COLLEGES:
Men’s soccer:
William and Mary (5-1) increased its winning streak to five by defeating Georgetown 1-0 on junior William Eskay’s 30-yard goal in the 23rd minute. Keeper Phil Breno earned his third shutout of the season.
The Tribe’s winning streak is its longest since 2010.
The Hoyas, who were nationally ranked to start the season, are 1-5. …
Reeves Trott, a Tribe freshman from Lafayette High, was named to topdrawersoccer.com’s National Team of the Week.
The back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association Freshman of the Week leads W&M with four goals, two assists and 10 points. …
Alessandro Mion scored in the second half as Virginia Tech (5-1) shut out Longwood 1-0. The Hokies outshot the Lancers 26-7. …
Virginia Wesleyan earned a 2-1 win over Averett in Danville.
Women’s soccer:
No. 16 Virginia Tech (8-1) beat Longwood 1-0 in Blacksburg behind senior Hermann Trophy candidate Murielle Tiernan’s goal in the 17th minute. Mandy McGlynn recorded her fifth shutout of the season.
Longwood, outshot 25-2, fell to 2-6 despite Maria Kirby’s 11 saves.
Football:
The Big South and Atlantic Sun agreed to a partnership for a joint football conference.
According to FCS expert Craig Haley of STATS, current or future Atlantic Sun scholarship-football members within the geographic footprint of the Big South will automatically be admitted to the conference as associate football members.
With Coastal Carolina leaving this year for the Sun Belt on the FBS level, the Big South has dropped to six football programs — the FCS low and the NCAA minimum for a conference to have its champion automatically qualify for the 24-team national playoffs. There are four full-time members in Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Liberty and Presbyterian, and two associate members in Kennesaw State and Monmouth.
But the two-conference partnership provides a guaranteed home for Kennesaw State, an Atlantic Sun member in other sports, and a potential guaranteed home for other football programs, including Atlantic Sun members Jacksonville and Stetson and Big South member Campbell. Those three play on the FCS level in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, and each program would join Big South football should it move to the scholarship level. …
Commissioner Joe D’Antonio has named Brian Gordon the Associate Commissioner of Football for the Colonial Athletic Association.
Gordon spent the last 11 years at North Dakota State, which won the FCS national crown the last five years.
Women’s volleyball:
VCU (5-6) came from two sets behind to outlast William and Mary 19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-13, 15-11 at Kaplan Arena.
Freshman Vicky Giommarini spiked 13 kills in the final three sets, and senior Rebekah Strange recorded 30 digs in the match for VCU. VCU freshman setter Tyler Sroufe handed out 53 assists and made 13 digs.
For the Tribe (4-6), Sara Zumbach had 34 digs and Casey Foote had 13 kills.
Men’s tennis:
Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, coming off his victory in the Collegiate Tennis Invitational on the U.S. Open grounds, was fourth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles preseason rankings.
Fellow Cavaliers Collin Altamirano (19th), Alexander Ritschard (53rd), JC Aragone (69th) and Henrik Wiersholm (74th) joined him in the rankings.
Old Dominion’s Adam Moundir was 110th.
The Freshmen/Newcomer rankings are led by U.Va.’s Carl Soderlund, a Swede.
In doubles, Kwiatkowski-Luca Corinteli (11th), Moundir-Aziz Kijametovic (tied for 23rd) and Aragone-Wiersholm (40th) are among the ranked tandems.
Women’s tennis:
Denver senior Maureen Slattery of Newport News, who has been a major part of three Summit League championship teams, joined junior teammate Julia O’Loughlin at No. 41 in the ITA preseason doubles rankings.
Those rankings also include the U.Va. team of Rosie Johanson-Meghan Kelley (38th) and the Arkansas pair of Ana Oparenovic and Virginia Beach’s Shannon Hudson.
In singles, William and Mary junior Ekaterina Stepanova was ranked 70th and senior Marie Faure 117th. Virginia Tech’s Francesca Fusinato (42nd) and Elena Cerezo-Codina (94th) also earned rankings.
Stepanova was ranked as high as No. 89 last season, when she played for Wisconsin.
Stepanova was chosen for the qualifying draw of the Women’s All-American Championships in October, while Faure and sophomore teammate Lauren Goodman gained one of 18 bids into the doubles main draw.
Field hockey:
William and Mary freshman Annie Snead of Midlothian was named the Rookie of the Week by the Colonial Athletic Association after scoring her first collegiate points over the weekend.
She had a goal and an assist in the Tribe’s 6-2 victory over Georgetown.
