Williamsburg Sun

Tribe Scribe: Drexel comes back for 2-1 win over Tribe in CAA quarterfinals

William & Mary's best season in five years ended with a 2-1 loss to Drexel Thursday afternoon in the CAA women's soccer quarterfinals in Philadelphia.

 

Playing in the tournament for the first time since 2017, the seventh-seeded Tribe led 1-0 at the break. But the Dragons scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and W&M (7-8-4) was held without a shot on goal the rest of the way.

 

"It was a pretty physical battle, and the wind played into it a little bit," Tribe coach Julie Shackford said. "We kept a potent offense, they scored a ton of goals, pretty much in check the whole game. That's all you can ask for.

 

"Us having the wind in the first half, we probably should have gotten a second goal. But it could have gone either way, and we competed the whole way."

 

Drexel (11-2-5), the No. 2 seed, outshot W&M 18-7, 8-3 on goal. William & Mary's Zoe Doughty made six saves, one coming on a penalty kick. Fouls (Drexel 15, W&M 14) and offsides (Tribe 3, Dragons 2) were essentially even.

 

William & Mary led 1-0 after a goal by Cricket Basa in the 42nd minute, but Drexel didn't take long to get the equalizer. After a long goal kick by Molly Piso, the ball got loose inside the 18-yard box. Doughty came out and became trapped away from the goal.

 

Delaney Lappin, the CAA's top goal scorer, gained control no more than three yards from the left post. Uncontested, she kicked it in for the tie with 40:41 left in the game.

 

Ten minute later, Lappin struck again to give Drexel a 2-1 lead. Closely checked by the Tribe's Nicole Sellers, Lappin drilled a shot from 25 yards that just snuck inside the right post.

 

"They had a great shot on their second goal," Shackford said. "It was really hard to bounce back from."

 

The Dragons controlled play the rest of the way. The Tribe's best chance for the equalizer came when a shot by Jillian O'Toole caromed off the crossbar.

The Tribe scored first on a goal that was as well-executed as you're likely to see.

 

On a free kick from about 45 yards after a foul, Sellers sent a liner to the edge of the 18-yard box. Ivey Crain flicked a header to just outside the 6-yard area, and Basa finished with her right foot to make it 1-0 with 3:17 remaining in the first half.

 

Drexel had two excellent scoring chances earlier, each of which was snuffed by Doughty. The first came after Doughty was called for a foul in the box after colliding with a Drexel player. That gave the Dragons' Annalena O'Reilly a penalty kick, but Doughty stopped it with no trouble.

 

Doughty made a much tougher save a few minutes later when Lappin took a pass just outside the 6-yard box. Nearly point blank, Lappin went left but Doughty dove for the save.

 

By every statistical measure, William & Mary was a vastly improved team from last season.

 

Offensively, the Tribe increased its goal scoring from 0.4 a game in 2021 to 1.26 in '22. Crain, the CAA's Rookie of the Year, finished the season with nine goals, the most by a Tribe player since 2016. It's the most by a W&M true freshman since '05.

 

Last season, the Tribe was shut out in 11 of its 16 games. This season, it was only five times in 19 games. Overall, the Tribe finished with its best winning percentage (.494) since 2017.

 

"We went from just staying in games to knowing we could win every game," Shackford said. "The team has been a joy to work with and competed as hard as any team I've ever coached. Obviously falling a little bit short is hard in your last game, but we took a really positive step."

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