No. 18 ODU Field Hockey Falls to No. 4 Duke, 2-0, in Home Opener
Monarchs take on No. 8 Ohio State Sunday at noon at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion field hockey team played with passion and with stifling defense, but in the end, two mistakes cost the Monarchs any hope of upsetting No. 4 Duke Friday night.
Playing in its home opener, and on a night when the University dedicated its new artificial turf field, No. 18 ODU fell to the Blue Devils, 2-0, before a festive crowd of 809 at the L.R. Hll Sports Complex.
ODU (4-1) will seek another upset victory against a Power 4 school Sunday when the Monarchs host No. 8 Ohio State at noon.
ODU and Duke (4-1) are longtime rivals and Monarch coach Andrew Griffiths said the Blue Devils impressed him.
"This Duke team is the best Duke team that I've seen," said Griffiths, whose Monarchs won the Big East Conference title last season.
"I'm really pleased with the energy that we played with. They're obviously a very good team but I think we showed today that we can play, that we're also a very good team."
ODU was the aggressor in a scoreless first half in which the Monarchs kept the Blue Devils off balance.
ODU was moving the ball toward midfield at 32:06 in the third quarter and two Monarchs slipped to the turf, which led to a Duke rush toward the goal. Charlie von Oirschot passed to teammate Alaina McVeigh, who rocketed the ball past goaltender Suus Broers, who had little to no chance to stop the shot.
Then, at 51:48 of the fourth quarter, ODU was assessed a stroke penalty during a Duke corner shot. McVeigh, an All-American who led Duke in scoring last season, scooped the ball to the top left portion of the net and again, Broers had little chance to stop the goal.
Duke outshot ODU, 8-6, while ODU had four corners to Duke's two.
ODU had its chances to score in the final minutes. The Monarchs had three shots on goal from corners, but all were knocked away by Duke.
"We had four corners and just didn't execute," Griffiths said. "And they executed one of theirs.
"And then we had a player slip. It was a mistake and that's going to happen.
"I felt like in the first half, we clearly had the better of the game, We looked more threatening on attack.
"It was a game we could have won, but the bottom line is we didn't."
Griffths said he was heartened by the turnout of fans, which included dozens of ODU field hockey alumni and hundreds of students.
"I thought the crowd was awesome," he said. "We haven't had a big home crowd like that for a while and it was nice.
"It was a great atmosphere."
On Sunday, ODU will celebrate the Maaike Hilbrand Legacy Fund, which honors the late Monarch field hockey player. ODU's 50th season of field hockey will also be celebrated.