April 29, 2009
NORFOLK, Va. -- The 18th ranked ODU women's lacrosse team (11-4, 5-2) heads to Williamsburg and the campus of William & Mary for the 2009 CAA Tournament, beginning Thursday, April 29 with the semifinals. Old Dominion, the #3 seed, will face #2 Delaware (9-7, 5-2) in semifinal action Thursday night at 7:30 pm. The other semifinal game will feature the host Tribe versus #4 Towson at 5:00 pm. The winners will face off in the Championship game on Saturday, May 2 at 1:00 pm.
Fans should head to Tournament Central for more information on each team and the tournament. Admission will be $5 for adults, $3 for children and free to all students with valid ID's from participating schools. Live stats will also be available at Tournament Central.
Old Dominion is headed to its second CAA Tournament in the last three years in hopes of capturing the second title in school history. ODU won the CAA Championship in 1995.
Earlier this season, ODU traveled to Delaware and lost a 9-8 heartbreaker, when rookie Stephanie Allen scored with two seconds remaining in regulation. ODU was coming off one of the biggest wins in school history at the time, defeating #9 Virginia just two days prior. Following the loss to Delaware, ODU ran off five straight victories before falling to William & Mary in the finale.
The two teams have matched up 18 times in the all-time series, with each team earning nine victories. Delaware has won five of the last six dating back to the 2004 season.
This season, team MVP Kelly Kimener has led the way in her senior season, with career-highs in every statistical category. Kimener leads the team in points with 57, giving her 164 in her career for sole possession of fourth on the all-time ODU list. Also having a terrific season offensively is junior Ashley Kellogg, who leads the way in goals scored with 45. She has added seven assists for 52 points on the year and leads the league in goals per game.
Defensively, ODU rookie goalkeeper Sarah Geary has pieced together an impressive first effort. She is second in the league in saves per game and tied for third in ground balls per game. Leading ODU's defense is senior co-captain Lindsey Belle, averaging two caused turnovers per contest.
Delaware spreads the ball around offensively and has five different players with over 20 points. Emily Schaknowski leads the way with 29 on 17 goals and 12 assists. The Fightin' Blue Hens boast one of the league's top goalkeepers in Jessica Cerveny. Cerveny leads the league in goals against average (8.54), is second in save percentage (.494) and makes over eight saves per game.
Though Delaware is scoring just 9.03 goals per contest, they hold opponents to just 8.60 goals per. ODU is currently averaging nearly 12 goals per game.
Game time is set for 7:30 pm at Albert-Daly Field on the campus of The College of William & Mary. Directions, stats, and more information is available at Tournament Central.