As the campus geared up for homecoming this Saturday, The Lady Monarchs faced their Sun Belt opponents from Jonesboro, Arkansas, the Arkansas State Red Wolves, on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. This game was a women’s soccer pink-out game in support of breast cancer awareness. ODU and Arkansas State were almost mirror images coming into the contest; the Lady Monarchs were 5-7-2 (3-4-1 Sun Belt), while Arkansas State was 7-5-2 (6-2-0 Sun Belt) respectively. 

The first half of play opened with a bang when, a little over 45 seconds into the game, Arkansas State made a break for the ODU goal which culminated in a corner kick. Unfortunately for the Red Wolves, this was to no avail: the ODU defense got the ball out of danger and gained possession. Despite this early action, the contest lulled, with possession about even between teams and some errant feeds from Lady Monarch midfield spoiling potential goal-scoring opportunities.

The action picked up again in the 18th minute as Arkansas State ended up with a free kick, lining up right outside the box. This chance was thwarted by the Lady Monarch’s defense, who were able to get the ball out of the danger zone yet again. In the 20th minute, ODU’s corner gave the Lady Monarchs their first legitimate chance at scoring where they almost capitalized. The header just barely missed, and a rebound shot from outside the penalty box was grabbed by the Red Wolves keeper, leaving the game scoreless again. 

The action continued through the middle minutes of the first half as a misplayed ball by the ODU keeper almost cost the Lady Monarchs a goal, but the ball luckily slipped far into the corner before Arkansas State could capitalize. Soon after, some physical play around the far border of the box caused senior defender Emma Terefenko to go down with an indistinguishable injury. Terefenko was replaced by sophomore defender Danae Harper, who immediately made an impact with a great tackle in the 25th minute to prevent a Red Wolves shot on goal. 

For the rest of the first half, the score remained at 0-0 despite two shots on goal by the ODU offense in the closing minutes of the half. After 45 minutes of play, ODU led in shots with seven in comparison to Arkansas State’s three. The Red Wolves led in corner kicks with three to the Lady Monarch’s one. 

Terefenko was not able to return in the second half of play to help substantiate the defensive front. Despite this, ODU continued to pelt the ball around the goal. In the 47th minute, Yuliia Khrystiuk had a shot on goal that went just wide of the top crossbar. Moving forward into the middle parts of the second half, the defensive play of substitute Danae Harper shone again in the 62nd minute as she made a great tackle to thwart a goal-scoring opportunity for the Red Wolves. Despite this brief possession by Arkansas State, ODU retained possession for great lengths of time, but with little luck scoring. The action ramped up in late minutes; in the 79th minute, senior defender Riley Kennett made a play to stop a shot on goal in which she collided with the Arkansas State striker. 

Kennett emerged unscathed from the encounter, giving ODU and Arkansas State a clock stoppage due to injury to reconvene and restructure their game plans. ODU’s clutch defense prevailed again in the 86th minute as Kennett fell down and the Red Wolf striker had a clear path for a shot on goal until sophomore defender Anessa Art flew in to block the potential shot. Both of these plays on defense helped to energize a Lady Monarchs’ push late in the game. This push culminated in a shot by senior forward Megan Watts in the 89th minute that found the back of the goal.

Unfortunately for the Lady Monarchs, this goal was disallowed because it was deemed that Watts had been offside when she attempted the shot. The misfortune did not end there and with 28 seconds remaining in the contest, the Red Wolves found the back of the ODU goal, giving them the advantage 1-0 in a heartbreaking loss for the Lady Monarchs. 

When asked about the game, head coach Annie Hind seemed to stay positive as she commented, “It doesn’t get much harder to take than this one tonight. We were good, responded so well and I thought scored a good goal late to win the game. To have it disallowed and then they go up the field and score in the last minute, well that could be a heartbreaker. But I believe in this group, we will keep pushing and I know we will be even more determined on Sunday.”

The Lady Monarchs will look to respond this coming Sunday in Atlanta against Sun Belt opponent Georgia State. Following this, they will return to Norfolk for their home finale as they take on Marshall next Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.