William and Mary Field Hockey Unveils 2009 Schedule

Tribe to Face Four Teams that Made 2008 NCAA Tournament

06/03/09 11:25AM

WILLIAMSBURG - Head coach Peel Hawthorne ’80 announced the 2009 William and Mary Field Hockey competitive schedule today, an 18-match run-up to the CAA Championships and NCAA Tournament. Four teams made the national tournament last season, including three that advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, and eight teams were either ranked or receiving votes in the final coaches poll of 2008. All eight of the Tribe’s home games will take place on the newly renovated turf at Busch Field, home to the field hockey team since 1989.

Complete Schedule

After a scrimmage during the preseason at the University of Richmond on August 22, W&M officially opens the season at the University of Vermont with two games August 29-30. On Saturday, the 29th, the Tribe will face Boston College in a neutral site match-up at 1 p.m., before taking on Vermont the next day also at 1 p.m. BC was 12-7 last season, and was ranked 15th in the final NFHCA coaches poll after falling in the first round of the ACC tournament. Vermont finished the year 9-9 with a 2-1 victory over the Tribe in a neutral-site game at Harvard.

After the brief trip north, William and Mary returns home the next week hosting Rutgers and Appalachian State over the Labor Day weekend. The Tribe will look to replicate its 1-0 upset over then-19th ranked Rutgers on Saturday, September 5 at 11 a.m., before trying to maintain its perfect all-time record against the Mountaineers Monday, September 7, at 4 p.m. In between the two games, Rutgers and Appalachian State will also play each other Sunday at 11 a.m.

A trip to Princeton, New Jersey follows the next weekend, as W&M and Princeton meet for the eighth time since 1979 on Saturday, September 12 at 12 p.m. Last season, Princeton took the match-up 4-0 in Williamsburg en route to a 17-3 record and the NCAA quarterfinals, finishing the year ranked ninth in the country. Another ranked team and NCAA quarterfinalist will be the opponent at home on Thursday, September 17, when Virginia comes to Busch Field at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers defeated the Tribe in Charlottesville in the 2008 season opener, and finished the year ranked No. 12 after falling in the NCAA quarterfinals with a 14-9 record.

After a one-year hiatus, Miami (Ohio) is back on the schedule and will come to Williamsburg on Saturday, September 19 at 12 p.m. W&M has never lost to Miami, who finished 2008 in the semifinals of the MAC conference tournament with a 14-7 record. The following Wednesday, September 23, William and Mary travels up I-64 to face Richmond for the 42nd time and will be looking to exact revenge for a 4-3 overtime loss at home last season. The match is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. against the Spiders, who finished 10-11 last year and reached the finals of the Atlantic-10 tournament.

The final weekend of September has the Tribe at home for two matches against Radford and the conference-opener against Northeastern. The Highlanders will come to Williamsburg on Friday, September 25 at 6 p.m., after finishing 2008 at 9-12 and sixth in the NorPac conference. Radford has never won in Williamsburg in 13 tries. The Tribe and the Huskies from Northeastern (7-13 in 2008) will open play in the Colonial Athletic Association Sunday, September 27, at 1 p.m. Northeastern joined the CAA in 2005 and won the first three matches against the Tribe, but W&M has claimed victory each of the past two seasons including a 2-1 victory in Boston last year.

October opens with a road trip to Towson and Delaware, October 2-3. The match with the Tigers will be Friday at 7 p.m., while the Blue Hens await Saturday also at 7 p.m. Last season, it was a 2-1 overtime win over Towson (11-9) that jump-started the Tribe’s season, while W&M will be looking for revenge after falling to Delaware (3-15) in penalty strokes, 3-2.

Friday, October 9 finds Hofstra coming to Williamsburg at 7 p.m., in what promises to be one of the more entertaining matches of the season. In 2008, Hofstra finished the year receiving votes in the national poll at 10-9, but two of those losses came at the hands of the Tribe. W&M won on Long Island in the regular season, 6-5 in overtime, and then won again in the CAA quarterfinals 3-2. Drexel University follows on Sunday, October 11 at 1 p.m., one year removed from a 7-1 conference ledger and 16-4 record overall that garnered the Dragon’s a final ranking of 16th in the polls. William and Mary will be looking to snap a two-game Drexel winning streak in the series, after winning the first seven meetings between the two schools from 1984-2006. The match against Drexel will also be Senior Day for the Tribe, who will honor six seniors playing their final games at Busch Field.

The season-ending road swing begins Saturday, October 17, with a neutral-site game against Duke at Old Dominion at 1 p.m. The Blue Devils reached the NCAA Quarterfinals last season with a 15-6 record, and ended the year ranked eighth in the NFHCA poll. CAA play picks back up the following Friday, October 23, with a road trip to defending champion James Madison for a 7 p.m. match. The Dukes fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Virginia, but were ranked fourth in the final coaches poll and finished the year 18-3 after claiming their third consecutive CAA crown.

On the way back from Harrisonburg, the Tribe will stop in Richmond to face Virginia Commonwealth at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 25. The Rams were 5-14 in 2008, and W&M holds a 39-6 all-time advantage in the series, including a current 15-match winning streak dating to 1995. William and Mary will close the regular season against arch-rival Old Dominion in Norfolk on Sunday, November 1 at 1 p.m. The Monarchs had a very rare off year in 2008, finishing 10-13 and falling in the CAA title game to end a streak of 27 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. William and Mary will be looking to repeat the finale of the 2004 season, when it upset No. 8 ODU 2-1 for the first win over the Monarchs since 1980.

The CAA Championships will take the top four teams from the regular season in a final-four setting between November 5-8 at a site later to be named. The first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will take place at four regional campus sites, November 14-15, with the top four teams advancing to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the semifinals and championship game November 20-22.