Jake Lane Scores Twice as ODU Men's Soccer Shuts Out GW, 2-0, in Season Opener

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men’s soccer team had what recruiting services tabbed as perhaps its best class of newcomers in a decade, and that class paid immediate dividends for ODU in its regular-season opener.

Jake Lane, a junior from Chicago who transferred from Bowling Green, tallied two goals for the Monarchs in the final 13 minutes as ODU shut out George Washington, 2-0.

Lane was part of a 16-man recruiting class ranked among the nation's Top 25 by Top Drawer.

This team is clearly more athletic and deeper than the Monarchs were last season. GW played a physical game in an effort to slow down ODU.

But ODU was dominant on both sides of the field as the Monarchs outshot the Revolutionaries, 13-6, and had five corner kicks to GW’s three.

“We knew the whole time that a goal was coming,” said Lane, who had eight points last season at Bowling Green. “We were doing the right things, working really hard, and staying patient.”

His first goal came on a corner kick from Alex Kryazhev, a transfer from Farleigh Dickinson. Lane played the ball short, dropped the ball to his right, and then to his left and fired it into the net at 77:08.

Ten minutes later, he drilled the second goal to the right side of the net past GW goalkeeper Tom Macauley, who tried to make a diving save but had no chance. Micah Wayland and Michael Eberle assisted.

Lane did not start but was subbed in late in the first half to give the Monarchs a fresh look at forward.

“Jake is really good at feinting one way and going the other,” Head Coach Tennant McVea said. “He hit the target and we really made the keeper work.”

ODU goalie Michael Statham was challenged in the final minutes by GW, which flooded the Monarch final third with players, but he had four saves, including a diving save in the final seconds.

“He really stood tall,” McVea said of Statham. “At the end of the day, I think we did enough to deserve that clean sheet.”

McVea was particularly pleased with the defense played by senior defender Evan Watt. “Evan led the defense and Jake got the two goals,” he said. “I think they are the two standards.”

Tennant was faced with a massive rebuilding effort when he was named ODU’s coach at the conclusion of the 2023 season. ODU was coming off five consecutive losing seasons and the roster was short on talent and depth.

The Monarchs made remarkable progress last season as they finished 7-8-2, and nearly upset national power Marshall in the Sun Belt Tournament.

The Monarchs led, 1-0, for 77 minutes before dropping a 3-2 loss to the Herd, who finished second in the NCAA Tournament. ODU is seeking its first winning record since 2018.

“I’m loving it, every minute of it,” Tennant said of the rebuilding process.

“We’re rebuilding a program that should be extremely special to a lot of young people. We’ve been able to do it brick by brick, to take our time and take care with what’s important to us, to create a culture that’s going to be here for a long time.”

Lane said Tennant, Associate Head Coach Nathan Jones and Assistant Coach Josh Spencer are masterful recruiters.

“I talked to a bunch of coaches when I was in the portal, but talking to ‘T,’ and all the assistants, like it just really felt right. They had a plan for me and things just lined up," he said. 

“We’ve got a really good team. We have put in a lot of work.

“We know we’re nowhere near the finished product yet. We’re just focusing on getting better every day.

"But we feel like we can do something really special this season.”