WILMINGTON, N.C. - Old Dominion women’s soccer suffered its first defeat of the 2026 season as the Monarchs fell, 2-1 against UNCW on Thursday night in Wilmington, N.C.
"The group is disappointed, we know we need to get better in both boxes,” said ODU head coach Will Roberts. “We need to take opportunities that come up and need to ensure we maintain our lead in big moments. The team played well and stuck to the game plan, but moments decide games. Unfortunately, UNCW decided the game with two big moments. But our team will learn and grow from this experience, and we bounced back once last week. Learning how to win on the road is going to be a valuable lesson for us before going into conference play.”
Old Dominion (1-2) struck first in the opening 10 minutes through Hannah Morgan to go up 1-0. She capitalized in the ninth minute on an errant pass from a UNCW defender, the turnover was caused by a high press from Riley Mullen and Madison Telmer. Morgan settled the loose ball and slotted it past UNCW’s goalkeeper Zoe Anderson.
The Seahawks (3-0) found an equalizing goal in the 39th minute from Allie Planeaux. She scored from a deflected cross sent in by UNCW’s Rachel Fry and swung her boot at it. The shot was deflected by Laura Klebek, but it lofted the ball high in the air towards goal and ODU’s Ellie Goodrich couldn’t keep it out, 1-1.
ODU outshot UNCW, 5-2 in the opening half but UNCW had a 2-0 advantage in corners taken.
Both sides battled back-and-forth early in the second half and neither side could find a goal. UNCW broke the deadlock in the 77th minute from Hailey Longwell off an assist by Viktoria Hankova, 2-1. Hankova whipped in a cross from the right wing and ODU couldn’t make the clearance as it fell to Longwell to finish the goal off. Old Dominion had a chance at taking the lead a minute before the deciding goal was scored. Fourth year midfielder Katie Lutz put in a cross towards the far post to Reese Kulha, but UNCW’s goalie Lili White was able to reign it in.
Lutz had ODU’s final shot of the evening in the 86th minute, she was on the end of a cross and tried to head it towards the near post’s top corner but was off the mark.
Old Dominion finished with nine shots, four on goal, and had two corners. UNCW tallied six shots, four on goal, and had six corners.
ODU’s Goodrich played a full 90 minutes in net and made two saves. UNCW played two keepers in the game, Anderson started the night off but was replaced by White after halftime. Anderson made one save and White made two in their respective 45 minutes of action.
Sydney Somers, Dylan McEntarfer, Ally Richardson, and Ashlynn Kulha all played 90 minutes. Mullen took two shots, Morgan took three and all three were on target, and Lutz had three shots with one on target.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion makes one more stop on its two-game road trip and heads to Winston-Salem, N.C. ODU faces Wake Forest on Sunday, August 23 at 1 p.m.