PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Old Dominion Field Hockey team clinched its first BIG EAST Championship in school history after defeating #6 Liberty, 3-1 on Sunday. The Monarchs extended their win streak to 12 games and clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Marlon de Bruijne scored the game-winner in the third quarter and ODU will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
Old Dominion controlled the first quarter of the game racking up three corners and three shots but were unable to score. Liberty opened the scoring in the second quarter when Bethany Dykema took a rebound and scored. The Monarchs responded four minutes later on a penalty corner as Sacha de Gier found Frederique Zandbergen to tie the game.
ODU took the lead five minutes into the third quarter when Zandbergen sent a ball into Rina Tsioles on a penalty corner, Marlon de Bruijne dribbled the ball to the right side and fired a shot to the left of the Liberty keeper. Old Dominion (14-5, 6-1) put the finishing touches on the game one minute into the fourth quarter when Zandbergen found Nicole Fredricks on the back post to give the Monarchs a 3-1 lead. ODU held onto the lead to win the Championship.
"I'm incredibly proud of our team. We controlled the game from the start and we were really disciplined and played the gameplan really well with great effort and execution," said head coach Andrew Griffiths.
"This has been 11 years coming to hold the championship trophy and secure the automatic bid. We have been through a lot of ups and downs in those years. This year in particular our team has been awesome and they are really together and fight hard and not perfect by any means but everyone is bought in. I'm just really happy for them," said Griffiths.
Fredricks was named the BIG EAST Tournament MVP and to the All-Tournament Team. Zandbergen, de Gier and de Bruijne joined Fredricks on the All-Tournament team. Fredricks helped ODU hold opponents to one goal on defense and scored a goal in the Championship. Zandbergen scored a goal and led the tournament with four assists. de Gier scored the game winning goal against Temple and added an assist. de Bruijne scored the game winning goal in the Championship.
With the win ODU clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013 and will find out where they will be playing at 10 p.m. tonight during the NCAA Selection Show.
Old Dominion Women's soccer clinched their third straight conference title defeating JMU 2-1 in the Sun Belt Tournament which is the first time in school history that two teams have won a championship on the same day.
BIG EAST All-Tournament Team
Marlon de Bruijne, Old Dominion
Nicole Fredricks, Old Dominion
Frederique Zandbergen, Old Dominion
Sacha de Gier, Old Dominion
Azul Iritxity Irigoyen, Liberty
Bethany Dykema, Liberty
Mili Arteta, Liberty
Agustina Tucceri, Temple
Tess Muller, Temple
Meghan Mitchell, Villanova
Sabine de Ruijter, Villanova
Most Outstanding Player: Nicole Fredricks, Old Dominion
ODU Field Hockey Claims First BIG EAST Championship With 3-1 Win Over #6 Liberty
