WASHINGTON, D.C. – Timothy Ennin scored the first goals of each half, his second one coming 20 seconds into the second half, while Key White and Noah Madrigal had a goal each as Old Dominion men’s soccer defeated George Washington 4-2 in the season opener on Thursday afternoon.
The win was the first for ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea who took over at the end of the 2023 season for long-time head coach Alan Dawson. The four goals in an opener were the most for an ODU squad since 2011 when they scored six against Houston Baptist in a tournament at West Virginia.
"I'm so happy for the players. They have put in such a shift during preseason and they got their reward today going forward. Timmy Ennin was magnificent and deserved the man of the match nod but there were a lot of good performances,” said McVea. “We have a lot more work to do as a group on both sides of the ball but to grab our first win on the road feels good. It's back to work tomorrow to prepare for VCU on Monday."
ODU got on the board at the 6:59 mark of the opening half as Ennin was on the receiving end of a crossing feed from White and he slid it past the diving keeper for an early 1-0 Monarch advantage.
The Monarchs pushed the lead to 2-0 at 23:49 as Michael Eberle sent the ball ahead to Ennin who returned the favor to White as he cranked one into the top corner to double the advantage.
Noah Madrigal found the back of the net at 38:25 as he headed in a rebound off a Lewis Redding shot to give ODU a 3-0 lead.
The hosts got on the board with 26 seconds left as Nico Medina served one into the box where Louis Crofts blasted GW onto the scoreboard as they trailed 3-1 at halftime.
Ennin found his second tally of the match on ODU’s first possession of the final frame as White slid a ball across the top of the six-yard box and Ennin had an open net for the 4-1 lead at 45:20.
GW pushed tempo for a stretch and managed to trim it to 4-2 as Mark Nakamura found Joe Liebe for a blaster at 64:21.
On the match, George Washington held a 15-9 advantage in shots and 13-2 on corner kicks. Michael Statham made seven saves for the Monarchs, which was one off his career high of eight done twice in the 2022 season.
ODU now heads to Richmond on Monday night to face VCU at 7 p.m.