NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion men’s soccer defeated Lehigh, 2-0 on Friday night at the ODU Soccer Complex. The Monarchs move to 3-0 with ODU head coach Tennant McVea at the helm. It is the first time ODU has started with a 3-0 record since 2012.
“That was a proper college soccer game tonight,” said Mcvea. “Lehigh put us under a lot of pressure and we handled it well. I’m happy we kept a clean sheet. Not our cleanest performance. But glad to get another win at home.”
The start of the game was delayed by an hour and 30 minutes due to potential hazardous weather. It officially kicked off at 8:30 p.m.
ODU (3-0) opened the scoring in the ninth minute after Noah Dietze scored on a corner kick attempt that was delivered by Ludovico Vicini, 1-0. Dietze got ahead of his defender by the near post and he headed the ball down into the ground. The ball bounced high and LEH’s Anton Kinnunen wasn’t able to keep it out.
The Mountain Hawks had a few chances to even the game in the second half, ODU’s Alexander Aguilar was called upon in a big way in the 68th minute. Lehigh had a corner kick on the left wing and delivered a ball that caused chaos in the box, Aguilar stopped a point blank shot from LEH’s Trey Sheeler, the deflected effort fell to LEH’s Paul Smajlaj who was again denied by the second year keeper from Manassas, Virginia. Aguilar made his final save of the night at the 83:31 mark from a shot by Bridger Baltes that was heading to the bottom right corner of the net.
ODU was able to put the game out of reach 45 seconds later in the 84th after Jason Purks slotted away a penalty kick to his left side, 2-0. ODU got the spot kick from a handball defection by a Mountain Hawk defender.
ODU outshot the Mountain Hawks, 11-8. ODU had eight shots on goal and had 11 corner kick attempts. Lehigh finished with three shots and four corners.
ODU goalkeeper Aguilar made three saves in 90 minutes and kept his first clean sheet as a Monarch. LEH’s Kinnunen made six saves and conceded two goals.
Vicini, David Chapman, and Dietze all logged 90 minutes in the outfield. Three Monarchs tied for first in shots on goal with two (Dietze, Otu Bisong, Miguel Menendez).
UP NEXT:
ODU returns to the ODU Soccer Stadium and faces in-state foe Radford on Wednesday, September 2 at 6 p.m.