The rain in the 757 continued into Sunday afternoon as the Lady Soccer Monarchs faced off against High Point after having had a full week of rest to recuperate and help shore up nagging injuries that can come with the nature of playing against quality talent.
The week of rest was evident as the Lady Monarchs took the contest by a score of 3-0. This kept the Lady Monarchs undefeated on the season with a record 5-0-2 and continued their defensive dominance, having given up a singular goal on the season.
The Lady Monarchs reigned from top to bottom, maintaining a stark majority of possession while keeping the ball out of danger. The Lady Monarchs tallied 23 shots on goal and 11 corner kicks in comparison to High Point’s 3 shots on goal and 3 corner kicks.
ODU was able to dominate early on with quality possession, moving the ball well in and out of the drizzle. The domination of possession came in ODU’s favor as graduate student and captain Megan Watts found gold launching past the panther keeper, giving ODU an early lead at 1-0 in the 22nd minute. With this, Ece Turkoglu and Aleigha Ardt both had quality chances saved by the High Point Keeper coming in the first half.
Going to the locker room, the Lady Monarchs led 1-0, which made the game seem well within reach for the Panthers. However, as the drizzle went away and the sun came out, the Lady Monarchs heated up and pulled away.
The High Point keeper made sure the Lady Monarchs did not completely run away with the match, as she made saves against shots from freshman Katie Lutz and Turkoglu early in the second half.
Following this, the Lady Monarchs were able to pull away as a corner kick from Lutz careened off the crossbar and right into a header from sophomore Thalia Morisi, giving ODU a two-goal advantage in the 74th minute. This goal was Morisi’s first shot on goal on the season, making her 1-1.
With this, it was obvious that the Lady Monarchs had the advantage in the match. Head coach Angie Hind started to bring players from the dugout on as substitutions. The icing on the cake for the game came in the 85th minute as graduate student defender Alaina Mcknight, one of Hind’s defensive subs, scored off a corner. This was the first goal of the season and is particularly special because of its rarity.
After the match, Hing shared her thoughts on her team’s performance and expressed excitement of seeing this effort transfer into conference play.
“We are delighted with this result tonight and even more so with the performance. It was probably our best showing to date on the ball,” Hing said. “We went deep tonight, every player really contributed and it was a night of firsts for many of our players. Hopefully a first of many more goals and assists from all of them. This win sets us up nicely for the next chapter in our season. We are excited for the start of conference play next week.”
With this decisive win over the Panthers, the Lady Monarchs open up Sun Belt play, heading to the sunny state of South Carolina to take on Coastal Carolina in Conway. The Lady Monarchs return home again on Thursday, Sept. 21 to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana University at 6 p.m.
