__Phillips and high-powered passing game run into Liberty’s stout defense__

Coming off an impressive victory on the road against Virginia Military Institute, the Tribe (1-1) will take the field Saturday night to battle Liberty University (2-0) at Zable Stadium. The College will attempt to record its first home victory since Sept. 23 of last year, when they topped VMI 38-6.

p. Everything clicked for the Tribe a week ago as the team tallied the most points in head coach Jimmye Laycock’s tenure at the helm, defeating VMI 63-16. The College’s attention now shifts toward Liberty, who enters Saturday’s game undefeated on the season. The Flames hope to record their first victory over the Tribe, who lead the series 3-0. The Flames fell to the College 14-13 last season.

p. “We were very fortunate to get the win over Liberty last year,” Laycock said. “[This season] they look even better than they did last year. They’re a very physical team, but a team that likes to run the football. They have very good backs, pound the ball on you, have a big offensive line and defensively they make plays.”

p. The Tribe’s red-hot offense will be assisted by the return of senior wide receiver Joe Nicholas, who missed the season’s first two games with a knee injury. Nicholas led the Tribe in receptions, total receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in 2006. In his absence the College rallied behind strong wide-out play from sophomore R.J. Archer, redshirt freshman Cameron Dohse and junior Elliot Mack.

p. While the offense welcomes back Nicholas, the unit will be forced to carry on without senior fullback Matt Otey and redshirt freshman running back Courtland Marriner, as both sustained injuries against VMI. The loss of Marriner comes on the heels of the speedy redshirt freshman’s 107-yard breakout performance against VMI. Marriner’s sharp cuts and aggressive change-of-pace running helped open up the field for junior quarterback Jake Phillips, who is playing with a poise and consistency that was lacking a year ago.

p. “Last year [Phillips] had a tendency to run all the time, to get panicked,” junior running back DeBrian Holmes said. “I’m noticing that this year he is standing in the pocket, going through all of his reads. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. I’ve seen a lot of improvement.”

p. Holmes, who set a career high with three rushing touchdowns against VMI, will look to build on his end-zone success against a Liberty defense that has allowed just one rushing touchdown on the young season.

p. Something will have to give Saturday, as the Tribe’s high-powered passing attack enters the contest averaging 354.0 yards per game, while the Flames’ defensive unit has been stout against the pass, limiting opponents to 147.0 yards per game through the air.

p. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. The College has fared poorly under the lights at Zable, carrying just a 1-4 record after dark. Regardless, the Tribe has had success against opponents in Liberty’s conference, boasting a 9-0 record against Big South foes.
Photo by Spencer Atkinson.

The College will not run a competitive race until Sept. 29, but after placing fourth at the Lou Onesty Invitational last Saturday the team landed at no. 12 in the season’s inaugural USTFCCCA national poll. The Tribe preformed extremely well in the NCAA championships a season ago, finishing in eighth place. The College is also ranked second in the Southeastern Region, where North Carolina State University, ranked 10th nationally, holds the top spot. The team returns to action at the second-annual Colonial Inter-Regional Challenge.

Following an impressive 16-win season, the Tribe entered the playoffs last year with hopes of advancing deep into the postseason. The team’s aspirations were dashed in a penalty kicks loss to the Naval Academy in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The College will get its first chance for revenge today, as the Midshipmen and Tribe face off at 4 p.m. in the opening match of the VCU/Ewing Sports Invitational from Richmond. In their second game the Tribe will battle no. 2 University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill.

__Armed with an extra year of eligibility, senior Megan Moulton-Levy leads Tribe tennis into another season, starting this weekend at the W&M Invite__

The College women’s tennis team will open up its fall 2007 season by hosting the 15th annual William and Mary Invitational this weekend, Friday through Sunday at the Busch Courts, McCormick-Nagelsen Tennis Center, the Recreational Courts and the Kiwanis Courts. The team will host 13 other schools, including Duke University, Princeton University and Michigan State University. There will be six singles brackets and four doubles brackets.
The tournament kicks off what promises to be a rigorous 2007-2008 schedule.

p. They will be playing at the end of September at the University of Virginia Fall Invitational in Charlottesville, as well as multiple tournaments throughout October, including the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships and the Wildcat Invitational at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. During the winter season the Tribe will travel to many different tournaments, including the prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, Feb. 8-11, in Madison, Wisc. The team will participate in the CAA Championship April 17 to 20 in Newport News, Va. The NCAA Regional tournament take place May 9 to 10, and the NCAA Championships run May 16 to 26.

p. The Tribe hopes to improve upon last season’s success, which saw the doubles team of senior Megan Moulton-Levy and junior Katarina Zoricic (final record of 44-4) capture the ITA National Indoor championship crown, in addition to the team claiming its 19th CAA championship in the spring and making it to the round of 16 in May’s NCAA championship tournament. The 2006-2007 record for the Tribe women’s team was 22-3, having opened the season with 11 straight wins, the best start to a season in the history of the College. The final national rank for the team was 15th, a jump of 12 spots from the 27th-place final ranking the year before.

p. The Tribe received a major boost this offseason with the news that Moulton-Levy would be granted another year of eligibility. The anchor of last season’s team, Moulton-Levy was a mainstay in both the top 10 of the national singles and doubles rankings (she and Zoricic held the no. 1 spot in doubles for much of the year), and will now get to lead a talent-laden squad on another title run.

p. Another bright spot for the Tribe this season is sophomore Ragini Acharya, who won the ITA Summer National singles tournament in August. By winning this title, Acharya also earns a wild card entry into the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships. Acharya finished her freshman season at the College with a record of 32-5. She was first team all-CAA and VaSID all-State and was also honored as rookie of the year by the two organizations.

p. __Flat Hat Sports Editor Jeff Dooley contributed to this report.__

This may be the year the Redskins win another Super Bowl. Don’t laugh. After last year’s disappointment, both the players and coaches have come back with a vengeance. And while I know that a three-point overtime win over what appears to be a pretty weak opponent isn’t exactly the most promising sign in the world, the Skins are poised to make the big game.

p. Last year, the season that I have dubbed “the Brunell Blunder” or the “If-I-have-to-watch-Brunell-throw-one-more-screen-pass-I’m-going-to-throw-myself-through-the-T.V.,” left the Skins playing for next year as early as week nine. Now that Brunell is on the bench where he belongs and the team has been placed in the hands of Jason Campbell, everything seems to be working smoothly. Campbell ended the preseason with a completion percentage of 63 percent, one touchdown, no interceptions and a quarterback rating of 103. I watched Campbell with my own eyes at training camp in Ashburn, Va. this past summer and saw the incredible improvement in both his ability and his leadership. Not only that, but my grandmother (a diehard fan for many years who knows the name, number and stats for every player on the roster) hailed Campbell as the answer to our questionable offense in a letter she recently wrote to me.

p. The return of Ladell Betts, a healthy Clinton Portis and the quality of the offensive line makes 1,000 yards each for Betts and Portis a feasible claim. Last year Betts, who took the starting tailback role once Portis was out for the season due to injury, logged 1,500 all-purpose yards and set several franchise rushing records. Portis has even been quoted as saying, “I think this year we’re going to make a lot of news. We went out and got what we needed. I actually think this will be our year. We’re going to be in the NFC championship game. I guarantee that. Whatever that takes, we’re going to get there.”

p. Another question left to be answered is whether the defense will be able to generate enough turnovers. Last year Washington ranked last in the league in causing turnovers with just 12 total, and was also one of four teams who failed to score a defensive touchdown the whole season. With the addition of players such as LaRon Landry, newly acquired free agent linebacker London Fletcher and the return of Fred Smoot, the defense hopes to return to its 2004 form, where it ranked third in the league in overall defense. And of course, who can forget the fierce-hitting free safety Sean Taylor.

p. The guy can deliver a hit so hard it hurts to watch. Now that he’s paired with Landry (instead of last year’s free agent mega-bust Adam Archuleta), Taylor should be even more effective. The hype surrounding this pairing has even led to the creation of a Facebook group entitled, “Guns don’t kill people, Sean Taylor and LaRon Landry kill people.”

p. The play of Campbell and the team’s ability to stay healthy will ultimately determine the team’s success, but no matter what happens to the Skins this year, I can’t wait to get back to the pure bliss of spending Sundays watching my team play. When your favorite team is playing you can forget everything about the sports scandals and just enjoy the game.
Grandma couldn’t agree more.

p. __Andy Andrews may be e-mailed at raandrews@wm.edu.__

__Men finish ninth at Southern Pines; women finish seventh at Chip-N Invitational__

Golfers from both the men’s and women’s teams broke school records Monday and Tuesday as their respective teams finished ninth of 13 and seventh of 19 against very competitive fields. In their first campaign this season, junior Brent Paladino finished at six under par for fifth place and sophomore Morgan Stepanek took a share of second place at seven over par.

p. The men’s squad traveled to the North Carolina Sandhills for three rounds of golf Sept. 10 and 11 at the Mid-Pines Invitational. Paladino, coming off a tremendous summer which included a win at the New England Amateur, shot rounds of 69-67-74, good for a six-under-par total of 210 at the historic Mid Pines Golf Club. The strong showing not only vaulted the Tribe to ninth place, but set several school records in the process. Paladino’s six-under-par total broke the previous 54-hole school record by three shots, and his eight-under score of 136 after the first two rounds was the lowest 36-hole score in school history.

p. “It was the best I’ve hit the ball in quite a while. I was a little inconsistent with my ball striking last spring, so it was exciting when it came together like that,” Paladino said.

p. Fellow Tribe golfers Doug Hurson, Jonas Miller, Conor O’Brien and Jimmy Femino finished in T-25th, T-52nd, T-61st and T-68th, respectively. An impressive East Carolina University squad took the title this week, finishing at 22-under-par.

p. The women’s team had one of their best tournaments in a decade at the Chip-N Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., finishing in seventh place with a 930 stroke total. The team’s success can largely be attributed to Stepanek’s seven over par total. She carded a 75-74 before closing with an even par 71 at the Woodland Hills Golf Club, good for a share of second place.

p. On her notable final round, she explained, “I knew shooting 75-74 I had to keep fighting in the last round and not let any bad holes bring me down.” She managed the course well all week and did not card a single double bogey. The 220 total broke the 54-hole school record set by All-American Mary Wilkinson ’82. Her final-round 71 puts her in a tie for third best all-time at the College.

p. Freshmen Katie Murphy and Sarah Whitney, along with senior Erika Oldenkamp and sophomore Brielle Paolini, contributed to the Tribe’s strong showing, finishing T-34th, T-41st, T-41st and T-67th, respectively.