Tribe Falls to Towson in CAA Championship

Jaime Sellers, Maggie Anderson and Sarah Jonson were named to the CAA All-Championship Team.

05/04/08 6:01PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The College of William and Mary’s 20th-ranked women’s lacrosse team had its impressive turnaround season come to a close in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship Game on Sunday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field. The Tribe, who won the league’s regular season title and the right to host the champion-ship, fell to No. 18-ranked Towson, 16-7.

Making its fifth CAA title tilt appearance, the College closed the season at 10-9 overall, while Towson upped its ledger to 13-5.

The Tigers opened the game on a roll, scoring the first five tallies of the contest to take a commanding advantage early. The College finally cracked a determined Towson defensive effort, scoring back-to-back goals in less than a minute to cut the gap to three at 5-2. First-Team All-CAA attacker Jaime Sellers set up the first Tribe marker, feeding freshman at-tacker Maggie Anderson (Richmond, Va.) at 15:01. Just 22 seconds later, the College struck again as CAA Rookie of the Year Grace Golden (Manhasset, N.Y.) found sophomore Mary Zulty (Jarrettsville, Md.) for the goal.

Towson responded with four unanswered goals to extend its lead to its largest of the first half at seven. Towson’s CAA Player of the Year, Hillary Fratzke, scored three goals over the stretch, including back-to-back free position attempts. Her final tally of the first half made it 9-2 with just under seven minutes remaining.

The Green and Gold would not go quietly ending the half a mini run of its own with a pair of goals. After being awarded the ball after a penalty in front of the Tribe’s net, Golden out-ran the entire Tiger team, from net-to-net, and tickled the twine at the four-minute mark. The College found the back of the net for the final time in the half with just 16 seconds remaining in the opening frame. The Tribe forced a turnover in the Towson defensive third that led to the tally. Junior at-tacker Julia Martin (Woodside, Calif.) picked up the ground ball on the right side of the field and found a wide-open Anderson for the goal. The goals cut the Towson lead to 9-4 heading into the final 30 minutes of play.

Towson sophomore midfielder Nikki Marcinik helped the Tigers cement the triumph, scoring the opening three goals of the second half. W&M was able to pull within six on back-to-back goals with 10 minutes remaining. Sellers imposed her will on the Towson defense, scoring to the upper right side of the cage, before finding Anderson for her third goal of the contest 21 seconds later. Sellers notched her second assist of the game, finding Anderson on the right side and the Tribe rookie finished top self to cut the gap to 12-6 with 9:47 left.

Junior midfielder Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md.) scored the game’s final goal with 46 seconds remaining for the final 16-7 margin. Freshman goalkeeper Emily Geary finished with 15 saves in goal. Anderson led the Green and Gold with three goals on the afternoon, while Sellers tallied a marker to go along with three assists. Golden finished with a goal and an assist in the setback. Freshman defender Sarah Jonson (Dallas, Texas), Anderson and Sellers were named to the CAA All-Championship Team.

The Tribe enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in 2008 under the direction of second-year head coach Christine Halfpenny. The College saw a seven-win improvement from a season ago, racking up 10 triumphs on the year and winning the 2008 CAA regular season championship. For her efforts, Halfpenny was named the CAA Coach of the Year and the College has four players named to the All-CAA squad. Freshman Grace Golden became only the second Tribe player to be honored as the CAA Rookie of the Year along with garnering first-team all-league accolades. Golden tied the Green and Gold freshman record for goals with 45. Senior All-America candidate Jaime Sellers joined Golden on the All-CAA First Team, while establishing a W&M school record for goals scored with 66. Senior defender Ashley Bolton (Narberth, Pa.) and freshman goalkeeper Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.) were second-team all-conference honorees, while freshman Ashley Holofcener (Reisterstown, Md.) garnered CAA All-Rookie team honors along with Golden and Geary. W&M knocked off four nationally ranked foes and have spent the last part of the campaign ranked among the national top-20. The seven goals on the game pushed the Tribe’s season total to a school-record 233 (which bettered the previous best of 232 set during the 1980 season).

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