March 10, 2010
NORFOLK, Va. - Sophomore Lisa Bernardini tallied a game-high tying four goals, but Richmond quickly erased a halftime deficit en route to a 14-10 decision over Old Dominion in the Lady Monarchs' home opener Wednesday afternoon at the Powhatan Sports Complex.
Old Dominion, which won seven of its eight home games last year, falls to 0-2 in 2010. Richmond started the year off 0-4, but has rebounded with consecutive wins to improve to 2-4.
The Lady Monarchs controlled play for much of the first half, garnering a 7-3 advantage at the intermission. After Richmond's Sam Stevenson got the Spiders on the board, ODU scored six of the next seven goals.
Bernardini posted two scores during the run and ODU held a 6-2 advantage going into the final minute of the opening period. Richmond took advantage of a late Lady Monarch turnover and converted it into a Gabi Wiegand score with only 15 seconds remaining before halftime.
Bernardini sent ODU into the locker room up 7-3 though as her last second shot ricocheted off the goalkeeper and went in as time expired.
The second half would be a different story. Richmond controlled possession for much of the first 15 minutes and before ODU could score at the 17:06 mark, the Spiders had rattled off six consecutive goals to go up 9-7.
After a well called timeout by head coach Sue Stahl, the Lady Monarchs responded and tied the game at nine with back-to-back goals from Bernardini and senior Ashley Kellogg.
The ODU run was halted though with a pair of Spiders scores that gave Richmond its two goal edge back. A Shelby Davis tally with 8:36 remaining pulled the Lady Monarchs to within one, but they could not score the rest of the way.
Each squad took 27 shots in the game, but Richmond had seven more in the second half. The Spiders also had a 7-1 edge in free-position shots.
Old Dominion is now 23-13 all-time against Richmond.
The Lady Monarchs will next be in action on March 20 against St. Joseph's. Game-time is set for 12 p.m. at the Powhatan Sports Complex.
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