STORRS, Conn. – The 11th-ranked field hockey team faced No. 2 UConn, the two-time defending national champions, this afternoon and fell to the Huskies by a 1-0 margin. The Lady Monarchs dropped to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the BIG EAST, while the Huskies improved to 14-0 and 3-0 in conference play.
The Lady Monarchs had a chance to take the early lead over the Huskies 17 minutes into the contest when freshman Amie Olton was just inches away from finding the back of the cage, but her shot bounced off of the right post.
The Huskies mounted a counter attack and took the 1-0 lead four minutes later when Amelia Iacobucci caught the rebound off of Anna Middendorf ‘s corner shot and tipped the ball into the back of the cage.
Olton’s attempt proved to be the only shot for ODU in the first half, while UConn recorded five shots and two penalty corners in the first 35 minutes. Freshman keeper Kealsie Robles kept the Huskies at bay by stopping three shots in the opening period, including two from the nation’s leading goal scorer Charlotte Veitner.
Lady Monarchs’ senior, Emily Harting, found space nine minutes into the second half to fire off a shot, but her attempt went wide of the cage. The Huskies answered with four shots over the next 10 minutes, but the ODU defense held strong. The team either forcing the shot to go wide or saved the attempt, as Robles picked up her fourth save of the game, again stopping Veitner’s attempt, and Catalina Barahona tallied her third defensive save in as many games.
Head Coach Andrew Griffiths called a timeout with 55:51 on the clock to strategize his team and out the timeout the Lady Monarchs recorded three shots and a penalty corner. Despite the momentum change, ODU was unable to capitalize, as two shots were saved by keeper Nina Klein and one attempt sailed wide.
ODU was awarded another penalty corner with three minutes left to play, but Klein again saved the initial shot, as the Lady Monarchs fell to UConn 1-0.
Robles made four saves in goal for ODU in 70 minutes of action, while Barahona and junior forward Casey Dolan made a defensive save. The save marked the first of Dolan's career. Klein picked up the win for UConn and made three stops during the contest.
Old Dominion will be back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex against Temple for a league contest at noon. The game will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network via the FOX Sports GO app. Originally scheduled for Oct. 2, the game was rescheduled due to weather concerns created by Hurricane Joaquin.