NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion women’s soccer team scored three first half goals to put Arkansas State on the back end early and carried the three-goal margin to the final whistle. ODU defeated the Red Wolves, 3-0 on Senior Night on Friday at the ODU Soccer Complex.
“First of all, I am really delighted with the performance and to get the win on what was a really special night for us,” said ODU head coach Angie Hind. “It was great to celebrate our seniors, and we had a lot of our alumni out to support the team which was awesome.”
Senior midfielder Andrea Balcazar Algarin opened the scoring in the third minute of action to capitalize on the Monarchs’ (9-2-4, 5-1-3 SBC) fast start to the game. After a whipped-in cross from Katie Lutz was parried out of the box by Arkansas State’s (3-7-4, 1-6-2 SBC) defenders, Balcazar controlled the clearance and curled the ball into the top left corner from a shot with her right foot. Riley Mullen had a chance to score right in front of ASU’s keeper Damaris Deschaine but the goalkeeper came out to make a point blank save in the 15th minute. Mullen had another opportunity from a similar scoring position in the 31st minute but again Deschaine was big and made the stop.
Madison Toone got on the end of some great play by senior forward Yuliia Khrystiuk who found the sophomore at the far post for her first career ODU goal in the 33rd minute. Brooke Edwards had a chance to make it three 10 minutes later, but her strike was off target. Khrystiuk took her defender on just outside of the box with 33 seconds remaining but was denied by Deschaine. Then, with three seconds remaining, Mia Serna got dragged down in the box and senior midfielder and captain Gry Boe Thrysoe slotted the penalty kick into the bottom right corner to go into the break up, 3-0.
ODU got its first corner kick of the contest three minutes into the second half that resulted in a Thrysoe shot swaying off target. Thrysoe had another crack at the apple two minutes later but was again just off the mark. ODU kept the pressure on the Red Wolves and got its second corner in the 53rd and their fourth in the 55th after keeping the ball in ASU’s final third.
Khrystiuk beat her defender again in the 79th minute but fired it off the mark. The Monarchs defense then stifled a Red Wolves corner attempt and after exchanging possession the final scoring chance fell to Brooke Edwards. She slapped the ball onto the post after some chaos inside the box but couldn’t score what should have been the Monarchs’ fourth goal of the night as the game ended, 3-0.
“I thought we started so well and it was great for Andy to get an early goal for us to help us settle into our rhythm,” said Hin. “It’s an important three points in conference and sets us up for a great final game with a chance to top the region and potentially conference.”
The Monarchs outshot the Red Wolves 24-4 and 8-1 in shots on target. ODU finished with six corner kicks to ASU’s four attempts. Ashlynn Kulha was the lone Monarch to play the entire 90 minutes without a substitute in the outfield. Thrysoe and Mullen both led ODU with five shots each followed by Khrystiuk and Edwards with three.
Ellie Goodrich played 90 minutes and made one save on the night as she picked up her fifth clean sheet of the season. Arkansas State played Deschaine in the first half but made a halftime adjustment and substituted Taylor Sweat for her. Deschaine finished with three saves and Sweat made two.
UP NEXT:
The Monarchs play their final game of the regular season against Georgia State on Wednesday, Oct. 29th at 6 p.m. at the ODU Soccer Complex.