William and Mary Lax Upsets 15th-Ranked Towson

Box Score

04/19/08 12:49AM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Proving the old adage ‘There is no place like home’, William and Mary’s women’s lacrosse team fashioned a hard-fought, 14-13, upset of conference rival and 15th-ranked Towson University Fri-day evening at Albert/Daly Field.

The Tribe (7-8 overall, 3-2 in CAA) rode the outstanding play of its midfielders, who accounted for 10 of the team’s 14 scores, and bounced back from a difficult two-game road losing skid. Senior All-American candidate Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine), who entered the game as the league’s leading scorer, had four goals on the evening to move her season total to 52. Fellow midfielders, junior Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md) and freshman Grace Golden (Manhassset, N.Y.) each contributed a hat trick on the evening. Standout out freshman net minder Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.) also turned in a tremendous performance, as she turned away 13 shots and collected a team-high six ground balls.

Towson, which fell to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in the CAA, was powered by an amazing individual performance from junior midfielder Hillary Fratzke who notched six points (five goals), six draws, five caused turnovers and five ground balls. The Tigers also received four goals from Meggie McNamara.

The Tribe held a significant advantage in draws on the evening (18-11), but the Tigers took advantage of 21 William and Mary turnovers to hold a 31-26 edge in shots. The two teams were exactly even in the ground balls with 26 apiece. The win stands as the fourth ranked squad the College has upset on the year, with three of those wins coming on the home turf. Interestingly, all three of William and Mary’s wins in conference play have come against teams holding a na-tional ranking, while its two losses were against non-ranked squads.

Towson used some slick stick work by Fratzke to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead, as she collected a pair of goals before the game was even three minutes old. The Tribe quickly responded in kind, as Golden found twine on the end of a pair of unassisted goals, bringing the game all even at the 23:52 mark. Less than a minute later, Sellers broke the deadlock with a goal at 22:12, but her work was short-lived, as Towson pieced together a pair of free position goals, less than a minute apart, to regain the advantage, 4-3, with 19:56 remaining.

The ensuing five minutes of game-clock saw back-and-forth action, with neither team able to quite solve the other’s defense, until Dennis final found some operating room in the crease, flashing across the lane from left to right and finishing strong to bring the Tribe even at 4-4 (13:38). The Tigers quickly threatened to regain the lead, as Fratzke collected the draw and feathered a perfect pass to a teammate perched on the doorstep of the Tribe’s cage. But, Geary aggressively denied the challenge and then hustled down the ground ball and keyed the transition game. W&M freshman Ashley Holofcener (Reisterstown, Md.) received the ball in the attacking third and threaded a perfect feed to Dennis, which quickly found its way into the back of the net, moving the Tribe out to a 5-4 lead (12:20). Holofcener was on the spot for the ensuing draw and eventually moved the ball to Sellers, who simply imposed her will on the Towson defense using her speed and strength to cut straight down the center of the crease and finish for a 6-4 Tribe lead at 11:35. Golden stretched the Tribe’s led to 7-4, when she sliced and slashed her way to the cage at 9:36.

Towson’s McNamara momentarily stemmed the College’s momentum with a score at 7:05, but William and Mary quickly renewed the initiative, as it used a pair of goals from junior attacker Julia Martin (Woodside, Calif.) and Katie Rees (Catonsville, Md.) to rebuild the lead to 9-4. Holofcener once again had a hand in the scoring, as she turned in another pin-point helper on Rees’ goal at 4:44. Sensing it needed to find some rhythm before halftime, the Tigers attack turned up the heat over the remainder of the half, firing off some point blank attempts that Geary turned away. Finally, with just :19 remaining, McNamara found an opening and got the ball over goal line and sent the two teams to the half with the score at 9-5.

The second half featured much of the same sort of full-field action. The start looked to have the beginnings of a rout, as William and Mary pushed its lead to 11-5, with goals from Sellers and Holocener at 28:58 and 25:27. Despite at pair of goals by Fratzke at 19:12 and 18:32, the College seemed to remain in complete control of the action, as Dennis and freshman attacker Maggie Anderson (Richmond, Va.) each turned in lightening strikes, at 18:13 and 15:26, respectively, to put the Tribe’s lead at a seemingly comfortable, 13-8, five-goal margin with 15:26 to play. However, Towson had no intentions of leaving town meekly, and an already intense game saw the play ratchet up even another level for the re-mainder. Three different Tigers moved the scoreboard over the next six-minutes of play, tightening up the game at 13-11 with 9:50 to play. Martin came away with possibly the evening’s most crucial draw on the next reset and Sellers made the Tigers’ pay with yet another athletic scoring run through the crease, to put the game at 14-11. The goal turned golden, as Towson scored the game’s final to goals (4:35 and 3:54) and put relentless pressure till the final seconds. The game wasn’t decided until W&M freshman defender Sarah Johnson (Dallas, Texas) forced a turnover deep in the Tribe’s defensive end, came away with the ground ball and helped the team run the remaining 30 seconds off the game clock.

The Tribe’s next action will come on Sunday, as the team will host CAA foe Delaware in a game that will draw at 1:00 pm.