As Monarch students slowly trickle back into Norfolk, the Lady Monarchs opened their 2023 soccer campaign with a Sunday night home contest. ODU faced off against the Campbell Camels, who are 0-0-1 this season and coming off of last season 11-3-4, where they came up short in the Big South Final against Gardner-Webb and lost 4-3 on penalty kicks.
ODU, conversely, is 1-0 this season, with a 3-0 win over George Mason this past Thursday, and planning to maintain positive momentum in their sophomore campaign in the Sun Belt Conference. The Lady Monarchs were able to turn up the intensity late in the season and clean house at the Sun Belt tournament, gaining an NCAA tournament berth before facing women’s soccer titan, North Carolina, and falling 5-0.
International talent provided a needed boost for the Lady Monarchs’ offense. Andrea Balacazar Algarin and Ece Turkoglu were in the box with quality shots in the 61st and 75th minute respectively.
The Lady Monarchs made a strong campaign in the first half to maintain possession but struggled to capitalize. In the eighth minute, ODU got their first corner, which set a positive precedent. ODU continued to dominate possession throughout the first half, taking a handful of shots that were either off-target or blocked by the defense. The Lady Monarchs and fighting Camels stay tied at 0-0 after 45 minutes.
In the second half of the play, the Lady Monarchs began to wear down the Campbell defense through their possessions. In the 60th minute, junior Gry Boe Thyrsøe, a Danish native coming off an ACL injury last season, joined in the fun with a 30-yard rocket that flew just over the crossbar. With this, the middle of the field started to open up for the Lady Monarchs, scoring quickly followed as Mexican striker Balcazar Algarin netted a header in the 61st minute. This goal relieved the impending pressure of immense possession and nothing to show for it. International talent would prove crucial again in the 75th minute as Turkoglu, a native of Istanbul, Turkey, netted a lefty shot from the outskirts of the box, giving ODU a 2-0 advantage.
Following this, the Lady Monarchs continued to hammer away at the Campbell defense, which became visibly fatigued. The perpetual attacks prevented the Camel side from mounting a comeback or netting a consolation goal. When the buzzer sounded at the 90-minute mark, the Lady Monarchs had kept Campbell from tallying a single shot.
When asked about the team’s performance, head coach Angie Hind commented, “We were knocking on the door and eventually we got a breakthrough. I just wanted us to keep going. You can see we’re quite deep, so we can shuffle the pack a little bit.”
With the 2-0 win over the fighting Camels, the Lady Monarchs will face off n against Virginia schools, starting with VCU in Richmond Thursday, Aug. 24. Following this, they square off against the University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, and William and Mary before commencing Sun Belt play in Conway, South Carolina against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 15.
