Nov. 6, 2010
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The 16th-ranked and second-seeded Old Dominion field hockey team blanked Northeastern, 4-0, Saturday afternoon to earn a place in tomorrow's Colonial Athletic Association championship game.
Senior Loran Hatch posted two goals to lead the Lady Monarchs, who will take on top-seeded Drexel at 1 p.m. Sunday at Buckley Field.
Despite being outshot 11-5 in the opening half, ODU took advantage of nearly all its scoring opportunities. Senior Anna Kern scored off a feed from junior Kathryn Kirk in the eighth minute and senior Paige Clutter tallied her seventh goal of the season at the 15:18 mark to give the Lady Monarchs a 2-0 lead.
Kern's goal was set up after senior back Sami Richardson caused a Northeastern turnover and got the ball to Kirk on the left end line. Kirk then slipped the ball past two NU defenders to Kern, who tallied her fourth goal of the season.
Just under seven minutes later Paige Clutter increased ODU's lead when she gathered the ball and scored off a Hatch penalty corner blast.
The Huskies had numerous scoring chances late in the opening stanza, but Old Dominion goalkeeper Devon Seifert came up large. The junior registered all of her game-high six saves in the first period.
Hatch, who was honored as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year Friday evening, continued to showcase her versatility in leading ODU's potent penalty corner attack. The senior scored twice in the second half off corners with Paige Clutter and senior Alyschia Conn getting credit with assists on both goals. The All-CAA First Team member now has 19 scores on the season.
In Saturday's first semifinal game, Drexel senior Kim Tunell converted a penalty corner four minutes into overtime to lift the top-seeded Dragons over fourth-seeded VCU, 3-2.
Old Dominion and Drexel will compete for the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Dragons topped the Lady Monarchs 3-2 in Philadelphia earlier this season.
-ODU-