NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team (0-1) fell 11-7 to VCU (1-0) in its season opener on a cold and rainy night at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex. Corrinne Stratton led the Monarchs with a pair of goals in her collegiate debut.
In total, three ODU freshmen recorded goals in their first game. Moira Olexa netted and recorded a pair of draw controls, one ground ball and a caused turnover. Emily Goline scored on a free position attempt.
The Rams struck first, scoring just two minutes, 20 seconds into the game. From there, the sides went back and forth until Lilly Siskind put ODU on top, 3-2, scoring an unassisted marker with 18:09 left in the first.
Old Dominion retained its lead for almost five minutes, but VCU leveled the score at the 13:20 mark. Just 19 seconds later, Keriann McTavish put the Rams on top for good with her second goal of the night. Following McTavish's goal, VCU scored again to take a 5-3 advantage into the break.
VCU scored less than 30 seconds into the second half to cap a run of four unanswered going back to the first period. Amber Stieve fed Stratton for her first goal of the game with 26:31 on the clock to halt the Rams' run and make the score 6-4.
A free position goal from Goline one minute later gave the Monarchs further life, but VCU stemmed the tide with a crucial man-down goal by Lauren Marois to make the score 7-5. Following the goal from Marois, the Rams netted three more without an answer to give themselves a five-goal advantage.
The Monarchs made a late push with goals from Ali Mills and Stratton to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 3:17 remaining, but Savannah Slack's third goal of the night put an end to the ODU comeback bid and produced the final margin.
Slack led all players with three goals. McTavish racked up a game-high four points with two goals and two assists.
Four Monarchs (Mills, Claire Porter, Stieve and Stratton) finished with two points apiece. Porter's two assists matched a game high. Freshman Lauren Carey led all participants with four draw controls and three caused turnovers.
VCU's Gillian Belfiore made 10 saves in 60 minutes to pick up the win. Brianne Blatter made eight saves in 37:43 of action. Jenna Peccia logged three stops across 22:17 in her debut.
ODU returns to the L.R. Hill Sports Complex on Wednesday, Feb. 24 for a 1 p.m. game with William & Mary. That game will be streamed for free on odusports.com.
Women’s Lacrosse Drops Season Opener to VCU, 11-7
