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NORFOLK, Va. - No. 21 Old Dominion won a thrilling opening round game of the 2011 NCAA Tournament on a chilly Thursday night at the ODU Soccer Complex as they defeated the Liberty Flames, 5-4, in penalty kicks to advance.
After two halves and a pair of overtimes went scoreless, the Monarchs (12-5-2) won the coin toss to begin the penalty kick shootout and opted to shoot first. Junior goalkeeper Victor Francoz, junior midfielder Chris Harmon, junior midfielder Jordan LeBlanc, sophomore forward Tim Hopkinson and junior forward Yannick Smith all converted their attempts.
Matching ODU on each goal were Uriah Bentick, Dareen Amoo, Phillip Aseweh and Zach Clark for Liberty (11-6-3). Timothy Bullock was the final player for the Flames to attempt and his shot would be blocked by Francoz to give the Monarchs the win.
ODU remained undefeated at home this season (7-0-2) and moves on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Monarchs will face Indiana, the No. 16 seed in this year's tournament on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. at Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.
The Monarchs outshot the Flames, 21-8, and had numerous scoring opportunities throughout the contest but were not able to convert. At the half, ODU had the 14-3 advantage in shots, half of which came off the foot of Hopkinson who finished with a game-high nine shots, three of which were on goal.
Liberty was able to tighten up the defense at halftime and outshot ODU in the second half, 4-3. Flames' goalkeeper Scott Sutarik had five saves in the contest while Francoz saved two shots.