Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Four Earn Preseason All-CAA Honors; W&M Field Hockey Picked Third in Preseason Poll

(Tribe Athletics)

RICHMOND — Four William & Mary field hockey student-athletes earned preseason honors from the Coastal Athletic Association, the league announced on Monday. As a team, the Tribe was picked third in the preseason poll by vote of the league coaches.

W&M was one of two schools, along with Northeastern, to have four players earn preseason All-CAA honors. Senior Jayden Moon and junior Pyper Friedman were among 12 players named to the Preseason All-CAA Team, while senior goalkeeper Maddie George and graduate student Lauren Curran earned honorable mention honors.

Delaware, with 35 points and five first-place votes, was the preseason CAA favorite followed by Monmouth, with 32 points and two first-places votes. The Tribe was third followed by Drexel and Northeastern in a share of fourth, Hofstra in sixth and Towson in seventh.

Last season, the Tribe finished the year at 9-8 with a trio of wins over top-20 teams. W&M, which finished in a share of third in the CAA standings, spent six weeks in the national ranking, including achieving the program’s highest ranking in the last two decades at No. 16.

Moon and Friedman have been fixtures in the Tribe midfield over the last two years, starting 29 and 31 matches, respectively.  Both players were named to the U-21 Women’s National Team and JPAC Selection Camp this past summer. Moon, who totaled two assists last season, went on to be named to as a JPAC reserve for Team USA. Friedman led the Tribe last season with five assists.

Curran led W&M is scoring in 2022 on the way to earning All-CAA First Team and All-Region Second Team honors. The Media, Pa. native was second in the CAA with 11 goals and fifth in the conference with 22 points. She has 20 goals over the last two seasons.

George enjoyed a standout season in 2022, ranking second in the CAA and 10th nationally in save % (.781). He was named the NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week and the CAA Player of the Week after posting a shutout behind a career-high 12 saves in the overtime win against No. 6 Liberty.

The Tribe opens the season when it welcomes in-state rival James Madison to Busch Field on Friday. Aug. 25. The match is slated for a 5 p.m. start time and will be streamed on FloLive.

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