NORFOLK, Va. – Facing a seven-goal deficit early in the second half, the Old Dominion women's lacrosse team (2-4) drew to within three goals midway through the half before eventually falling to Liberty (3-3) 14-8 at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex on Wednesday afternoon.
"Liberty is always a very physical and tough team," head coach Heather Holt said. "We had a rough start in the first half. Our team fought through the whole game today but had created too big of a hole to start. We need to clean up the little things and play for 60 minutes."
Trailing 8-1 with 25 minutes remaining in the game, the Monarchs came to life with an extended 7-3 run spanning nearly 20 minutes. A pair of woman-up goals coming less than 45 seconds apart galvanized ODU. Lindsay Baer set up Claire Porter at the 25:46 mark to make the score 8-2. Thirty-eight seconds later, Danielle Dundas netted her fifth goal of the season.
Porter had one of her most-productive games in a Monarchs uniform. The junior from Berlin, Maryland notched her second-career hat trick and added a pair of assists for a personal-best five points.
The Flames appeared to regain control of the game with two-unanswered goals, but Lilly Siskind found Baer at the 19:52 mark to make the score 10-4. Following another Liberty goal with 17:21 on the clock, ODU rattled off four unanswered goals to pull to within three.
Porter scored back-to-back goals two minutes apart then dished out assists on a woman-up goal by Haley O'Connor and on Baer's second marker of the game to make the score 11-8.
A junior from Abington, Pennsylvania, Baer notched two goals and two assists for her fourth-straight game with three or more points. On the season, Baer already has eight goals to match her single-season high and has set new single-season bests with seven assists and 15 points.
Leah Ruby scored a woman-down goal with 7:31 left in the game to blunt ODU's momentum. From there, the Flames added two more scores inside the final 3:05 to produce the final margin.
"I am proud of how our team went into halftime and made the changes," Holt said. "There was a nice surge in the second half, but we still needed to minimize a lot of mental errors. This is a young team, and they are working hard to get better every day."
Liberty seized control of the day early with six unanswered to start the game and led 7-1 at the intermission. Maddie Mullenbach got the Monarchs on the board with her third goal of the year at the 7:36 mark.
Isabelle O'Connell shared the game high with four ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers to share the team high with Lauren Carey. Carey added a pair of ground balls as well.
Jordan Sheive and Ruby both notched hat tricks for LU. Leah added an assist for a four-point outing. Jennifer Soriero made six saves in a winning effort.
Jenna Peccia started in goal and made three saves for ODU. Brianna Blatter played the final 41:36 between the pipes and stopped 11 shots.
The Monarchs wrap up nonconference play on Sunday, when they host No. 17 Richmond at 11 a.m.
Comeback Bid for Women’s Lacrosse Falls Short in 14-8 Loss to Liberty
