Aug. 29, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Old Dominion scored a pair of goals in a four-minute span in the first half and held on late to upend No. 15 American, 2-1, Sunday afternoon in Washington, D.C.
The Lady Monarchs (1-1), playing their second consecutive ranked team on the road to open the 2010 season, got goals from 2009 All-CAA rookie selection Julie Hodge and senior leader Anna Kern.
American, which has won seven consecutive Patriot League Championships, falls to 1-1 on the year after splitting its first two contests against ODU and Richmond.
Old Dominion got on the board first just over 20 minutes into the game when Hodge converted on a penalty stroke opportunity. The Lady Monarchs wasted little time expanding their lead as junior Kathryn Kirk drove the ball into the circle and Kern took the cross and found the back of the cage to put ODU up 2-0 at the 23:56 mark.
After keeping American scoreless for nearly 63 minutes, Melissa Casale got the Eagles on the board after converting on a fast-break goal. Although American outshot Old Dominion 3-0 in the second half, the Eagles could not score the equalizer in the final seven minutes and the Lady Monarchs earned their first victory of their 2010 campaign.
Junior goalkeeper Marla Petriello made three saves en route to picking up her first career win.
ODU improves to 25-2 all-time against American.
The Lady Monarchs are next in action on Friday, Sept. 3 at No. 2 Maryland. Two days later, ODU will travel to No. 3 Virginia to complete its four-game road trip.
-ODU-