Sept. 2, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The No. 3 Old Dominion University field hockey team scored two late goals on Sunday afternoon but was unable to overcome a three-goal halftime deficit as they fell to No. 8 Virginia at Turf Field, 5-4.
For the third consecutive game, ODU (2-2) scored a goal in the first five minutes of the contest. This time sophomore Rosario Villagra netted her second goal of the season at the 1:43 mark off the pads of UVA goalie Jenny Johnstone. Virginia (4-1) wasted little time responding as All-American and member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team Paige Selenski scored on a penalty corner to tie up the game at the 6:42 mark.
The game was then delayed by nearly two hours by severe storms in the Charlottesville area. When play resumed, Selenski struck for her second goal of the game. Carissa Vittese then beat ODU goalkeeper Friederike Jahns one-on-one to put the Cavaliers up, 3-1.
Senior Kimberly Oakes scored her second goal in as many games off a rebound with 10 minutes to go before halftime to cut the lead to one goal but Virginia was able to put another one in the cage as Elly Buckley capitalized on a penalty corner to make it 4-2 at intermission.
Defense for both teams held strong early in the second half as UVA was able to build a 5-2 lead with 15 minutes to play when Buckley scored her second of the game off a penalty corner set.
ODU then began to close the gap as freshman Sarah Breen scored her third goal of the season on a penalty corner in the 59th minute as Villagra and sophomore Kelsey Smither assisted her on the play. Just seconds later, junior co-captain Kati Nearhouse roped a hot shot in front the left side to cut the Cavaliers' lead to 5-4, but the Lady Monarchs were unable to get any closer.
Jahns collected a season high six saves for Old Dominion was Johnstone tallied three for Virginia. The Cavs held the advantage in shots (15-12) while the Lady Monarchs had the edge in penalty corners (7-6) and saves (7-4).
After opening the season with four consecutive road contests, all against ranked opponents and three of which were against teams ranked in the top-10, Old Dominion will host Radford on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex in their 2012 home opener when they return to action.
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