No. 20 W&M Closes Season With 20-3 Win over Davidson

Tribe Seniors Hall, Knarr and Watkins Honored Before Game

04/23/05 3:45PM

Williamsburg - Preseason All-American midfielder Morgan Watkins (Fort Washington, PA) recorded a season-high eight points on a pair of goals and six assists, and junior All-American candidate Colleen Dalon (Moorestown, NJ) notched her seventh four-goal game of the season as 20th-ranked William and Mary rolled past Davidson, 20-3, in a non-conference women’s lacrosse game Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Busch Field.

With the victory, the Tribe closes the season with an overall record of 8-8 and a sterling 7-1 mark at Busch Field, ending the year on a five-game winning streak at home. Davidson falls to 4-11 overall.

Before the game, Watkins and classmates Becca Hall (Ft. Belvoir, VA) and Katie Knarr (Midlothian, VA) were honored during Senior Day ceremonies, as they played their final collegiate contests in the Green and Gold. All three seniors would have a major hand in the victory as well, as W&M scored early and often, while shutting down the Wildcat attack at the other end.

Hall was a force on both sides of the field, scoring a goal and adding an assist, while scooping up a game-high seven ground balls and causing three turnovers. Knarr forced one turnover and picked up a pair of ground balls and her aggressive, overpowering defensive play was one of the main ingredients for the Tribe to hold Davidson without a single free-position shot in the contest. In addition to her eight points, Watkins chipped in three draw controls and two ground balls. With the six assists, Watkins brought her career total to 70 and moved into a tie for first place with Lindsay Lowman (1998-01) on the W&M career assists listing.

Junior all-conference midfielder Morgan Lang (Westfield, NJ) controlled the opening draw and the College set the tone immediately, as Dalon scored her goal just 1:04 into the contest. In nearly the blink of an eye, after a Watkins draw control, Hall assisted on junior attacker La Nolan’s (Ruxton, MD) success just 13 seconds later to put W&M up 2-0. Lang scored on an assist from Watkins at the 27:03 mark, before two more tallies by Dalon, the second coming at the 25:36 point, gave the Tribe a commanding 6-0 lead in the first five minutes.

Davidson’s Whitney Diefendorf stopped the Tribe scoring spree with a goal with 23:58 remaining in the first, but sophomore midfielder Kristen Wong (Richmond, VA) answered with a goal on another assist from Watkins to make it 7-1 with 19:18 left in the first. After a Hall ground ball pickup, the Tribe was back at work in the offensive end, where Dalon eventually flipped a gorgeous underhand feed right to the stick of a cutting sophomore Emily Vitrano (Cockeysville, MD), who buried the first of her two goals to put W&M in front 8-1. Sophomore attacker Kara Parker (Phoenix, MD) tacked on a free-position goal with 14:46 remaining in the first to make it 9-1, before Davidson’s Emily Diefendorf found the net with 11:14 remaining to cut the deficit to 9-2.

Junior goalkeeper Debby Petracca (Manhasset, NY) made four first-half saves and kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for the remainder of the opening period, while the Tribe used a 5-0 scoring run to close the half and take a 14-2 lead at the break. Dalon started the clip with an unassisted goal, before Lang, Vitrano freshman Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, ME) and Watkins all found the net for W&M.

The Tribe lead to grew 16-2 in the first four minutes of the second half, as sophomore Jamie Fitzgerald (Jenkintown, PA) and Nolan scored goals that were both assisted by Watkins. Emily Diefendorf scored the Wildcats final goal with 24:40 remaining that made it 16-3, before the College netted the game’s final four goals to set the final margin. Parker added a pair of free-position goals, before Hall scored with 8:48 remaining on Watkins’ fifth assist to put the verdict at 19-3. Freshman attacker Meg Rafferty (Fairfax Station, VA) tallied her first career goal with 10 seconds remaining on Watkins' record-tying assist to round out the scoring.

Petracca finished with seven saves and picked up her second victory of the season in the cage. She added a caused turnover and one ground ball. Lang added four ground balls and four draw controls, as the Tribe held a 16-9 advantage on the draws. W&M also outshot Davidson, 44-11, including a 26-6 edge in the first half.

Along with Rafferty, several other Tribe freshmen had strong outings on Saturday, including defender Lauren Coll (Phoenixville, PA) who caused a turnover and picked up a ground ball. Fellow freshman defender Caitlin deMello (Manlius, NY) recorded three ground balls, while Sellers finished with two points on the free-position score and an assist.

With eight points, Watkins closed her outstanding four-year tenure at the College with 189 career points, which ranks second on the school’s all-time listing. In addition, Watkins’ two goals brought her career tally to 119, which stands alone in third place in W&M lacrosse annals.

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