NORFOLK, Va. – A trio of goals by the Monarchs helped Old Dominion earn the 3-1 victory over Army, Saturday night at the ODU Soccer Complex. Jesse Miralrio’s goal in the 50th minute put the Monarchs up by two and ultimately sealed the game in favor of the Silver and Blue.
Army got on the board first in the 9th minute of the first half on a shot by Zane Rojas with a double assist from Zac McGraw and Trase Stapley. Stapley played the ball in off a corner kick while McGraw passed the ball to Rojas on a header to score for the Black Knights.
Niko Klosterhalfen retaliated for Old Dominion scoring on an assist from Sebastien Hauret to tie the match at one apiece in the 19th minute (19:57). Doni Pollock recorded the second Monarch goal in the 30th minute (30:36) on a cross pass from Jesse Miralrio from 15-yards out.
Army led the second half in shots with seven and corners with five to Old Dominion’s three and one. However, the Monarchs scored the game-winning goal in the 50th minute (50:27) on an unassisted shot by Miralrio.
Alex Tiesenhausen started in goal for the Monarchs playing 67:14 minutes, collecting three saves and allowing the lone goal for the Black Knights. Christian Coulson played the remaining 22:46 minutes and recorded a single save on a penalty kick by Army.
Justin Stoll played 60:02 minutes in net for Army and gave up all three goals to the Monarchs while stopping three shots. Christian Nolasco played between the pipes the remaining 29:58 of the match.
"I think we scored some very good goals," said head coach Alan Dawson. "They were a very difficult team to play against. Very physical and we managed the game quite well. To get that result was very important at home for our confidence, for the crowd and all of thee above. It was a good night but we got a lot of work to do. We have to get back to the practice field and get better as a group in preparation for our home opener against UNLV next Friday."
Old Dominion is back in action on Friday, August 26, as they host UNLV in their season home opener at 7 p.m. at the ODU Soccer Complex.