Tribe Lax Earns National Ranking

Coach/Freshman Honored

04/08/08 10:34PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Coming off a weekend that featured a pair of victories over ranked Colonial Athletic Association foes, the College of William and Mary’s women’s lacrosse squad earned the No. 18 position in the latest Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association/Under Armour National poll, released this afternoon.

The ranking is the first for the Tribe since the end of the 2006 regular season when the team held down the No. 15 spot in the national polls. William and Mary ended that year with an 11-7 record (5-3 in CAA) and a semi-final appearance in the CAAs. This weekend saw the Tribe improve to 2-0 in Colonial Athletic Association play (6-6 overall) with wins over 19th-ranked James Madison (11-10 in overtime on Friday, April 4) and No. 9 George Mason (13-8 on Sunday, April 6).

Along with the team honors, the squad has also been reaping the individual accolades as well. U.S Lacrosse tabbed W&M second-year head coach Christine Halfpenny as the National Coach of the Week by U.S. Lacrosse (for the week ending April 6). She will be recognized on CBS College Sports’ lacrosse broadcast on April 16. Halfpenny has currently helped the College author a four-game winning streak (with three of the victories coming against ranked opponents). One has to go back to the 2001 season to find the last time W&M started its league schedule off with a pair of wins, while the four-game tear is the squad’s longest since 2000. In her short time on campus, Halfpenny has already seen the squad defeat five teams with national rankings, including four of those wins coming against top 10 programs).

Additionally, freshman attacker Maggie Anderson (Richmond, Va.) was selected by Inside Lacrosse as the Division I Player of the Week for her standout play over the past two contests. Her weekend’s action was highlighted by a career-best performance in the win over ninth-ranked George Mason on Sunday, as she had a game- and career-best four goals vs. the Patriots. Anderson also collected five ground balls and caused three turnovers. For the season, Anderson is third on the squad in both goals (23) and points (27) through 12 contests.

On Monday afternoon, the Colonial Athletic Association recognized the College’s goalie, Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.) as the league’s Rookie of the Week. Geary was between the pipes for Tribe’s two crucial conference wins and played a major role in fending off two critical late rallies in the overtime win over James Madison. Her first heroics came at the end of the regulation, as she denied two strong attempts in the waning minutes to send the game to overtime. After the Tribe captured the lead in the first overtime session, Geary put the lid on the cage, and the victory, in the final overtime session, where she held down the nets against another series of JMU flurries. She ended the game against the Dukes with nine saves, a ground ball and a critical caused turnover. In the team’s 13-8 home upset of ninth-ranked George Mason (Sunday), Geary showed flashes of sheer brilliance, as she helped the Tribe defense hold the Mason attack scoreless for nearly 20 consecutive minutes during a decisive second half stretch that ballooned a 8-4 halftime lead for the College into an insurmountable 13-4 advantage. Geary ended her afternoon vs. the Patriots with 11 saves and three ground balls.