ATLANTA – Old Dominion men’s soccer dug itself a 3-0 deficit in the first half as the Monarchs dropped their Sun Belt Conference match at Georgia State, 5-2 on Sunday night at the GSU Soccer Complex.
The Panthers (3-2-4, 1-0-1 Sun Belt) opened the scoring in the ninth minute as Evan St. Bohms headed in a corner kick from Tom Williams. The Monarchs (3-4-2, 0-2 SBC) had a couple of opportunities at an equalizer in the 11th minute. After Lewis Rourke’s shot was saved by GSU goalkeeper Loan Marin, Jake Lane found the ball at his feet with a wide-open look at goal. His shot was blocked though, as was Teagan Dunne’s a few seconds later.
Lane had another look from the top of the box in the 21st minute, but his shot was inches wide of the left post. GSU’s Sandro Rabarivony then made it a 2-0 Panther lead in the 25th minute with a left-footed shot from the right side of the box that ODU goalkeeper Michael Statham couldn’t get to. Samir-Mohamed Djeha then assisted Pavel Romero-Garmendia at the 32:34 mark as the Monarchs found themselves trailing 3-0 at the break.
Junior midfielder Barrett Saul got ODU on the board at the start of the second half. Near midfield, Dunne played a ball forward to just outside of the GSU box. Saul settled the ball, took it to his right, and lobbed in a quick shot from 25 yards out that Marin thought would sail wide of the right post. The ball found the back of the net though as the Monarchs cut into the Panther lead, 3-1.
A yellow card on GSU’s Dylan Williams gave ODU a free kick a few yards outside of the box in the 59th minute, but the shot by Evan Watt sailed over the crossbar. Saul took three more shots in the 72nd, 74th and 75th minutes, but the first was pulled wide and the other two were saved by Marin. Later in the 79th, a through ball to Rourke provided him with a look from the right side, but Marin got enough of a deflection on the ball and a GSU defender was able to clear it out before it could cross the goal line. Dunne then played in a cross a few seconds later that Marin had to push over the crossbar.
ODU then won a corner kick, but GSU was able to get numbers on the counterattack as Djeha scored to put the Panthers ahead 4-1. Alex Kryazhev took a free kick from 28 yards out in the 84th minute, but his shot was also too high. Djeha raced around a Monarch defender in the 79th minute, getting a foot on the ball before it went over the end line and netting his second goal of the evening. Jago Lott then rounded out the scoring as he put away an outswinging corner kick from Kryazhev in the final minute.
Barrett led Old Dominion with five shots, Dunne finished with four, and Rourke, Lane, Lott, and Menendez took two each. ODU outshot GSU 23-14, but the Panthers placed more shots on frame, 12-10. The Monarchs also had more corner kicks, 7-4.
Statham played all 90 minutes in net for ODU, recording seven saves in the loss.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs will be back on their home field this Friday, Oct. 3 as they host Coastal Carolina for a 7 p.m. match.