Tribe Defeats Old Dominion, Claims No. 1 Seed in CAA Tourney

Box Score

04/24/08 8:12PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The College of William and Mary’s 20th-ranked women’s lacrosse squad completed one of the nation’s most remarkable turnarounds on Thursday evening, as the squad overpowered Colonial Athletic Associate foe Old Dominion, 19-7, and captured the No. 1 seed for next weekend’s conference tournament.

After starting the season 2-6, the College rallied to win seven of its final nine games. The win this evening improved the Tribe’s record to 9-8 overall and 5-2 in CAA play. If the in-season turnaround was not impressive enough for second year head coach Christine Halfpenny’s charges, add in the fact the squad finished last season with a 3-11 record that included a 1-7 league mark, and the accomplishment is made all the more impressive.

The Tribe has not been the No. 1 seed for the CAA Tournament since the 1995 season that saw the squad fashion a 12-4 mark (and 6-1 slate in league play).

By virtue of claiming the No. 1 seed, the Tribe will play host to the four-team championship field. Semi-final games will be played at Albert/Daly on Friday (time to be announced), while the championship will take place on Sunday after-noon. The green grass of home has been especially kind to the College as the squad has now won its last six contests played in Williamsburg and is 7-2 overall at Albert/Daly.

The Tribe overwhelmed the Monarchs, running up a 40-17 advantage in shots on goal and a 21-7 margin in draw con-trols. William and Mary converted five of its seven free position attempts, while ODU was not awarded an attempt.

Thursday’s game was a microcosm of the formula the Tribe used to fashion the strong finish, as the team received outstanding play from its midfield and a stellar from its talented freshman class. Freshman keeper Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.) was key in shutting down the ODU (4-9, 0-7 in CAA) attack, as she turned in nine saves and allowed just three sec-ond half scores. Senior all-American candidate, Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine) and her midfield running mate, freshman Grace Golden (Manhasset, N.Y.) each recorded four goals in the contest, while Sellers also added three draws to her evening’s efforts. While pair was impressive, freshman attacker Ashley Holofcener (Reisterstown, Md.) stole the show on offense, as she recorded career highs in both goals (four) and assists (four), and added three draws for good measure. Fellow attacker, sophomore Mary Zulty (Jarrettsville, Md.), also contributed four goals and an assist, while freshman attacker Maggie Anderson (Richmond, Va.) found the back of the net an additional three times. Junior mid-fielder Clare Dennis (Cantonsville, Md.) played a major role in the team’s success as well, as she contributed a game-high six draws, while fellow junior, Julia Martin (Woodside, Calif.) handed out a pair of helpers and claimed two draws on the evening.

Sellers, who entered the evening as the league’s leading scorer, now has 60 goals (and 65 points) on the season. She has scored at least one goal in all of the Tribe’s 17 games and has recorded three or more in 14 contests. Her season total ranks third, all-time, on the Tribe’s single-season scoring listing, as she trails Pixie Hamilton’s 64 goal-effort set during the 1978 season. The four-goal effort pushed her career goal total to 112, which places her in a tie for ninth-place with former Tribe great Danielle Gallagher (1986-89).

The first half was tightly contested for the opening 20 minutes of play, as ODU was trailing just 5-4 with 13:10 re-maining. But, starting with a free position goal by Holofcener at 10:29, the Tribe was able to piece together a solid six-goal run to end the half. Holofcener ended what she began, as she cradled and finished a beautiful feed from Golden at 2:20 and sent the teams to the half with the Tribe holding a commanding 11-4 advantage.

With so much on the line, the Tribe didn’t let up and scored added four more goals to its lead over the first eight min-utes of play in the second half. Zulty started the run by scoring off a great set up by Holofcener at 28:24 and Golden ended the mini-run with one of the slickest scores (at 21:28) of the season for the College, as she and Holofcener ran the give-and-go to perfection on the left side of the crease. The score put the lead at 15-4 and the Tribe would maintain the running clock for the remainder of the contest, eventually pushing the advantage to the final score of 19-6.

Golden ends the regular season as the team’s second leading scorer, with 42 goals and eight assists. She is just four scores shot of passing Pixie Hamilton’s freshman team-record of 45 goals (set during the 1977 campaign).

The Tribe will make a return to the CAA Championships for the first time since the 2006 season, which saw the Col-lege enter the post-season as the league’s second-seed. The Tribe eventually reached the conference finals that season, before falling to Hofstra (12-9).