BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Old Dominion men’s soccer tied against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, 2-2 after a goal by LU’s Yousef Gueye leveled the score for Lehigh in the 89th minute on Tuesday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
“It’s disappointing we went up twice in the game and allowed them back into it,” said ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea. “At 2-1 we had chances to put them away and didn’t and on the road that’s what you have to do.”
A something out of nothing goal came in the late stages of the Monarchs’ (1-1-2) away draw to Lehigh (2-0-2). Gueye slid the ball towards goal from the corner boundary line and it found its way into the back of the net through a crowd of players. ODU had a corner kick with 27 seconds remaining but could not create a scoring opportunity to try and find the late winner.
Senior defender Evan Watt gave ODU an early advantage after heading in the opening goal from a corner delivery by Jago Lott in the ninth minute of action. Lehigh equalized in the 27th minute after a ball fell to Gueye right in front of goal off an assist by Luciano Larrea. ODU had four shots and two on goal in the first half and goalkeeper Michael Statham made one save.
Alex Kryazhev scored his first career goal for Old Dominion in the 61st minute and regained the Monarchs’ advantage, 2-1. ODU Captain Michael Eberle won a duel with an LU defender near the edge of the final third and rolled a through ball while simultaneously being taken out by a tackle and found the transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson who chipped the Lehigh keeper Anton Kinnunen and sent a LU defender slipping in the recovery attempt.
ODU applied pressure to get a third goal on the board, Eberle had a chance to score in the 76th minute but the effort was saved by Kinnunen and went out for a corner. Three minutes later, Jamie Wynne smacked the left post on the edge of the box in the 79th minute. The Monarchs held a steady advantage with seven shots, four on target and had three corners in the final half of action.
Jett Aktan, Teagan Dunne, Marcelo Randolf, Statham, and Watt played every minute on the night. Watt scored his first goal of the season in his fourth-consecutive start for ODU. Jake Lane had one shot but was unable to score his fourth goal in as many games. Kryazhev finished with three shots, two on goal in 46 minutes on the pitch. Statham made two saves.
“We need to defend our box better and that is going to be the focus moving forward into the next game,” added McVea.
The Monarchs finished with 11 shots on the night, six of which were on goal, and had five corner attempts. The Mountain Hawks finished with seven shots in the game, four on target and three corner kicks.
UP NEXT:
ODU men’s soccer will stay in The Keystone State and make their way to Lewisburg to battle the Bucknell Bison on Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. at the Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium.