WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Senior midfielder Nikki Marcinik scored a game-high four goals and added two assists to lead the 11th-ranked Tigers (10-3, 4-1) to their third straight win, a 12-6 Colonial Athletic Association victory over 20th-ranked William & Mary (8-6, 2-2) at the Tribe's Albert-Daly Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers, who have won four of their last five games, held the Tribe to a season-low six goals while snapping William & Mary's two-game win streak.
"It was a great weekend for us, especially today," Towson Coach Missy Doherty said. "We didn't play quite as well on Friday as we did today. I think the defense did a great job of stepping up and adding momentum to the offensive end."
After the Tribe opened the game by scoring two goals in the first five minutes, the Tigers answered by scoring four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead with 16:18 left in the first half. Marcinik scored twice during the spurt.
With 12:13 remaining in the period, junior midfielder Molly Wannen scored to close the margin to 4-3, but the Tigers used back-to-back goals from Marcinik and junior midfielder Ali Lathroum to take a 6-3 advantage into the intermission.
The Tribe opened the second half with a goal from freshman attacker Kyrstin Mackrides to narrow the deficit to 6-4 before Marcinik and senior midfielder Hillary Fratzke upped the margin to 8-4 with back-to-back goals.
Led by a goal and an assist from senior Katie Rees, the Tribe cut the margin to 8-6 by scoring two goals in a 42-second span.
But, the Tigers closed out the game by scoring four goals in the final ten minutes to earn their third win over the Tribe in the last four meetings.
While Marcinik contributed four goals with two assists, Fratzke added her tenth "hat trick" of the season with a three-goal effort. She also became the fourth player in school history to score 250 career points.
Wannen led the Tribe with two goals while junior goalkeeper Sarah Geary made 14 saves in a losing effort.
The Tigers outshot William & Mary by a 30-22 margin and forced the Tribe into making 14 turnovers.
The Tigers will travel to Drexel University next Friday afternoon for a 4 p.m. game against the Dragons. Meanwhile, the Tribe will host George Mason on Friday night at 7 p.m.
College Women's Lacrosse: #11 Towson University 12, #20 College of William & Mary 6
#11 Towson (10-3, 4-1) 6-6 / 12
#20 William & Mary (8-6, 2-2) 3-3 / 6
Goals: TOW - Nikki Marcinik 4, Hillary Fratzke 3, Jacie Kendall 2, Jess Dunn 1, Ali Lathroum 1, Jackie LaMonica 1; W&M - Molly Wannen 2, Katherine Rees 1, Mary Zulty 1, Ashley Holofcener 1, Kyrstin Mackrides 1. Assists: TOW - Jacie Kendall 2, Nikki Marcinik 2, Ashley Waldron 1; W&M - Jenny Michael 1, Katherine Rees 1. Saves: TOW - Mary Teeters 10 (60:00, 6 goals allowed); W&M - Katie Geary 14 (60:00, 12 goals allowed). Shots: TOW - 30; W&M - 22. Free Position Shots: TOW - 2 for 8; W&M - 3 for 8. Attendance: 223.
Post-Game Notes:
- The Tigers and the Tribe met for the 16th time in the all-time series on Sunday afternoon ... With the Tigers' victory, the series is now tied at 8-8.
- The Tigers have won their last five games played at Albert-Daly Field ... The Tigers have played each of their last four CAA Tournament games at Albert-Daly Field as William & Mary has hosted the conference tournament in each of the last two seasons.
- The Tigers tied a school record for the best 13-game record ... Towson posted a 10-3 record through 13 games during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
- The Tigers have now outshot their opponent in 10 of their 13 games this season and have an 8-2 record in those games.
- The Tigers allowed the game's first goal for the fifth time this year ... They are 2-3 in those games.
- The Tigers took at least 30 shots for the ninth time this year and are now 8-1 when taking at least 30 attempts.
- The Tigers are now 3-3 this year when playing a nationally-ranked opponent ... They are a perfect 7-0 when facing an unranked foe.
- The Tigers are 7-0 this year when playing a game on either Saturday or Sunday ... They improved to 3-0 in games played on Sunday.
- The Tigers have led at some point in 12 of their 13 games this year.
- Fratzke extended her goal-scoring and point-scoring streaks against the Tribe on Sunday afternoon ... She has now scored a goal in 61 straight games, which is the second-longest streak in NCAA Division I history ... In addition, she has tallied a point in all 67 games of her career.
- Fratzke now has 42 "hat tricks" in her career, including ten this season.
- Fratzke has now scored 57 career multi-goal games and has 59 career multi-point efforts.
- Senior attacker Jacie Kendall matched her career high with two assists ... It was her fifth career multi-assist effort.
- Kendall also scored a goal for the eighth straight game and recorded her 24th career multi-goal game ... She also has 33 career multi-point games.
- Kendall has also tallied a point in ten straight games, dating back to the Tigers' victory over George Washington on March 13.
- Marcinik tallied the 16th "hat trick" of her career and the second of the season ... Marcinik now has 33 career multi-goal games and 43 career multi-point games.
- Marcinik also has ten multi-assist games in her career.
- Marcinik has scored a goal in eight straight games ... She also has an eight-game point streak.
- Junior attacker Jess Dunn extended her goal-scoring streak to 13 straight games ... Dunn and Fratzke remain the only Tigers who have scored a goal in all 13 games this year.
- Dunn has now scored 24 of her 37 goals in the first half this year ... She also has 16 goals in the Tigers' six road games this season.
