Lacrosse Batters Rams, 14-9 to Earn Its First Win of 2020 Wednesday Afternoon

NORFOLK, Va. – Senior Glory Johnson matched her career-high with seven goals to lead the Old Dominion lacrosse team (1-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) to its first win of the 2020 season, taking down VCU (0-1, 0-0 A-10) 14-9 at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex on Wednesday afternoon..
 
"The team was really on fire today and was just really excited to play," head coach Heather Holt said after the ODU victory. "I think we built a lot off of the last game, cleaned some things up, made some changes and it worked. It was a really great game."
 
Johnson scored the first three goals of the contest for ODU, with the first one coming when the Rams had an extra-player advantage. Johnson's third goal sparked a run of four unanswered points for the Monarchs to take a 6-2 lead, and they never looked back. 
 
Brooke Stein registered her first two goals of the season during the run, one coming with an extra-player on the field for ODU. The Rams scored two more goals to cut the Monarch lead to just two with just under three minutes remaining in the first half, but ODU rattled off three quick goals to take a 9-4 lead into the halftime locker rooms.
 
ODU held a commanding 18-10 shot advantage and an 11-3 draw control advantage in the first 30 minutes of action while successfully clearing the ball from its defensive zone eight times in nine attempts. 
 
Johnson scored her fifth goal of the match one minute and 56 seconds into the second frame, beating Rams goalkeeper Meghna Dawar, who appeared in relief of starting goalie Gillian Belfiore. The goal was set up on a pass from Michelle Hallman, who collected two assists in the effort, all coming on Johnson goals. 
 
VCU connected on three of the next four goals to cut its deficit to just three, 11-8, with two of the goals coming from the stick of Jessica Del Rossi. ODU stopped the skid, and scored three goals of its own, coming from Johnson, Hallman and fellow senior Mary Katherine Maloney for her first goal of the young campaign. 
 
The three Monarch goals gave the team a 14-8 lead with three minutes and eight seconds left on the clock, essentially icing the game. VCU would add a goal to its tally with a minute and a half left, to bring the final score to 14-9 in favor of the Monarchs. 
 
Johnson's seven goals matches her career-high that she set last season in ODU's game against Villanova. In total, she now has 10 goals and three assists in just two games this season. Stein ended the game with three goals and ad two assists, while Hallman and junior Claire Porter each had three points for the Monarchs. 
 
"I think we have a lot of kids who are playing well together on the attack right now," Holt said about her offense. "There's a lot of chemistry there, which is really fun."
 
Freshman goalkeeper Sabrina Leatherwood earned her first start and her first win of her career on Wednesday, turning aside 10 shots and picking up seven ground balls in the effort. 
 
Overall, the Monarchs had a 90% successful clear rate (18-20) and held a 27-24 shot advantage. Old Dominion also managed to grab the ball off of the draw often, collecting at total of 17 draw controls.
 
ODU will hit the road for the first time this season when it takes on Winthrop at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, February 15 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.