The No. 20 William and Mary field hockey team heads back on the road this weekend, opening conference play with a swing through Massachusetts and New York.  The Tribe will take on No. 8 Northeastern Friday night in Boston, at 7 p.m., before continuing on to Long Island to face Hofstra Sunday at noon.

Live Stats for both games
Live Video for Northeastern
Live Video for Hofstra

Scouting the Tribe
W&M is 7-1 on the season so far, after winning both matches last weekend.  The 1-0 upset of No. 11 Boston University and 2-1 win over Miami propelled the Tribe into the national top-20 for the first time since 2006.  Senior captain Maria Caro (Martinsville, N.J.) scored both game-winners to claim CAA Player of the Week honors, and redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Cate Johnson (Charlottesville, Va.) was tabbed Rookie of the Week after stopping 13 shots to preserve the wins.

Scouting the Huskies
Northeastern dropped one spot in the rankings this week, after suffering its first loss of the season to New Hampshire in double-overtime on Sunday.  The Huskies are 6-1 overall, and are led offensively by All-American Crystal Poland, with 13 goals and two assists.  On defense, senior goalkeeper Lizzie Priest has a 2.3 GAA and 42 saves, stopping 76.4% of the shots against her.  Northeastern coach Cheryl Murtaugh was selected this week to be inducted into the National Field Hockey Hall of Fame.

Scouting the Pride
Hofstra is 5-3 on the year and 3-1 at home after beating UC Davis 3-2 last weekend.  The Pride are being led by Jonel Boileau, who has eight goals and two assists, while Kaitlyn DeTuro has a 1.62 GAA and is stopping 80% of the shots made against her.

The Series
W&M is 5-7 all-time against Nrrtheastern, including a 3-5 mark in CAA play.  Last year, the Tribe upset the Huskies, then ranked No.-20, 4-3 in Williamsburg.  The College and Hofstra first played in 1939 and 1940, two W&M wins, but in modern times the series is an even 6-6 since Hofstra joined the CAA in 2002.  The Pride have won the last three meetings, with the last W&M wins coming in 2008 (6-5 in Hempstead and 3-2 in the CAA Tournament in Norfolk).

News and Notes
- W&M has opened conference play against Northeastern every year since 2007, a six-year span that is the longest such-streak in school history.  The Tribe played Radford four years in a row from 1985-88, and VCU four years as well from 1991-94.  The six times playing the Huskies in the conference opener is also second-most overall, behind only the seven times that W&M has taken on VCU.

- In conference openers, W&M is 19-8 all-time.  Through the first two matches of CAA play, the Tribe has been 1-1 or better 25 of 27 times, and 2-0 six times.

- The last time W&M beat two ranked teams in a season was 2006.  The last time the Tribe beat two teams ranked #11 or better was in 2003, with wins over #11 Delaware and #8 Princeton.

- The Tribe's four-match road swing to start the year was the second-longest ever, and it was also the most successful in school history with a 4-0 mark.  The longest road trip to start a season is five, shared by the 2002 team which started 1-4 and the 1999 squad's 3-2 mark.  The Tribe also began with four matches on the road in 1992 (going 3-1), 1983 (2-2), and 1981 (1-1-2).

- W&M's 5-0 start to the year was the best since the Tribe started with five wins in 2006.  The only season-opening win streaks better than five came in 2000, when the Tribe won seven to start the year before going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time; as well as 1978 and 1979.  Both of those years began with nine victories, and the 1978 team also had a tie in the 10th game.

- Christine Johnson was named the CAA co-Player of the Week on Aug. 28, after scoring four goals and a defensive save to lead her team to a 5-1 win over Davidson.  Johnson is the seventh player in school history to score four goals in a single game, and the first since Katie Silverthorne '02 in 2001.  She is the first Tribe player to be named the conference Player of the Week since October of 2007.