Originally published October 11, 2021.

It was a beautiful day in Norfolk, VA as the sun was shining above L.R. Hill Sports Complex. The ODU community came out and showed their support for the Lady Monarchs Field Hockey team. The 17th ranked Monarchs (8-2, 2-1 Big East) hosted the Hoyas of Georgetown University (6-5, 1-2) for a Big East conference matchup.

Old Dominion has been red hot lately and came into Friday afternoon on a four-game winning streak with victories over Quinnipiac, the then 11th ranked Virginia team. After that came Villanova and Richmond.

The Lady Monarchs came out with their guns blazing in the first four minutes of the first period, in which they had two penalty corner opportunities. Two of their first three shots were saved by the Georgetown goalkeeper. The Hoyas had their first opportunity of the day in the sixth minute, with a penalty corner and a shot that was blocked. In the fourteenth minute of the first period, sophomore Aubrey Mytych found the back of the cage off of an assist from senior Ilse Westera . The goal was the first of her career as a Monarch and gave ODU the early one to nothing advantage going into the second period. The Monarchs outshot Georgetown four to one in the first frame.

ODU didn’t let up off the pedal in the second period, as they put up three more shots, with one shot on goal in the first nine minutes of the period. Junior Evelyn Murray received a yellow card in minute 24 of the game. The Monarch offense couldn’t find the back of the net for the rest of the first half, as the Georgetown goalkeeper played a stellar game herself having saved six of the eight shots on goal in the game. The Lady Monarchs went into halftime up one to zero and outshot the Hoyas seven to one.

During the second half of the matchup, the Monarch offense began to put more pressure on Georgetown. In the first two minutes of the third period, ODU had two penalty corner opportunities and put up two shots. The only offense for Georgetown in the period came in minute 37 when they had two penalty corners and a shot that was blocked by the Monarch defense. In the next three minutes of the period, ODU received two more penalty corners and put up three more shots, with two of them being blocked. In minute 41, Westera capped another goal on a pass from junior Evelyn Murray and extended their lead up to two. The goal was Ilse’s second of the season. Old Dominion outshot the Hoyas seven to one in the third. They went into the fourth period with a two to zero advantage, with the shot totals favoring them 14-2.

The fourth period started with two corner penalties for ODU early on. They would accumulate their shots so far, with four more shots in the first eight minutes of the final period. Senior Goalkeeper Cam MacGillivray made her only save of the matchup in minute 54. In the final five minutes of the match, the offense for the Monarchs maintained their overbearing pressure on the Hoyas’ net with three more penalty corners. This led to four more shots with one on goal. The game would end in a two to zero shutout victory, as the Lady Monarchs extended their winning streak to five games.

ODU outshot the Hoyas 22-3 with eight shots on goal to Georgetown’s one. In the post game interview, Associate Head Coach Natalie Holder expressed her thoughts on the shot differential and the importance of what this win meant to the team. “Obviously with 22 shots and only two goals, we would’ve liked to score more with those chances, but that is something we will work on,” Holder stated. “This was a big win, especially given it was a conference match and that Georgetown is a strong team.”

Another big achievement on the day was the fact that the Monarchs had dominated on corner attempts with eleven to the Hoyas’ three attempts. Old Dominion improved their record to 9-2 on the season, with a 3-1 record in conference play. Georgetown falls to 6-6 on the seasons and 1-3 in conference play. Old Dominion has won nine of their last ten matches, having outscored their opponents 28-13.

The Lady Monarchs look to extend their win-streak up to six games, but it isn’t going to come easy. They’ll face a tough ranked opponent in the 22nd ranked Duke Blue Devils. Old Dominion is 10-19 overall against Duke and have lost the last seven meetings. This is the first game between the two schools since October of the 2019 season, when Duke won one to zero over ODU. The matchup will take place in Durham, N.C. on Sunday, October 10, with match time slated for noon.