April 22, 2007
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team was able to clinch a berth to the 2007 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) women's lacrosse tournament with an 8-7 over George Mason on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Foreman Field.
Old Dominion's first tournament appearance since 2003 was made possible by today's victory over the Patriots and a Towson loss to Hofstra. The Lady Monarchs hold a 3-3 CAA mark heading into Wednesday's season finale against William & Mary. With the loss to the Pride, the Tigers drop to 3-4 and no matter the outcome of Wednesday's game, miss post-season on the tiebreak as the Lady Monarchs defeated them in a 9-8 thriller at Johnny Unitas Stadium last week.
Overall, the Lady Monarchs improved to 6-7, while the Patriots fell to 6-9 overall and 1-5 in league play.
It was Old Dominion's fifth game this season decided by a goal. The Lady Monarchs trailed 4-3 at the half, but went on to outscore the Patriots 5-3 in the second half for the victory, snapping a two-game losing streak.
Senior Ashley Stanwick (Aquasco, Md.) posted her second hat trick of the season and 10th of her career to lead all scorers. Five other Lady Monarchs also collected a goal. George Mason was led by Megan Udovich, Melissa Venturi, and Kelly Davis with two each.
The Lady Monarchs registered the game's first two goals 12 minutes in the opening stanza, however over a span of 1:48, the Patriots rattled off three consecutive nets. Udovich's goal, the final of the George Mason scoring barrage, gave the Patriots a 3-2 ege with 13:51.
Old Dominion would record the next goal off the stick of Kaelyn Schival (Horsham, Pa.) to tie the game at 3-3 with 7:55, but George Mason managed to regain the lead with just seconds remaining in the half. Old Dominion's Jessica Noone (Manassas, Va.) had a shot attempt at the Mason goal with a minute left until halftime, but the Patriots managed to gain control of the ball and clear it downfield. Mason's first shot by Udovich went wide, but the Patriots managed to maintain possesion with Kelly Davis managing to find the open spot on net with 15 seconds remaining.
Mason extended its lead to 5-3 at the 23:27 mark of the second half scoring the first goal of the second stanza. However, the Patriots would not score again until 4:10 remained in the game.
Beginning with a Caroline Jacobs (Gaithersburg, Md.) score at the 12:54 mark, the Lady Monarchs put away four consecutive goals in a 1:32 timeframe. Following Jacob's goal, Noone got onto the scoreboard at the 11:32 mark to tie the game at 5-5 and was followed by a Stanwick goal 10 seconds later to give Old Dominion the lead for good.
Stanwick was not done scoring though. She added the fourth and final goal of the ODU run at the 9:24 mark to give the Lady Monarchs a 7-5 edge.
The Patriot's Melissa Venturi cut the Mason deficit to one as they scored for the first time in over 19 minutes at the 4:10 mark.
Lady Monarch freshman Ashley Kellogg (Downingtown, Pa.) responded 40 seconds later and put away the game-winner. Her team-leading third game-winner gave Old Dominion an 8-6 advantage.
George Mason did not go away though. Udovich collected her second goal of the day as the clock read 2:09 and once again pulled the Patriots to within one as they trailed just 8-7.
Old Dominion collected the ensuing draw control, but turned the ball over with less than a minute remaining. Fortunately, the Patriots were unable to get past midfield.
The Lady Monarchs were outshot by one, 23-22, but held a 10-7 advantage in draw controls. Senior Katie Veneziale (Downingtown, Pa.) came away with a game-high three draws.
The Patriots also an advantage in groundballs, 21-18. Veneziale led ODU with six, one shy of her caeer mark. George Mason was led by Maggie Bridges with five.
In between the pipes, junior netminder Sara Larson (Slyvan Lake, Mich.) posted 13 saves, including nine in the second half. The Patriots' Sara Longobucco made 10 stops in the loss.
The Lady Monarchs have their final regular season home game on Wednesday, April 25th at 4:00 p.m. against the Tribe of William & Mary. The six Old Dominion seniors - Jackie Brown, Caroline Jacobs, Danielle Hailey, Ashley Stanwick, Kristen Truax, and Katie Veneziale - will be honored right before the opening draw.