Tribe Falls to Drexel

Senior goalkeeper Gwen Hunter made 11 saves in goal for the Tribe.

10/05/07 10:00PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary field hockey team dropped its first home match of the season, falling to Drexel, 2-0, on Friday night. W&M fell to 6-6 on the season and 1-3 in the CAA, while the Dragons improved to 7-6 on the year and 3-1 in the league.

Drexel scored less than five minutes into the game to take the early advantage. Following a common foul on the right flank, Carolina Gibernau sent a hard pass toward the near post. Amanda Kicera deflected the ball past W&M senior goalkeeper Gwen Hunter from in close for her third goal of the season.

The Dragons were on the attack for most of the opening half, forcing Hunter to make four saves. In the 16th minute of play, DU’s Sarah Gostomski rifled a shot from the top of the circle off a penalty corner, but Hunter made the diving save to keep the deficit at one.

The first W&M chance of the half came with 2:45 left in the opening stanza as senior forward Kim Hedley sent an attempt wide of the Drexel cage from the right side. It was Hedley again with the College’s best scoring opportunity of opening half just a minute later. Junior forward Lauren Giles slide the ball along the left to a rushing Hedley into the penalty area. The Tribe forward’s opportunity on goal was blocked wide by Drexel goalkeeper Colleen McAndrew.

Hunter kept the Dragons at bay in the opening minutes of the second half, making a trio of saves over the opening six minutes of half. All three attempts came from Gostomski, including one off a penalty corner.

The Tribe generated its first penalty corner of the night in the 43rd minute. W&M could not cash in the chance though as senior defender Laura Kastelic had her chance from the top of the circle blocked by the Dragon defense.

Following the Tribe corner, the teams traded threatening counterattack chance, but neither could find the scoring column. Less than a minute after the Tribe’s penalty corner, Emily Horvat penetrated the circle and carried the ball into the right side of the area, before hitting a shot toward the near post. Hunter was up to the task, blocking the attempt.

The Tribe raced back down the field with a counter chance of their own. Hedley found sophomore forward Sarah Louie in middle of the area, but Louie’s deflection went wide of the Dragon cage. The Tribe remained on the offensive as a nice combo from freshman Liz Loudy and senior Jes Kacerek, narrowly missed finding the stick of Louie in front of the cage. The ball sat anxiously in front of the Dragon goal, and McAndrew cleared the ball out before a W&M attacker to get to it.

Hunter again made a pair of saves to keep the Tribe deficit at one. Off a penalty corner, Hunter blocked a shot from Gostomski, but the ball spilled over to the left. Horvat gathered the rebound and appeared to have an open cage, but Hunter made a diving stab back across the goal to knock the shot away.

In the 50th minute of play, the Tribe had another dangerous chance in front, but was denied by McAndrew. Hedley flicked a shot on frame from in close, but McAndrews made the stop.

The Tribe garnered another penalty corner less than two minutes later. This time, Kacerek flipped the ball to junior Katie Broaddus but her hard shot from the left side was blocked by McAndrew.

The Dragons gathered the ball off the missed W&M corner and were off to the races on a counter. Horvat was all-alone with Hunter, but the Tribe keeper made an impressive defensive play to deny the chance. With the Dragon player racing down the left side of the field, Hunter came out and made a diving block, before knocking the ball away with her stick at the top of the circle.

In the 63rd minute of play, Broaddus came up big for the Tribe defense. Off a penalty corner, Hunter dove out to block the ball away from Catherine Chiara, but the DU attacker was able to touch the ball around the W&M goalkeeper. She sent a shot toward the center of the cage, but Broaddus was there to make her second defensive save of the season.

The Dragons finally found the clincher with 3:39 remaining. Off a penalty corner, Kicera redirected the ball in front of the W&M cage to the left post where Horvat was waiting to punch it in, giving Drexel the 2-0 advantage.

For the game, Drexel outshot W&M, 15-10, and held a 6-4 cushion in penalty corners. Hunter tallied her seventh career double-digit save performance with a season-high 11 stops in the cage for the Tribe.

W&M returns to action at the friendly confines of Busch Field when it hosts Hofstra on Sunday, Oct. 7. The game is slated to begin at 1 p.m.

Box Score