston did not fare much better, giving up six runs of his own after coming on in relief for Koehler.

Junior catcher Chris Forsten and freshman shortstop Ryan Lindemuth each had two hits for the Tribe, and freshman designated hitter Devin White went 1-for-4 with an RBI in the loss.

Sunday’s result was foretold by the Tribe dropping both games of its double header Saturday, falling 9-6 and 13-4 to the Sooners.

“It wasn’t as much the hitting,” Leoni said. “Especially the 13-4 game, the final score is not indicative of how that game went … We gave them extra outs and, when you get behind to them, you start to press.”

Senior starter Logan Billbrough held the Oklahoma bats at bay in the first game, limiting the Sooners to four runs on five hits in four-and-one-thirds innings pitched. Billbrough exited the game with a 5-4 lead thanks in part to a three-run home run from sophomore third baseman Ryan Williams in the first inning.

But the Tribe bullpen could not hang on for the win. Junior reliever Jay MacCarthy allowed three runs in two thirds of an inning of work, while sophomore reliever Brett Goodloe allowed a pair of runs of his own en route to the Sooners’ 9-6 win.

The College scored early in the second game of the double header as well, as back-to-back doubles from sophomore outfielders Jackson Shaver and Derek Lowe in the second inning gave the College an early 3-0 lead.

But the Sooners would score four runs in the fifth inning, and three more in the sixth off junior starter Cole Shain on its way to a 13-4 victory.

The College dropped the first game of the four-game series 7-1 to Oklahoma on Friday in perhaps the most interesting matchup of the weekend. Junior starter Matt Davenport, a pre-season All American candidate, allowed six runs, only three of them earned, in five innings pitched, while striking out two batters.

“Matt didn’t have his best stuff,” Leoni said. “But he competed with the stuff he had.”

Led by junior Alex McGrath, William and Mary took care of business at the Virginia Tech Challenge this weekend in Blacksburg. In its final opportunity to qualify for indoor championships in two weeks, the men’s team earned 10 IC4A qualifications, while the women earned two ECAC qualifications.

“It was a solid weekend,” Head Coach Stephen Walsh said. “We got done what we needed to get done in terms of getting people qualified.”

On the men’s side, Friday’s action was highlighted by a dominant Tribe performance in the 3,000-meter race. McGrath’s time of 8:18.06 not only won the race but was a personal best by 13 seconds.

“We had our race set up very nicely,” McGrath said. “About halfway through I was feeling like maybe I wouldn’t be able to hold on. I started dropping back a bit, but in the last 800 meters or so I felt like I could handle it.”

Graduate student Lewis Woodard and freshmen Rad Gunzenhauser and Ted Richardson rounded out the top four spots in the race. All four runners qualified for the IC4A championships in Boston on March 5 and 6.

Senior Zach Jordan qualified in the weight throw, tossing the 35-pound weight 17.53 meters. He is now fourth-place all-time in College history.

“Zach had a very strong weekend,” Walsh said. “Of his eight throws, I think four of them were [personal records].”

Saturday, the men once again dominated in the 5,000-meter run, once again controlling the top four spots. Graduate student Chas Gillespie took first place with a time of 14:27.83 — a personal indoor best.

Junior Liam Anastasia-Murphy also qualified in the 1,000-meter race, to add to his qualifier in the mile last month.

The women’s team took the first and second spots in the 3,000-meter race, led by freshman Elaina Balouris and Kathleen Lautzenheiser.

“Elaina pretty much took over the race after about a [thousand meters] and led it from there,” Walsh said. “Kathleen kind of missed the jump but chased her down. The two of them are really running well.”

Lautzenheiser, who is recovering from an off-season knee injury, says she achieved her goal for the weekend, but would like to shave off a few more seconds in the championships next month.

“I still think I can run a little bit faster at the ECACs, but my main objective was to qualify, so I was happy with that,” Lautzenheiser said. “If I could, I would like to run at 9:40 which is a pretty big jump, but I may even be able to go below that.”

William and Mary 84, Radford 52
Sometimes, there’s just no justice in this world. William and Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver said as much after last Tuesday’s last-second loss at Hofstra.

But karma’s pendulum finally swung the Tribe’s way Saturday, as the squad picked up a win at home over Radford 84-52 in the ESPN BracketBusters Tournament. It was the first Backet Buster win in Tribe history.

“It feels great to win for these guys,” Shaver said. “Happy locker room, a lot of smiles. I think it shows how much our club has improved. We had such a brutal week on the road — five days on the road, two incredibly heartbreaking losses — and to come back home and play this well really shows you the growth of this basketball team.”

Five members of the Tribe posted double figures, including junior forward Quinn McDowell, who sported a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The squad shot 52.5 percent on the night and 40.9 percent from downtown.

Sophomore guard Matt Rum led the team, coming off the bench with 16 points, two assists and two rebounds. Freshman guards Julian Boatner and Brandon Britt continued their string of strong performances. Boatner shot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and Britt added 10 points with five assists.

“It’s nice to win,” Rum said. “I think we did a good job getting it into the gaps, getting it into the zone, and going from there. [Senior center Marcus] Kitts did a great job kicking it out when they doubled him up.”

Kitts pitched in with nine points, going 4-for-5 from the field with nine rebounds and four blocks.

The Tribe’s efficient offense was complemented by a strong defensive effort. The College held Radford to 20 points in the first half on 26.5 percent shooting from the field and 9.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Although the Highlanders would pick up some momentum in the second half, their shooting remained decidedly off, and they finished the night with 30.9 percent shooting.

“I think we’re at our best when we come out with energy on defense, which is something we’ve improved on throughout the year,” Kitts said.

Junior guard Kendrix Brown led the defensive effort, picking up nine rebounds and two steals. Brown began the year as a starter, but has transitioned well into a defensive stopper as Britt and Boatner have developed into an offensively minded backcourt.

“Ken Brown is really back to his old self. I mean, he’s really played well the last three or four games,” Shaver said. “He really orchestrates our defense when he’s on the floor. We are so much better defensively when he’s out there.”

Shaver echoed similar sentiments on Rum’s performance, saying that the sophomore’s breakout performance against Radford needs to continue for the College to have success in the future.

“This is really how we envisioned Matt Rum playing all year long,” he said. “He needs to play at this level for us to be a good basketball team.”

The Tribe picked up momentum early, kicking off the game with a 12-2 run and holding the lead for the remainder of the game. An early run by Radford brought the score to 12-9, but the Tribe responded with its own 10-0 run.

After that, it was never close.

“This is a big win,” Kitts said. “It’s a step in the right direction to give this group a lot of confidence going into these last two games, and then into the conference tournament.”