Oct. 30, 2008
NORFOLK, Va. -- The ODU women's soccer team (14-3-1/7-2-1) travel across the water for a pivotal CAA regular season finale against the Tribe of William & Mary (13-5-1/8-2-0). The game will go a long way in determining seeding for next weeks CAA Championship and both teams, with a win, have a shot at being crowned the regular season champs. Live stats and a live streaming broadcast can be found at www.tribeathletics.com. Kick-off is set for 7:00 pm.
Though both teams are locks for the conference tournament, both will also be playing hard for the win with a chance for home field in the tournament next weekend. If ODU wins, it assures itself a first round bye in the CAA Tournament as one of the top two seeds. If ODU wins against William & Mary AND VCU at least ties James Madison, ODU will be crowned the regular season champions and will host the tournament.
The game boasts the top two defensive teams in the conference AND the top two offensive teams, statistically speaking. ODU boasts a +1.89 scoring margin for first in the league and William & Mary are second at +0.89. ODU has scored 46 goals, allowing 12, while the Tribe have scored 36, allowing 19.
The Tribe are led by a powerful group of seniors, including 2007 CAA Player of the Year and All-American Claire Zimmeck. She leads the team with 25 points on 10 goals and five assists. She is joined by classmates Abby Lauer, a strong defender with the team lead in assists (6), and Dani Collins, in the midfield, who has added 3 goals and 3 assists.
In goal, the Tribe are very strong, as Meghan Walker has under a 1.00 goals against average with five shutouts, starting in all 19 games this season. She and ODU keeper Lauren Tupman are the only conference netminders with GAA under 1.00.
Tupman has broken school records for shutouts in a season and in a career this year, and leads the league in goals against average (0.71). Her defense, led by seniors Elizabeth Brewster and Marilee Mastaler, junior Brittney Kortz and freshman Lisa Bernardini, has stood tall all season.
Offensively, ODU is led by senior Katie Watson, who is second in the league in scoring with 31 points (12g, 7a). She is joined by senior Shavon Knight and freshman Victoria Johnson as the first trio to score 20+ points in school history. Knight has 25 points (9g, 7a) and Johnson has 21 (7g, 7a).
The game is set to begin at 7:00 pm. Click here for live stats.