Tribe Falls at No. 18 Delaware

Junior Katie Broaddus scored both W&M goals in the loss to the Blue Hens.

09/28/07 9:00PM

Newark, Del. - Junior Katie Broaddus scored a pair of second-half goals, but it was not enough as the William and Mary field hockey team fell to No. 18 Delaware, 4-2, in Newark on Friday night. UD scored the opening three goals of the contest before the Tribe got on the board, and W&M dropped its fourth match of the season to a nationally-ranked opponent. The College fell to 6-4 on the year and 1-1 in the CAA, while the Blue Hens improved to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in league play.

The Blue Hens struck first in the opening seven minutes of the game, scoring off back-to-back rebounds. The initial shot of the sequence came from Amanda Warrington, but her attempt was stopped by Hunter. Molly Burke gathered the rebound and sent it back on cage, but Hunter was again up to the task with the stop. The rebound again spilled over and this time Amy Brewer found the back of the cage to give UD a 1-0 cushion.

Hunter made her third save of the opening period two minutes later to keep the deficit it one. Delaware’s leading scorer Casey Howard had her shot in the 10th minute of play stopped by the Tribe goalkeeper.

The Tribe had a quartet of penalty corner opportunities in the first half, but could not find the equalizer. Redshirt freshman forward Alexis Gerber attempted the first shot of the contest for the Tribe sending a chance wide of the Delaware cage in the 11th minute. The Tribe’s first penalty corner opportunity came less than two minutes later, but Broaddus’ shot was blocked.

With 18 minutes remaining in the opening half, the Tribe generated back-to-back penalty corners but could not find the tying goal. On the second chance, Broaddus had her shot denied by Delaware goalkeeper Nikki Rhoades.

Delaware cashed in its first penalty corner chance of the second half. Burke scored her sixth goal of the season in the 45th minute of play. Warrington sent the corner in, and Jackie Tait provided the stick stop for Burke’s attempt. The Blue Hens made it 3-0 just over eight minutes later as Tori Karsten followed up her own blocked shot for her sixth goal of the season.

The Tribe pulled to within 3-1 with a tally in the 58th minute. After senior forward Kim Hedley had a shot on goal stopped by the Blue Hen goalkeeper, the Tribe garnered its fifth penalty corner of the contest. Hedley sent the ball to Broaddus, who fired a shot into the boards for her first tally of the season. It was Hedley’s second assist of the season.

Delaware and W&M traded goals over a two-minute span in the 62nd and 63rd minutes. The Blue Hens pushed its lead back to three as Brewer scored her second goal of the evening. Broaddus added her second goal of the night at the 62:54 mark for the College. Her second goal came off a penalty corner as well with Hedley and senior midfielder Jes Kacerek being credited with the assists on the play.

Hunter finished with four saves in goal for the Tribe. Delaware out-shot the Tribe, 11-7, while W&M held a 6-4 advantage in penalty corners.

The Tribe returns to action on Sunday, Sept. 30, when it travels to Towson at 1 p.m. W&M leads the all-time series with the Tigers, 14-0.

Box Score