Tribe Lacrosse Opens Season at #2 Duke Sunday

02/23/07 1:30PM

Williamsburg - Tribe lacrosse opens the 2007 season with a Sunday matinee at second-ranked Duke. The opening draw is scheduled for noon at Koskinen Stadium in Durham. W&M will be playing its first contest under first-year head coach Christine Halfpenny, who came to the College after a three-year stint as the Blue Devils’ top assistant.

The Tribe returns eight starters from last season’s 10-7 squad that advanced to the semifinals of the CAA Championship and defeated two top-10 teams during the regular season. Headlining the group are the team’s co-captains, Lizzy Bayly and Emily Vitrano. Bayly is a two-year starter and the leader of the team’s defense, while Vitrano is a returning First-Team All-CAA attacker.

W&M is 30-6-1 all-time in season-opening games, including 2-1 over the past three seasons. In last year’s opener, the Tribe defeated Longwood, 18-6. The Tribe will be opening up against an ACC team for the first time since 2003, when W&M fell to Virginia 21-6 in Williamsburg.

The Coaches
W&M: Christine Halfpenny (Virginia Tech, ’99)
W&M Record: First Season
Career Record: First Season
Against Duke: First Meeting

Duke: Kerstin Kimel (Maryland, '93)
Duke Record: 133-68 (11th season)
Career Record: 137-76 (12th season)
Against W&M: 6-2

The Series
Duke leads the all-time series with W&M, winning seven of the 10 meetings. In fact, the Blue Devils have won seven-straight after the Tribe took the first three meetings. The last W&M victories in the series came in 1998, when the College earned a 6-5 decision in Durham. The teams first met in 1996 with W&M winning 14-9 in Durham, where the Tribe is 2-3 all-time.

Scouting the Blue Devils
Duke is 2-0 on the season with a game in hand this afternoon against Richmond. Duke has already defeated two nationally-ranked teams in Denver and Stanford. The Blue Devils will look to start 3-0 for the sixth year in a row. Duke was 18-3 last season and made the Final Four for the second consecutive year. Kimel returns eight of 12 starters from that team.

Junior attacker Caroline Cryer tallied 12 goals in the two wins and is tied for the team lead in draw controls with six. Senior attacker Kristen Waagbo had six assists in the two games. Sophomore midfielder Carolyn Davis has six goals and two assists to go along with four ground balls and four caused turnovers. Senior captain and midfielder Rachel Sanford also added six goals and two assists and a team-high eight caused turnovers in the two wins. Sophomore goalie Kim Imbesi was solid in her first two career starts, allowing only 14 goals and making 17 stops.

W&M Outlook

ATTACK

Vitrano scored a career-high 39 goals in 2006 and emerged as one of the league’s elite offensive players. She is joined by fellow senior Kara Parker and sophomore Dolly Williams as the group’s top scoring threats. Parker showed a solid understanding of the new schemes and has a proven ability to find the net after scoring 13 goals last season. Williams has great size for the position and a powerful shot and continues to develop into a scoring threat.

MIDFIELD

Senior Kristen Wong ranked among the nation’s top-seven in both caused turnovers (2.29) and ground balls (3.82) per game last season while also recording career-highs in goals (13), assists (8) and points (21).

Adding to the versatility and speed of the group are seniors Jamie Fitzgerald and Anne Harrington and sophomore Clare Dennis. Fitzgerald is coming off a career offensive season with 16 goals and six assists, while Harrington has demonstrated a solid understanding of the team’s unit defense and has the ability to counter opponent’s transition attack with her speed. Dennis has the potential to make a big impact in the spring and is developing into a full-field player.

Junior Jaime Sellers is an attack-minded midfielder who provides a scoring threat coming off an 11-goal season.

DEFENSE

Bayly, a returning two-year starter with a commanding presence on the field, is joined by junior Ashley Bolton, who brings two years of starting experience and shut-down defensive ability.

Along with Wong and Harrington’s presence in the defensive end, juniors Lauren Coll and Caitlin deMello bring starting experience to the group.

GOALKEEPER

From an outsider’s perspective, the goalkeeper position could easily be viewed as a glaring area of concern for the Tribe in 2007, as the roster is void of a netminder with collegiate game experience. However, the play of freshman Sara Beckstead in the fall and during preseason practice quickly won over the confidence of the coaching staff and teammates.

A First-Team All-Anne Arundel County selection and Third-Team All-Met pick by the Washington Post, Beckstead has become a vital part of the defensive communication with her outstanding vision and understanding of the entire system.

Up Next
W&M will open its home slate next Thursday, March 1, hosting Longwood at Albert-Daly Field.