ROCK HILL, S.C. — Ella Bowen scored four goals to lead Old Dominion lacrosse but the Monarchs fell 12-11 to Winthrop on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field.
“Really tough loss, we beat ourselves all over the field today,” said head coach Theresa Walton. “Coming off such a strong Friday night fight, it was agonizing to see the lack of fight all game today.”
ODU (4-3) opened the first quarter with a goal from Bowen at 13:23. Winthrop (3-3) responded a minute later with a goal to even the score at 1-1. ODU’s Macy Steinwedel then beat Eagle goalkeeper Mikaylah Lindsay to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead with 9:45 remaining in the quarter. Bowen scored her second goal of the day after connecting with Natalie Calandra-Ryan at 8:03 to push the score to 3-1. Winthrop’s Ava-Claire Collins beat ODU goalkeeper Brynn Bowen with 3:13 remaining to close the quarter with ODU leading, 3-2.
Maria Snyder opened the second quarter with back-to-back goals within two minutes, increasing ODU’s lead to 5-2. Winthrop responded with two goals of its own in the same minute from Olivia Paton and Christina Warren to cut the deficit to 5-4. With 3:05 on the clock, Winthrop’s Lily Thompson found the back of the net to tie the game for the first time. To close the half, Julia Butler scored her first goal at 2:38, and Megan Hopfensperger added another at 1:24 to give ODU a 7-5 lead at halftime.
After the break, Winthrop’s Iris Leavitt scored at 9:38 to cut the deficit to 7-6. A minute later, Bowen recorded her third goal of the day at 8:37 to extend ODU’s lead to 8-6. Winthrop responded with a three-goal run over five minutes from Emily Hollinger, Leavitt and Mollie Calabrese to take its first lead of the game, 9-8. Calandra-Ryan beat the clock and scored with 38 seconds remaining off a pass from Molly Heimerl to tie the game 9-9 at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Collins scored off the opening draw control to give Winthrop a 10-9 lead. Butler answered with her second goal of the game to tie the score 10-10 with 9:48 remaining. Three minutes later, at 6:23, Tori Iannotti scored her lone goal of the day to give Winthrop an 11-10 lead. Bowen tied the game again with her fourth goal at 3:36 to make it 11-11. The Eagles took the lead for good when Gabby Pierpont scored the game-winning goal at 1:27 off an assist from Collins, giving Winthrop a 12-11 victory.
“If we had shot better, we would have won by at least three goals. Especially hard to see our lack of 8-meter finishes when that’s an everyday practice. Game day results don’t change our mindset however, so switching gears for Xavier on Tuesday back at home,” said Walton.
The Monarchs return to Norfolk to host Xavier on Tuesday, March 10, at 4 p.m. at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.