Tribe Continues to Shine at Home, Drops Delaware 17-13

W&M’s Zulty Scores Career High Five Goals; Sellers, Golden Strike Four Times

04/20/08 7:33PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The College of William and Mary’s women’s lacrosse team completed a successful weekend of conference play by handing the University of Delaware a 17-13 defeat on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Albert/Daly Field.

The win was the second of the weekend for the College (8-8, 4-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play), as the team upset 15th-ranked Towson University, 14-13, on Friday evening. The Tribe has now won its last five home contests. The loss dropped Delaware to 10-5 on the year and moved its conference record to 4-3.

One of the most crucial factors in the Tribe’s success on the afternoon was the team’s ability to control the draws. The College ended the game holding a 20-12 advantage in draws, including outdrawing the Blue Hens 11-6 in the second half. William and Mary also held the statistical edge in both shots (35-30) and ground balls (21-17).

Individually, sophomore midfielder Mary Zulty (Jarrettsville, Md.) had a career afternoon, as she scored a career-best five goals, while also collecting a pair of draws and a ground ball. Senior all-American candidate, midfielder Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine) continued to assault the Tribe record books, as she notched four goals on the afternoon. The four scores moves her season total to 56, which ties her for third on the Tribe’s all-time single-season scoring list (with Pixie Hamilton, 1979). Sellers has now scored at least one goal in all 16 games on the season for the College, she entered the weekend as the CAA’s leading scorer and needs just nine goals to break Hamilton’s single-season school record (of 64 goals established during the 1980 season).

Tribe freshman midfielder Grace Golden (Manhassset, N.Y.) also poured in four goals vs. the Blue Hens and finished the weekend with a total of seven goals over the two games. Like Zulty, junior attacker Julia Martin (Woodside, Calif.) also had a career afternoon vs. Delaware, as she delivered career highs in both assists (three) and points (five). Also not to be forgotten were the strong defensive efforts of freshman Sarah Johnson (Dallas, Texas), who corralled a team-high five draws and senior defender Ashley Bolton (Narbeth, Pa.) who caused a game-high three turnovers, collected a pair of ground balls and distributed an assist.

The first 10 minutes of play saw the College come out hitting on all cylinders. Junior midfielder Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md.) set the tone for the afternoon by scooping the opening draw in stride and gliding through the midfield down the right side of the crease. She drew defenders then dished a perfect helper to Zulty who quickly found the back of the net and staked the College to a 1-0 lead just eight seconds into play. The College would strike again at the 28:10 mark, when Martin slid through the defense on the left-hand side and finished beautifully for the 2-0 lead. Bolton keyed the next Tribe success as she caused turnover in the defensive end, then collected an outlet pass and carried through the midfield to find Zulty in stride closing in on the cage from the left hand side. Zulty finished to push the led to 3-0. The Hens stemmed the tide momentarily, as Katie Muth pounced the ensuing draw and carried all the way to the cage and finished just eight seconds later, moving the score to 3-1 with 27:11 remaining. After firing several quality-scoring chances over the following seven minutes, Martin unlocked the Delaware defense once again, as she connected with Zulty to give the College a 4-1 lead (20:05). The Blue Hens climbed within one over the next five minutes, on strikes by Muth (19:10 and Nicole Flego (15:38) and as the Tribe’s lead decreased, the game’s intensity increased. Sellers built on the Tribe’s led at 11:44, as she slipped a couple of defenders on the left side of the crease and fired home from eight-meters. Freshman attacker Maggie Anderson (Richmond, Va.) built the College’s led to 6-3 when she finished a slick feed from Martin at 10:29. After Sellers finished a free position attempt at 8:33, the Hens collected a pair of quick scores, to move back within two at 7-5 (4:55), but were unable to sustain the momentum, as Martin and Golden each converted on free position attempts at 3:44 and 3:12 to end the first half’s scoring.

Golden picked up where she left off at the end of the first half, by finding success on another free position attempt at 29:01. Delaware sandwiched a pair of goals on both sides of Zulty’s success at 23:54, to tighten the game at 11-9 with 22:44 remaining. With the game hanging in the balance once again, Zulty was once again the answer for the College, as she finished another tremendous feed from Dennis to move the College ahead 12-9 with 18:23. The Tribe seized the moment and pieced together another solid nine minutes of play that saw the squad score five of the game’s next six goals starting and ending with goals by Golden at 17:21 and 9:55, respectively. Golden’s last strike, an unassisted laser at the end of a transition attack, put the game out of reach at 17-10. Delaware scored the final three goals of the contest, but never seriously threatened the lead over the remainder of the half.

The Tribe will end its regular season on Thursday evening by hosting conference foe Old Dominion at 7:00 pm. The game will also be the final regular season home game for the College’s senior class.