NORFOLK, Va. — Old Dominion lacrosse fell 11-10 at Charlotte on Saturday afternoon despite a three-goal effort from Lydia Laney.
“What a comeback this team was able to put together in the third quarter and into the fourth,” said head coach Theresa Walton. “That’s an incredibly hard thing to do, but being able to do the basic things today escaped us.”
Charlotte (5-4, 1-0 American) opened the scoring when Sophia Rakis scored on an assist from Katie Gorski at the 12-minute mark. Isa Torres followed with a goal at the 7:46 mark to extend the lead to 2-0. Gorski added a goal of her own just under the six-minute mark to give the Niners a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
To open the second quarter, ODU (5-4, 0-1 American) got on the board when Natalie Calandra-Ryan scored just over the 13-minute mark to make it 3-1. Gorski responded with her second goal of the game to push the lead to 4-1. Charlotte’s Brenna Romanello scored just under the six-minute mark, and Kreis followed 20 seconds later with a goal to extend the lead to 6-1. Gorski then completed her hat trick with 1:32 remaining in the quarter, increasing the lead to 7-1. Laney scored off a pass from Calandra-Ryan with just over a minute left, cutting the deficit to 7-2 at halftime.
After the break, Laney scored her second goal of the game with 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it 7-3. Charlotte’s Kreis scored her second of the day with just over eight minutes left, pushing the score to 8-3. ODU’s Julia Butler then beat Niners goalkeeper Katie Ling at the 7:50 mark to make it 8-4. Two minutes later, Laney completed her hat trick after connecting with Kayleigh Flanegan to cut the deficit to 8-5. Calandra-Ryan followed shortly after with another Monarch goal to make it 8-6. With 2:17 to go in the quarter, Torres beat ODU goalkeeper Brynn Bowen to extend Charlotte’s lead to 9-6. ODU’s Ella Bowen then scored with 51 seconds remaining to close the quarter with Charlotte leading, 9-7.
In the fourth quarter, ODU’s Annalynn Pompetti scored in the first minute off a pass from Heimerl to make it 9-8. Monarch Jules Mills scored back-to-back goals to tie the game 9-9 and then give ODU a 10-9 lead with 10:34 remaining. Romanello responded for the Niners with just under seven minutes to play, tying the game at 10-10. Avery Olsen then scored off a pass from Rakis to secure the 11-10 win for Charlotte, while the Monarchs were held scoreless over the final 10 minutes of the game.
“We played with so much fight to come back and go up one, and then we didn’t play smart enough to keep the lead. We are going to continue to believe in what this squad can do together and what they set their mind to as a full team and individually,” added Walton.
Laney and Mills both took five shots to pace the attack. Mills also won three draw controls, Haley Naslonksi scooped up four ground balls, and Pompetti caused three turnovers. Bowen (5-4) faced 30 shots, 23 of them on goal, and recorded 12 saves in a complete-game effort.
Charlotte outshot ODU, 30-23. The Monarchs edged the 49ers in saves (12-7), turnovers (12-8), and clears (21-17).
The Monarchs continue their road stretch Tuesday when they face the Longwood Lancers in Farmville, Virginia, at 3 p.m.