All Chris Norris ’95 wanted was a clean first half.
Over the previous two weeks, the William and Mary men’s soccer head coach watched the Tribe (0-2-2, 0-0 CAA) quickly fall behind in each of its three contests, draining itself of confidence and expending its energy while searching for equalizers. At Navy (1-1-3, 0-0 Patriot), it conceded a goal in the 35th minute; against Rutgers (3-1-1, 0-0 Big 10), it allowed one in the 12th; at Campbell (2-1-1, 1-0 CAA), it found itself down 1-0 less than 90 seconds after kickoff. Going into William and Mary’s Saturday, Sept. 6, home matchup against Maryland, Baltimore County (4-0-1, 0-0 America East), Norris’ gameplan emphasized one thing — avoiding a deficit.
“The biggest thing for us was trying to get through the first half without putting ourselves in a hole,” Norris said. “We had done that for our first three games, and we wanted to do everything that we could to make sure that we got a shutout. Obviously, if we could get a lead, like we ended up getting, that would be great, but our primary goal was to make sure that we didn’t give anything away in the first 45 minutes. We were happy with that.”
Not only did the Tribe fulfill their coach’s directive, they exceeded his expectations. Behind two early saves from junior goalkeeper Ryan Eapen, William and Mary kept the Retrievers off the scoreboard in the first half, and a 43rd-minute goal by senior forward Sam Delgado sent the Green and Gold into the locker room with its first advantage of the season. Although UMBC evened the score in the 60th minute after graduate student forward Andres Javitt rocketed a free kick past Eapen’s fingertips, the Tribe’s 1-1 draw against the undefeated Retrievers satisfied Norris and marked its best result of the 2025 campaign.
“Obviously, UMBC’s a good team, undefeated still in the season, and they scored a great free kick,” Norris said. “But I thought we responded well in the second half after being equalized and had some good moments, could have potentially won it. I thought it was a good college soccer game.”
The tie was made all the more impressive by the context in which the Tribe claimed it. It was a sweltering afternoon at Martin Family Field — the temperature reached 91 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity hovered around 50%. Fans and players alike felt the effects of the heat, as a number of spectators huddled in the shade provided by the press box while William and Mary wrestled with injury and fatigue issues that were exacerbated by the inhospitable sun. The battle was one of attrition, where stamina proved more valuable than strength.
Perhaps the most resilient player on the field was Delgado. The visitors applied a methodical pressure that produced two corner kicks and a shot in the game’s first five minutes, but the hosts fired back with several chances of their own. In the 17th minute, senior forward Lucas Caldas received a cross in the penalty box, taking a touch off his chest before being swallowed up by the UMBC defense. The opportunity was the Tribe’s most promising up to that point. However, Caldas soon left the game due to injury, shifting much of the team’s offensive burden onto the shoulders of Delgado.
The veteran turned in one of the best performances of his season, rarely standing still, never leaving the field, and helping to create and sustain many of the Tribe’s attacking chances. It did not take long for his perseverance to pay off. As the clock ticked towards halftime, senior midfielder Diogo Branco flipped a pass over a wall of Retrievers. Delgado, charging from the left side of the box, controlled the ball, approached the goal, and deposited a ground-bound shot past UMBC senior keeper Emigdio Lopez. His work didn’t end there: in the 57th minute, he launched a close-quarters strike at the crossbar, nearly scoring again.
Norris praised the intensity displayed by Delgado, who attempted a team-high three shots on the day. According to the Tribe coach, the game’s conditions, adverse for most players, were beneficial to Delgado, as he tapped into his considerable energy reserves to outlast his competitors.
“This is the kind of game where Sam thrives,” Norris said. “One of his greatest qualities is his fitness, and I think he was able to really use that to his advantage. On a day where a lot of people were struggling because of the heat and the humidity, you could see that he was active throughout the 90 minutes. It got him a goal. It got him some of our best moments in the second half, where he could have potentially scored. He hit the crossbar and then had another shot blocked close in.”
William and Mary’s offense was backed up by an improved defensive effort. Rutgers junior midfielder Joschi Schelb recorded a hat trick in the first 21 minutes of the Tribe’s Monday, Sept. 1 meeting with the Scarlet Knights, facing little resistance on two of his goals and burying the Green and Gold before the first half ended. Norris said William and Mary “didn’t take care of the details that we needed to defensively” against Rutgers, making technical and positional mistakes that allowed its opponents to cruise to victory.
The Tribe was much more solid during Saturday’s opening period. Although William and Mary was not perfect — the Retrievers generated multiple dangerous chances, including a shot in the 41st minute that clanged off the left post, prompting a gasp of anxiety from the home crowd — it limited its opponents’ clean looks. Rutgers attempted eight shots during the first half of its game against William and Mary. UMBC attempted just three.
Norris largely attributed his squad’s showing to the performance of its midfielders, who slowed UMBC’s transition opportunities, maintained possession and rarely committed consequential turnovers.
“Being more solid in the back was critical,” Norris said. “[We] got our midfield to do a really good job at trying to help slow transition moments, get winning second balls, and doing a good job when we had attacking transition of breaking us out and not putting us in positions where we win the ball and then we immediately turn it back over and have to defend in a tough moment.”
Norris also gave credit to a trio of defenders who he said helped preserve the integrity of the Tribe backline: senior Bryce Smith and freshmen Michael DiOrio and Damen Burney. The latter two played 21 minutes each.
“We played Bryce Smith 90 minutes at left center back,” Norris said. “He had been coming off the bench, mostly playing as a left back for us, and I thought he was one of our best players today and really helped us solidify things in the back. Some of the young guys came on, Michael DiOrio and Damen Burney, freshmen. For Damen, today was his first minutes of the regular season, and those guys stepped up and did a great job as well.”
Eapen, getting his second consecutive start in goal, received a strong review from Norris after the Rutgers game. The Tribe coach was more measured in his praise Saturday, as several of Eapen’s goal kicks went awry, but Norris nevertheless said the junior did an effective job blocking shots when the Tribe’s defense faltered. Eapen finished the game with one goal allowed against four saves, two of which came in the first 20 minutes and the other two of which came in the last 15 minutes.
“He’s a big presence in there,” Norris said. “He’s a good shot-stopper. When there are moments the other team gets to serve or there’s a scrambling moment, he does well getting from post to post, giving us a chance to keep the ball out, even in moments where our defending maybe isn’t as good as it needs to be.”
Armed with a 1-0 lead, William and Mary entered halftime in position to secure its first win of the year. However, the Retrievers had other plans. After it created a 48th-minute threat that was nullified by an offside call, UMBC got a break in the 60th minute when a Tribe foul gifted Javitt a free kick just outside the penalty area. The striker hammered the ball over the William and Mary wall and blew it past Eapen with pinpoint accuracy, tying the game with an authoritative shot into the goal’s top left corner. Although the Tribe could have refrained from fouling Javitt, they also had little recourse against his impressive set piece.
“The guy scored a pretty spectacular free kick, and sometimes that’s gonna happen against you,” Norris said.
The Tribe continued pressing for the remainder of the game, almost scoring on Delgado’s shot deflected by the crossbar, but to no avail. A 66th-minute breakaway shot from Javitt nearly gave him another goal and spoiled the afternoon, but it just missed the left post, and the whistle blew on the 90th minute with the teams deadlocked at one.
Norris was content with his squad’s performance despite the equalizer it allowed, although he noted the Tribe needs to get more comfortable when holding a lead.
“I think any time that you go ahead in a game, that gives you some confidence,” Norris said. “We haven’t been ahead yet this season, so to be in that position was a little new for us. I think we were a little nervy to start the second half, but we had certainly set out with the intention of trying to get a second goal and not just playing to try to protect the 1-0 lead. I thought we did a good job overall.”
William and Mary returns to the field Saturday, Sept. 13, traveling to Wilmington, N.C.’s UNCW Soccer Stadium to take on conference rival North Carolina Wilmington (0-2-1, 0-1 CAA). The Tribe currently sits in a three way tie for last in the Coastal Athletic Association South after having lost to Campbell Aug. 29. Its upcoming slate will be crucial in deciding its positioning for the conference tournament, which features the top three teams in both divisions.
