WILLIAMSBURG — Facing its third nationally-ranked opponent of the season, William & Mary field hockey battled No. 10 Liberty scoreless for the majority of the afternoon on Sunday. The visiting Flames scored twice in the final two minutes, the first off a corner, to edge the Tribe at Busch Field.
After more than 58 minutes of scoreless action, the Flames (7-1) finally broke through on a penalty corner opportunity at the 58:05 mark. Jodie Conolly scored on a shot from the top of the circle to give Liberty the 1-0 advantage.
With the Tribe (2-3) pushing for the equalizer, Liberty’s Tuti Dell Anna caught the home team on the counter, scoring with 32 seconds remaining to provide the final margin.
The Tribe had two great chances to get on the board in the first and third quarters. The first opportunity came off the stick of junior Sara Bartzen, but her shot from in close on the right side was blocked by Liberty GK Azul Iritxity Irigoyen.
W&M’s best opportunity of the day came two minutes into the third quarter off a penalty corner. The Tribe worked the ball to graduate student Lauren Curran along the right side of the circle, but Iritxity Irigoyen made the pad save on the hard shot to keep the game scoreless.
For the game, Liberty outshot W&M 6-3, putting three on frame to the Tribe’s two. LU had a 4-2 advantage in penalty corners at 4-2.
Scoring
59′ | Liberty – Jodie Conolly (Bethany Dykema/Reagan Underwood)
60′ | Liberty – Tuti Dell Anna (unassisted)
Starters
W&M – #1 George (GK), #3 Domovich, #5 Gruendel, #7 Richbourg, #8 Friedman, #9 McGaughey, #12 Moon, #21 Goodwin, #24 McKinney, #27 Schwartz, #33 Curran
Liberty – #91 Iritxity Irigoyen (GK), #2 Underwood, #3 Dykema, #7 Iturraspe, #8 Conolly, #9 Dell Anna, #12 Cian, #13 Faust, #15 Hosler, #18 Arteta, #21 Combrinck
Up Next
The Tribe returns to action in CAA play when it hosts Northeastern on Friday, Sept. 22. The contest is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start time and will be broadcast on FloFC.
