It has not been the best season thus far for The Old Dominion women’s lacrosse team, as they came into the weekend with a 3-6 record. ODU returned to action on Friday afternoon at L.R. Hills Sports Complex when they welcomed Niagara University (4-2). Earlier in the week, the Lady Monarchs fell to American University 17-13 and were looking to bounce back with another contest in front of the home crowd. 

Old Dominion came out and scored the first two goals of the game from senior Lilly Siskind and junior Maddie Mullenbach. Niagara would retaliate with a goal of their own to make it 2-1. The Lady Monarchs scored two more goals from sophomores Corrinne Stratton and Haley O’Connor that put ODU up 4-1 midway through the first quarter. The Purple Eagles got another goal back and the game was 4-2. Old Dominion would tally another goal and lead 5-2 after a quarter of play. 

Early on in the second, Siskind added her second goal of the afternoon to make the score 6-2, but back-to-back goals from Niagara cut the lead to 6-4. ODU then followed with five-straight goals to push their lead up to 11-4. The Purple Eagles would end its scoring drought in the third quarter when they found the back of the net to make it 11-5. Early in the third quarter, Siskind and Mullenbach came back with goals that extended the lead to 13-5.

Midway through the third quarter, the Purple Eagles began to build momentum and went on a 8-0 scoring run that tied the game at 13. The Lady Monarchs would end their scoring drought with two consecutive goals from O’Connor and Mullenbach to make the score 15-13. Niagara would score again to cut the lead to 15-14,  but Siskind would retaliate with another goal to put ODU on top 16-14. Niagara would tally another goal to make it a one goal game. With four minutes left in the game, Siskind secured her career-high seventh goal of the game that made it 17-15. In the final three minutes, Niagara scored twice to tie the game at 17 that would eventually head into overtime. In the second overtime period, Stratton was fouled in the eight-meter area and was awarded a free position that resulted with a game winning goal from Stratton that lifted ODU over Niagara 18-17. 

Siskind led the way for ODU with a career-high seven goals and three assists, while Mullenbach tallied four goals. O’Connor registered two goals and two assists while Stratton recorded two goals, including the game-winner. Peccia made 17 saves to earn the win in goal. The Lady Monarchs improved their record to 4-6. After their victory on Friday, Old Dominion had another home contest against Howard University (1-6) on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Monarchs came into the game fired up and opened the first quarter with nine goals in the first quarter as Stratton got the scoring started. Siskind made the game 2-0 before Mullenbach tallied two-straight goals to make it 4-0. Midway through the first, Siskind added two more to the ODU lead. Mullenbach found the back of the net again and extended the Monarch lead to seven. Freshman Sydney Taylor scored a minute after Mullenbach and senior Tess Meurling made it 9-0 with six seconds left in the quarter. 

In the second quarter, it was no different as the Monarchs scored seven more times and held a 16-0 advantage over Howard going into halftime. Early in the second half, senior Brooke Ferringer tallied her first goal of the game to make it 17-0. Meurling notched her second goal of the afternoon to extend it to 18-0. Sophomore Olivia Tanneberger made it 19-0 with three minutes left in the third. In the final minute, Howard would get on the board with a goal that made it 19-1 going into the final frame.

Early in the fourth, the Bison tallied another goal that cut the game to 19-2, but the Lady Monarchs would go onto scoring three-consecutive goals and would defeat Howard 22-2. Siskind and Mullenbach both had hat tricks in the victory. Tanneberger had a goal and three assists. Peccia earned the win making one save, while senior Brianna Blatter made three saves and junior Sabrina Leatherwood recorded one save.

Old Dominion earned back-to-back victories and improved their record to 5-6 on the season. The Lady Monarchs will return to action on Saturday, March 26th when they host the University of Delaware at L.R. Hill Sports Complex. The Blue Hens are 2-6 overall and start time is slated for noon as ODU looks to win three-straight.