It was obvious that ODU Field Hockey was ready to play in their most recent contest. The No.14 ranked program from Norfolk squared off against Queens University out of North Carolina this past Sunday afternoon. The Lady Monarchs jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they throttled Queens 8-0 to extend their winning streak to six games.
The Lady Monarchs were firing on all cylinders on both offense and defense throughout the contest thanks to stellar play by the defense and goalkeeper sixth-year Cam MacGillivray who anchored the defense and bring her goals-against average on the season to under one at .92 which is first in the Big East and ranks in the top 10 nationally. In total, the Lions of Queens University had two shots on goal on the day in comparison to ODU’s 18.
The Lady Monarchs came out strong early as they were already on the board within three minutes of the game thanks to a penalty stroke by senior midfielder Delphine Le Jeune. The Lady Monarchs scored again in the first quarter as a pass from junior Marlon De Bruijne found the stick of freshman Sacha De Gier and found the back of the goal putting ODU in front 2-0.
The second quarter went to the same tune as the first for the Lady Monarchs as they continued to stage a barrage on the Queens’ goal with a trio of shorts finding their mark. The first goal of the quarter came as junior forward Aubrey Mytych shook off a defender and fired a missile into the back of the goal. The second goal of the day came as the second for Le Jeune as she scored in the 24th minute off a penalty corner with the assist going to sophomore Frederique Zanderbergen. The third and final goal of the quarter came from de Bruijne in the 29th minute right before the closing of the first half.
The Lady Monarchs going into halftime were in the driver’s seat as they led 5-0 after 30 minutes with no look of slowing down on the scoring barrage. The offensive attack came again in the second half of the contest as the Lady Monarchs scored in the 37th minute off a goal from Zandbergen. A huge highlight came in the 40th minute as Sydney Snyder scored her first collegiate goal off an assist from De Bruijne. Mytych also scored again in the 49th minute, giving her two goals on the day and nine goals in the last six games.
When asked about the team’s performance, head coach Andrew Griffiths commented, “We played much better in the second half; we had some goals, but we weren’t really playing together as much as we wanted to. We are scoring goals from a lot of different people but if we can tighten up defensively it will be a better situation for us. It has been getting stronger and our covering is better when we are trying to figure out what teams are trying to do and how they want to attack.”
After blanking both Providence and Queens by a combined score of 15-0, it was a stellar weekend for the ODU squad. The Lady Monarchs will look to keep the winning ways intact as they take on Temple University in Philadelphia this coming Friday, Oct. 21st with a 2 p.m. start. Old Dominion will then return home to take on Virginia Commonwealth University on Sunday, Oct. 23rd at noon.