NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion lacrosse dropped its contest against American Athletic Conference opponent East Carolina on Saturday afternoon by a 12-10 score.
East Carolina (4-7) got the day rolling with a goal from Katelyn Sclafani less than two minutes into the first quarter. Old Dominion (8-6) responded with under nine minutes left of play, courtesy of goals from Sylvia Mayo, Sarah Murrell, and Callie Culhane. ECU’s Riley Mattiesen continued on to find the back of the net before time ran out, giving ODU a 3-2 lead.
Pirate Kayla Wilkes made it a tie game just 45 seconds into the second quarter, with teammate Mattiesen following suit with back-to-back goals to give ECU its lead back. ODU responded with three unanswered goals coming from Murrell and two from Sydney Taylor. Down 6-5, East Carolina had its own run of unanswered goals, with Rachel Chessock, Grace Moore, and Wilkes netting one in, allowing the Pirates to enter halftime up 8-6.
It didn’t take long for ODU to tie the game, with Alex Kulinski and Mayo scoring within the first two minutes of the third quarter. ECU’s Wilkes grabbed a hat trick for the Pirates 30 seconds later and teammate Erin Gulden put another one in the net for the Pirates. Taylor, meanwhile, accounted for ODU’s first hat trick with under nine minutes left, though no goals were scored for the remainder of the quarter.
Up 10-9, East Carolina scored the first goal of the fourth quarter five minutes in coming from Chessock. Leah Bestany helped add to the Pirate’s lead with a goal before Mayo recorded ODU’s second hat trick of the day shortly after. Unfortunately, ODU was unable to overcome the point deficit, falling to East Carolina with a 12-10 final.
Taylor and Mayo led the Monarchs in scoring with three goals each, while Murrell accounted for two with Kulinski and Culhane each netting one. McKenzie Raech had a team-high four draw controls, though Payton Kisling was close behind with three. Kulinski, Ella Bowen, and Julia Butler each accounted for one assist as well.
Old Dominion returns to the road next weekend as the team travels Tampa to take on South Florida on Saturday, April 12 at noon.