ODU Had Chances to Score, But Falls to Delaware, 4-0, in Season Opener

By Harry Minium

Both No. 18 Old Dominion and No. 17 Delaware had plenty of opportunities to score in their field hockey opener Friday.

But the Blue Hens finished when they needed to, and the Monarchs did not, and fell to Delaware, 4-0, at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.

Statistically, the game was a draw. Delaware outshot ODU, 13-11, but the Monarchs had seven penalty corner attempts to Delaware's four.

"The score didn't reflect the game," said Marlee McClendon, an ODU graduate captain and defender from Virginia Beach.

"We had a lot of opportunities."

Even when the Monarchs were down 3-0 in the third quarter, "we stuck together as a team."

They indeed did. In the final seven minutes of the third period, the Monarchs had three corners and had two shots from Marlon de Bruijne, a second-team All-American last season, and another from Alice Demars that hit the post.

ODU had another corner and another shot from de Bruijne in the first 34 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Coach Andrew Griffiths said in spite of the shutout, he remains optimistic.

"The result is what it is and that's not going to change," he said. "But in terms of how the flow of the game went, that gave me a lot of hope for this group. I'm very optimistic moving forward."

ODU goalie Cam MacGillivray kept ODU in the game early-on, making two diving saves on shots by Delaware's Femke Strien, on the first shot of the game and the first of the third quarter.

But Delaware, the defending Colonial Athletic Association champion and an NCAA participant last season, then put the game away.

Strien, a graduate senior and second-team All-American, dribbled past two defenders, and her shot was blocked by MacGillivray. The ball bounced to Delaware's Grace Miller, who tucked it into the net five minutes into the third period.

The Blue Hens scored three minutes later on a penalty corner, with Grace Hoepfner scoring on assists from Ashlyn Carr and Julia Duffhuis.

Delaware's Kiki Oudshoorn scored an unassisted goal four minutes later to make it 3-0.

Delaware's Duffhuis added a goal with 59 seconds left in the game.

McClendon said that finishing off corners is a matter of positioning yourself in the right place, and that's a weakness that was exposed by Delaware.

"We're all hungry to score but you have to work on the right position you want to be in," she said. "We were up there a lot. It's just that final piece that's got to click."

"The finishing part is something that has to happen," Griffiths added. "The ratio on scoring on corners should be 25 to 30 percent and we had seven and got no goals.

"Had we gotten one, at any point, that would have changed the flow of the game."

ODU next plays Sunday at noon against American University at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex. Sunday's game will stream on Monarch Media. 

Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot and won 27 state and national writing awards. He covers ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu