Nov. 9, 2007
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion field hockey team is heading to its 27th NCAA Tournament. The No. 10/9 Lady Monarchs will square off against No. 2 Maryland, seeded second in the 16-team bracket, in first round action on Saturday, November 10th at 11:00 a.m. in College Park, Maryland.
Livestats are available for Saturday's game at odusports.com and audio is available from at Maryland's student radios station at wmucsports.com.
The winner of Saturday's contest will advance to Sunday's second round to face the winner of College Park's other first round contest between No. 9 Penn State and No. 18 Virginia, which will begin at 2:00 p.m.
It will be third meeting this season between the Lady Monarchs and Terrapins. Maryland won both meetings both by a score of 4-1.
Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students/children. There will be a $10 fee for parking on Saturday due to the Maryland football game that evening. A limited number of spaces will be reserved for field hockey fans in Lot 4i. Lots open at 9 a.m. and attendees should indicate to the parking attendant they are attending the matches. Overflow parking will be directed to the Terrapin Trail Garage or the Paint Branch Garage There will not be a parking charge for Sunday's game.
THIS IS HOW WE START: Old Dominion enters the NCAA Tournament with an 12-9 record and a perfect 8-0 mark in during conference play in the regular season. The Lady Monarchs received on of eight at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament Tuesday evening and will take on second-seeded Maryland, a team they have already faced twice during the regular season.
RANK 'EM UP: In all, Old Dominion has taken on eight members of the top 20, including four of the five members currently ranked in the top five of the STX/NFHCA Poll. Additionally, the Lady Monarchs met up with two-time defending national champion Maryland, current No. 1 North Carolina, and Duke twice during the season in home-and-home competition.
ODU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Old Dominion is 46-17 in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Monarchs are the only Division I squad to appear in all 27 tournaments since the NCAA began sponsoring the championship in 1981. The Lady Monarchs have won a record nine national championships with the most recent in 2000. Their most recent Final Four appearance was in 2006 where they lost to eventual national champion and first round opponent, Maryland, 3-2.
CAA AWARDS: Freshman Loran Hatch was named the CAA Rookie of the Year and head coach Beth Anders was namd the CAA Coach of the Year, while four Lady Monarchs earned First Team All-CAA and two were named CAA All-Rookie team members at the banquet Friday night in Virginia Beach on the eve of the semifinals of the CAA Field Hockey Championship. Hatch becomes the seventh Lady Monarch to earn CAA Rookie of the Year honors after sharing the team lead and finishing sixth in the conference with eight goals, tops among all rookies. The freshman also contributed three game-winning goals, two coming against ranked CAA opponents Delaware and eight-ranked James Madison in a match that decided the league's regular season champion. Anders earns her 10th CAA Coach of the Year honor after guiding Old Dominion to a perfect record in conference play (8-0) for the 13th time. The Lady Monarchs, who are 11-8 overall, are ranked 10th in the STX/NFHCA poll. Winners of 24 consecutive regular season CAA matches, Old Dominion once again proved its national prowess by facing four of the top five teams and eight members of the top 20 this year. Anders is in her 25th season at the helm of the Lady Monarchs' field hockey squad, and has increased her all-time Division I-leading career victories total to 490. Old Dominion led all schools with four players selected to the All-CAA first team. First team members included sophomore midfielder Titia Beek, junior back Katelyn Smither, senior midfielder Jo Ann van Aswegen, and junior goalkeeper Kelly Driscoll. For Beek, Smither, and Van Aswegen, it is their first post-season recognition by the conference. Driscoll was also a First Team All-CAA goalkeeper in 2006.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Three Lady Monarchs were named to the 2007 CAA All-Tournament team - junior goalkeeper Kelly Driscoll, sophomore midfielder Titia Beek, and sophomore forward Kathleen Shea.
2007 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament
Chapel Hill, N.C. #1 UNC vs Stanford; James Madison vs Duke
Storrs, Conn. #4 Connecticut vs Massachusetts; Iowa vs Boston University
Ann Arbor, Mich. #3 Wake Forest vs Michigan State; Michigan vs Ohio
College Park, Md. #2 Maryland vs Old Dominion; Penn State vs Virginia