NORFOLK, Va. – Sophomore Katie Lutz headed in a Yuliia Khrystiuk crossing pass with just under 19 minutes left in the first half and the Old Dominion defense stayed strong throughout as the Monarchs defeated George Mason 1-0 in women’s soccer action Thursday night.
"We are delighted with the win tonight first of all. We dominated the play for long spells and I thought we did well keeping the ball in their half. Really pleased with the win and we had some really good individual performances tonight,” said ODU Head Coach Angie Hind.
Old Dominion (4-2) came out the aggressor and peppered George Mason goalkeeper Selamawit Caldart who had to make five of her eight saves in the opening half. The Monarchs amassed 12 shots in the first half and 19 for the contest.
Khrystiuk gained possession on the right wing and sent a crossing pass into the box where Lutz was able to get a head on it and past Caldart at 26:16 to put ODU on the board 1-0. That was the first career goal for Lutz.
“We scored a great goal through Katie (Lutz) from a great delivery from Yuliia and I hoped we could have pushed on from there and made a little more with the possession we had, however, credit to George Mason they packed the area and were solid defensively,” added Hind.
ODU kept the pressure on in the first half holding possession 60% of the half and had six corner kicks to none for George Mason (2-3-2). Erin Jones had one save on the night, in the first half, in recording her first solo clean sheet of the season.
In the second half, the Patriots came out at the start and forced tempo early but ODU’s backline kept the visitors at bay. The Monarchs found a few opportunities, including one to bang off the crossbar, as they had seven shots in the final 45 minutes.
For the game, ODU outshot George Mason 19-2 including a 9-1 advantage in shots on goal. The Monarchs had 10 corner kicks to none for the Patriots.
ODU concludes the homestand on Sunday when they host Longwood at 6 p.m.