By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Goalkeeper Cam MacGillivray poked-checked a shot away, and teammate Frederique Zandbergen then flicked the ball into the net, in the eighth round of a shootout to lift the Monarchs to a 4-3 victory over Temple Friday in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.
Zandbergen's goal ended a nearly three-hour game played on a warm, muggy afternoon that left ODU's players exhausted but thrilled. They jumped into a pile in front of the goal as ODU fans, including more than 100 Monarch football players, celebrated joyously.
Zandbergen, a sophomore from Tilburg in the Netherlands, missed her first stroke of the shootout and knew going into her second shot, the game was riding on her shoulders.
"After I missed the first one, I didn't want to miss the second," she said.
"Temple is a very tough team. We worked so hard to get here. I'm very, very happy."
The victory sends ODU into the Big East final Sunday at 4 against Liberty, which defeated UConn, 2-1, in the other semiifinal Friday night.
The victory might have been enough for the Monarchs to clinch an NCAA bid for the first time in nine years.
ODU (15-2) has won 10 in a row, is ranked 13th in the national coaches' poll and has already clinched its best record since 2011. ODU seems a likely candidate for an at-large bid, but the only sure way to get to the NCAA Tournament is to win the Big East title.
"I certainly hope that was enough (to garner ODU a bid), but I'm not counting on anything," coach Andrew Griffiths said.
"I felt like we should have been in last year and could have been in the year before. So, you've just got to take that out of the equation and focus on your next game.
"Regardless, the goal is to play hard and well until we've finished."
That was clearly in MacGillivray's thoughts as she prepared for the shootout, which followed two scoreless overtime periods.
The sixth-year senior from Canada knelt 20 yards away from the goal for several moments before the shootout with her head down.
"I was just trying to clear my head, trying to get focused," she said.
Focused indeed. Only three of the eight Temple players in the shootout scored. MacGillivray aggressively challenged all eight and knocked the ball away from five before they could get off a shot.
"It would have been very hard" to lose, she said. "I've been here six years. Finishing the season in the first round, no, we didn't want to do that again."
ODU, the No. 1 seed, dominated play in the first half but just could not find the net.
But then Temple (13-6), the fourth seed, stunned the Monarchs with goals from Caitlyn Amsden and Peyton Reiger midway through the third quarter.
Both goals essentially came on breakaways, in which the Owls were able to get the ball out to their forwards and beat ODU with numbers.
"When we went down 2-0, I think that was the catalyst for us to come back," Griffiths said. "We had not had the same grit in finishing. Cam hasn't allowed goal in I don't know how long.
"But then we got on a roll."
Two minutes after Reiger scored, Courtney Lynch, the graduate transfer from James Madison, knocked a rebound of a blocked shot into the cage to make it 2-1.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Monarchs got back-to-back goals from Sanci Molkenboer, a freshman from Netherlands, and then a penalty stroke from Delphine Le Jeune, the experienced senior from Ghent, Belgium, with 4:48 left to play.
But then, with 2:20 left, Reiger scored again as the Owls desperately crashed the goalscoring box. MacGillivray had three stick saves before Reiger finally knocked in a rebound.
ODU came oh-so-close to winning it at the end of the first overtime, as Lynch flipped the ball into the cage a split second after the final horn sounded.
Although she did not have the game-winner, Griffiths called out Le Jeune for praise.
She made both of her strokes in the shootout, in addition to the penalty stroke in the fourth quarter.
"She was absolutely the MVP for us today," Griffiths said "She was incredible. She controlled the backfield, the ball movement. She made excellent simple passes. I'm so proud of her."
The Monarchs had some extra moral support in the second half as the ODU football team and coaching staff delayed their bus trip to a local hotel to cheer for the field hockey team. Coach Ricky Rahne's Monarchs host Marshall Saturday at 2 p.m.
"We heard them and appreciate the support," Griffiths said.
Marlon de Bruijne, the Big East Offensive Player of the Year, had five shots but did not score.
"The thing I'm most proud of is that we hung together," Griffiths said. "Marlon didn't have her best day today and the team rallied right around her. That's the mentality of our team.
"There's no selfishness on this team.
"Temple really played well. They've really improved over the last two years. This is clearly the best four teams the Big East has had in a long time."
Although he said ODU did not play well at times, the Monarchs played with a ton of heart.
"It's not about who has the best players," he said. "At this point, everyone has good players. It's about how you can hang together when the chips were down.
"And they were down today a couple of times, and we really came through."
ODU Field Hockey Team Outlasts Temple, 4-3, to Advance to Big East Championship Game
