NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion men’s soccer defeated #15 West Virginia, 2-1 on Friday night at the ODU Soccer Complex in front of a crowd of 960 people.
This was the first time ODU has defeated the Mountaineers since 1983 and the Monarchs improved their record in the all-time series against WVU to 2-5-2.
“I’m so proud of the effort from the group tonight,” said ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea. “It’s been a challenging couple of weeks for the group. They have worked hard this week and they got their reward.”
Old Dominion (9-3, 1-3 SBC) scored the game-winning goal in the 53rd minute when Jacopo Caprile heaved a long throw-in from the right wing. Otu Bisong rose above the WVU (5-2-3, 1-1-1 SBC) defense by the near post and headed the ball across the goal and into the back of the net to take a 2-1 lead.
ODU fell behind in the 28th minute, West Virginia had a corner kick from the left-hand side, Ishii Kanta played it short to Jacob Redenfors who whipped a cross to the far post. His ball found Aurierien Cormier at the far post all alone and he slotted his shot inside the near post to grab a 1-0 lead.
The Monarchs responded in quick fashion, four minutes later, Caprile launched a long throw from the left hand side and almost threw it into the back of the net. Noah Dietze lodged his body in between the goalkeeper and a WVU defender as the ball deflected off his side into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Bisong had the final shot of the first half in the 33rd minute but his attempt was off the mark as the Monarchs headed into the half tied at 1-1.
WVU had the first chance of the second half in the 51st minute after Kanta ripped a shot hard and low towards the corner of the goal. ODU goalkeeper Alexander Aguilar sprawled out and with a firm pair of hands denied the ball from going past him.
Old Dominion almost had a third goal in the 58th minute after another long throw in from Caprile caused chaos on the goal line. Miguel Menendez squeezed the ball over the line but after a VAR review the call was overturned due to a foul by an ODU player beforehand.
After the Monarchs found its second goal and the VAR review had overturned a potential third goal ODU began bringing even more intensity to their defensive efforts. There were eight yellow cards shown in the game after ODU’s second goal had been scored. ODU saw five of the eight cards get shown to its players and WVU collected three.
West Virginia’s final chance of the night came in the 80th minute when the Mountaineers had back-to-back shots. Julen Recalde had his attempt blocked away by ODU’s David Chapman and Kanta had another crack at goal, but this time it flew off the mark as the Monarchs secured a bounce-back, 2-1 win against the team who ended their season the last time they met in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Quarterfinal on Sunday, November 9, 2025.
Both sides finished with six shots each and ODU held a +2-corner kick advantage, 4-2. Old Dominion’s Caprile, Ludovico Vicini, David Chapman, and Dietze all logged a full 90 minutes of action in the outfield. Caprile provided two assists while Dietze and Bisong got themselves a goal. Otu Bisong had a team high two shots with one shot on target.
Aguilar played a complete 90 minutes in goal and made two saves in the winning effort. WVU’s goalkeeper Kendall Starks made his first collegiate appearance in goal and played 90 minutes while making two saves.
UP NEXT:
Old Dominion travels to Orlando, Florida for a matchup against UCF on Saturday, October 17 at 7 p.m.