Lady Seahawks fall to Tribe in CAA quarters
Brittany Matsinger dribbles the ball around a William & Mary defender during Sunday’s CAA Tournament game.
October 30, 2016
After a turbulent regular season concluded a week ago with a comeback win over Elon, UNC Wilmington women’s soccer hosted William & Mary in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament’s quarterfinal round.
The Seahawks and Tribe traded goals in regulation, needing two overtime periods and penalty kicks to settle things in the conference tournament’s first round before William & Mary got the win, 2-2 (5-4).
“We got behind them quite a few times in the second half,” said UNCW coach Paul Cairney. “Credit to William & Mary for battling back from 2-1 down, and when it gets to overtime neither team wants to expose themselves too much. When it gets to penalty kicks its a crapshoot.”
To the surprise of many, junior Serenity Waters took a backseat on Sunday while Brittany Matsinger showed the crowd at UNCW Soccer Stadium why she was named CAA Rookie of the Week.
With William & Mary leading 1-0 midway through the first half, Matsinger shot a ball that skipped over the opposing goalkeeper’s outstretched hands and found the back of the net.
In the second half, Matsinger would assist on midfielder Callie McClain’s goal that gave UNCW a 2-1 lead and firm control of the game.
The Tribe would not concede. Elysse Branton broke through the Seahawk defense with less than eight minutes to go in regulation to find the equalizer that sent matters into overtime.
“I thought our shade was nice and expansive… we were attacking well, and they caught us,” Cairney said. “They’re a good team. They’re well coached and do a great job.”
Sunday’s game came just nine days after UNCW defeated the Tribe 2-0. That victory was key to helping the Seahawks make it into the CAA Tournament.
For William & Mary, the Tribe will advance to play Northeastern in the CAA’s semifinal round later this week. The winner of that game will face either James Madison or Drexel in the tournament final.
“The thing about it is that we’ve beaten James Madison and were two up on Northeastern,” said William & Mary coach John Daly. “We’ll go up there and we’re planning on [winning].”
