BUIES CREEK, N.C. – After changing the venue due to field conditions, the Old Dominion women’s lacrosse team picked up their second-consecutive win after defeating Campbell by an 18-12 margin at Barker-Lane Stadium. The Monarchs improved to 2-0 on the year, while the Camels fell to 0-1.
“The game plan changed a little bit since it was originally scheduled as a home game. We were scrambling all over the place yesterday to get everything organized to come out here, but the girls took it well and went with the flow. They were really flexible and to be able to come down here and pull out a win like this is really exciting and a true testament to what a great team we are this year,” said Head Coach Heather Holt.
“Getting our second-straight win is very exciting,” said Holt. “I can’t remember the last time we had such a great start like this, so this is a new, but very exciting feeling! We did start off slow, but we went into halftime and told the team that we need to tighten up our play for the second half and we did. I was very proud of the team for that. I honestly don’t think we could have done that a year ago. This is a new team and they have a great confidence about them and it’s fun to see.”
Campbell struck first, scoring the first goal just 50 seconds into the contest. Jessica Liberty answered 1:28 later with her sixth goal of the season to tie the score at 1-1. Campbell would then go on a three-goal streak to hold a 4-1 lead over the Monarchs with 19:47 left in the first half.
ODU banded together to go on a 6-2 run to end the first half to take a 7-6 edge into the intermission. Connor Carson led the attack with two goals, while Ashmore Standing notched a goal and an assist for the Monarchs.
The Camels started the second half strong, recording two goals in a span of 47 seconds. With 22 minutes left and the score notched at 9-8 in favor of Campbell, Morgan Marrale sparked a 6-0 Monarchs run to give ODU a 14-9 lead with 13 minutes left to play.
Erica Hitch ended the Old Dominion run with a goal at the 10:30 mark, but ODU continued to attack the Camels. This time Standing started the run with just under 10 minutes to play, while Christina Rea scored the final goal with 4:21 left on the clock.
Campbell scored two goals in the final two minutes, but the eight-goal deficit with four minutes left proved to be too much for the Camels.
Karen Hayde picked up her second win of the season and tallied six saves after playing the entirety of the game for the Monarchs. Meredith Bechler suffered the loss for Campbell, finishing the game with 14 saves.
“Both Christina Rea and Mary Margaret McCaleb had a great game today,” noted Holt. “McCaleb had a couple of amazing shots and hustled hard. Natalie Ledwitz hustled her tail off today and finished with a few ground balls.”
Carson, Liberty, McCaleb and Rea led the offense with three goals apiece, while Standing added two goals and three assists to go along with her five caused turnovers and five ground balls. Rea also tallied a game-high five draw controls, while Carson chipped in with four.
Hitch was the leading scorer for the Camels, finishing with four goals and three assists. Armiger paced the defense with two caused turnovers and three draw controls.
“I thought we did a great job of just sticking to the game plan and not panicking. We knew that we could play this game well, we just had to get our stuff together, and we finally did and we pulled it out.”
The Old Dominion lacrosse team will be back in action on Sunday when the Monarchs host the Longwood Lancers for a 1:00 p.m. contest.
“We are definitely going to clean it up before Sunday. We are going to enjoy this win for a day, but we have a few things we need to work on tomorrow just to get the kinks out and to get our game plan back on track.”
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