NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team earned its 10th victory of the season with a 16-4 win over Mercer on Friday evening at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.
"I thought it was a great team effort tonight," said head coach Heather Holt. "We were really corralling them on the sidelines, making them have some turnovers here and there and then capitalizing on those, which was big for us."
Old Dominion (10-3, 3-1 A-Sun) had a total of three players finish with hat tricks, including a game-high four goals from Cydney Tutchton. Attackers Morgan Marrale and Ashmore Standing also tallied three goals, with Standing also adding a pair of assists. Megan Topper contributed two goals and an assist.
The senior duo of Missy Koscinski and Morgan Gallagher led the defensive effort, combining for five caused turnovers and eight ground balls.
Mercer (5-8, 2-2 A-Sun) opened the scoring just two minutes into the game to take its only lead of the game at 1-0, but the Lady Monarchs reeled off four straight goals to establish an early advantage.
ODU carried an 8-2 lead into halftime, outshooting the Bears, 25-6, in the first half.
In the second half, Megan Cameron and Tutchton, with her first of three second-half goals, opened the scoring with goals less than 40 seconds apart. The Lady Monarchs again would outscore Mercer, 8-2, in the half to cruise to the 16-4 victory.
Overall, ODU outshot Mercer, 45-13, and held a 24-14 advantage in ground balls and a 15-7 edge in draw controls. The Lady Monarchs also forced the Bears into 24 turnovers, while committing just 14.
Freshman Lauren Irvine made her first career start, tallying an assist. Maggi Buckley earned the victory in goal with five saves, while freshman keeper Lauren Ey appeared in her third game of the season.
Alex Danks, Natalie Ledwitz and Colby Muller rounded out the scoring for ODU, as each netted one goal.
"We had a lot of kids scoring tonight," said Holt. "We had many shots and they were falling one by one. I think we told the girls to do that. Take it slowly and take it one goal at a time and we'll see what we come up with. I think we were slow and steady and consistent throughout the rest of the game."
UP NEXT
ODU remains at home for a matchup with Kennesaw State on Sunday at 12 p.m. A free post-game youth clinic is available to fans.
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