NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion lacrosse fell 19-7 to JMU on Saturday at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex. Natalie Calandra-Ryan tied her career best with five goals to lead the Monarchs.
“Really happy for this team and our graduates from the program who gave it their all today,” said ODU Head Coach Theresa Walton. “Heart and hustle showcased throughout the whole game. Natalie Calandra-Ryan had a standout performance scoring 5 of our 7 goals. Brynn Bowen getting her 300th career save on the game was also super cool”.
JMU (11-6, 5-1 American) opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, as Jordan Peterson found the back of the net to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead. Kaitlyn Carney followed less than a minute later with her first goal of the day to make it 2-0. ODU (5-12, 0-6 American) got on the board at the 12:47 mark when Calandra-Ryan scored her first goal of the day to cut the deficit to 2-1. Chloe Bleckley answered for JMU to extend the lead to 3-1 with just over 11 minutes remaining. Calandra-Ryan then added her second goal with just over six minutes left to make it 3-2. The Dukes closed the quarter on a 3-0 run, with goals from Carney, Payton Root, and Peterson, to take a 6-2 lead into the second.
Calandra-Ryan opened the second quarter with her third goal of the day just 20 seconds in, completing the hat trick off an assist from Jules Mills to make it 6-3. JMU responded with goals from Jolie Schiavo and Peterson to push the lead to 8-3 with 9:39 remaining. Mills then scored for ODU, beating JMU goalkeeper Abigail Beattie to cut the deficit to 8-4 with just under five minutes left. Juliana Cerasi added a goal for JMU to send the Dukes into halftime with a 9-4 advantage.
After the break, Lauren Savage scored within the first minute to extend JMU’s lead to 10-4. Carney followed with back-to-back goals to make it 12-4 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the third. Calandra-Ryan responded with her fourth goal of the day, and Ella Bowen added another for ODU to bring the score to 12-6 with just under six minutes to go. JMU closed the quarter with back-to-back goals from Root and another from Maya Antonakas to take a 15-6 lead.
In the final quarter, JMU’s Antonakas scored her second goal of the day, followed by a goal from Avery Bickell to extend the lead to 17-6 with seven minutes remaining. ODU’s Calandra-Ryan recorded her fifth goal with just under six minutes left to make it 17-7. Harlowe Healey added two goals to secure the 19-7 final for JMU.
The Dukes outshot the Monarchs 32-10 and held a 19-8 advantage in draw controls. ODU goalkeeper Brynn Bowen made 12 saves, while JMU’s Emily Evans recorded one save after taking over for Beattie.
“Despite the loss, I’m so proud of how the whole team showed up today in so many ways and most importantly, they did that for each other,” added Walton. “Big thank you to our department staff, our monarch parents and families, and our coaching crew for working so hard to continue to strive for greatness for this program. I know it to my core that we are moving in the right direction and that’s something this team can feel too”.