William & Mary head coach
Tess Ellis announced today that the Tribe field hockey team will host eight teams at Busch Field this fall, part of an 18-game regular season that leads into the CAA and NCAA Tournaments. W&M's slate includes a pair of scrimmages in August, one of them at home against a co-ed post-collegiate club, as well as five games against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago and nine against teams that ranked among the RPI Top-25 at the end of the season.
"We're looking forward to another challenging schedule this season," said Ellis. "Nine of our games are against top-25 teams, and three ranked in the top-eight at the end of the year. Our athletes have worked hard over the spring and are looking forward to stepping up to the challenge."
"With our veterans and the strength of the incoming freshman class, we are looking forward to pushing this team to new heights and putting ourselves in a strong position going into the conference tournament."
After two scrimmages in the pre-season, one at home on Aug. 14 against a co-ed post-collegiate club and one at Liberty on Aug. 19, the Tribe hits the road to get the regular season underway with one of its toughest tests of the year. W&M heads down to Durham, N.C., on Aug. 26 to take on Duke at 6 p.m., after the Blue Devils reached the final four last fall and were ranked No. 6 in the final national polls. Another road trip awaits the following weekend on Sept. 2, with the Green and Gold driving up to Washington to take on American at 4 p.m.
The home opener for the year comes on Sunday, Sept. 4, with W&M hosting Big-10 foe Rutgers at 1 p.m., before a Big East swing the following weekend. On Sept. 9, the Tribe heads back to Washington to face Georgetown at 1 p.m., and on Sunday, Sept. 11, W&M hosts arch-rival Old Dominion also at 1 p.m. Two more familiar opponents await the following week with a road trip through Atlantic 10 country, with the Tribe traveling to Richmond for a 5 p.m. tilt on Friday, Sept. 16, and continuing on to play Davidson the following Sunday at 1 p.m.
After those long road trips early in the year, W&M looks to take advantage of its home field with six out of its next seven games at Busch Field. First up is a meeting with Liberty on Sept. 25 at 1 p.m., after the Flames finished the year ranked No. 14 in 2015. Colonial Athletic Association play begins the first weekend of October, with the Tribe hosting Towson at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30, and defending champion Delaware Sunday at 1 p.m. The Blue Hens have won the league each of the last three seasons.
Fall Break begins with a long trip up to Northeastern on Oct. 9, for a 1 p.m. match-up, before W&M returns home on Tuesday, Oct. 11, to face ACC-rival Virginia at 5 p.m. Homecoming brings both Drexel (Friday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m.) and Wake Forest (Sunday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m.) to Busch Field for the final two home games of the season. A trip out west to James Madison comes on Oct. 21, and on the way back to Williamsburg the Tribe will play at former CAA foe VCU on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. The final weekend of the regular season is a northern swing, first to MAAC Champion Fairfield on Oct. 28 at 3 p.m., before W&M closes the year at Hofstra at noon on Oct. 30.
The CAA Tournament will have semifinals on Friday, Nov. 4, and the championship game on Nov. 6 at the home field of the regular-season champions. The winner of the league title earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, which begins with play-in games on Wednesday, Nov. 9, on campus sites. The first round and quarterfinals are also on campus sites, Nov. 12-13, with the NCAA semifinals and the NCAA championship game being hosted nearby at Old Dominion University on Friday and Sunday, Nov. 18-20.
