Fall to the Monarchs; VCU Lacrosse opens season with loss at ODU

Lacrosse opened up its season fighting to maintain a lead against Old Dominion University Monarchs, but ended up falling short when it came down to the wire and lost 11-9 Wednesday in Norfolk.

The Monarchs made the first goal of the game to get things going, but the Black and Gold were able to reclaim the lead at 3-2 with less than eight minutes left in the first half. Junior midfielder Sofia Emond and sophomore attack Jessica Del Rossi scored back-to-back goals to get the Rams up to speed.

With 1:47 left before halftime, ODU tied the game 3-3, but VCU scored another pair of back-to-back goals, both from junior midfielder Sky Hyatt. With VCU holding the biggest lead of the game, 5-3, the Monarchs got two quick goals in the remaining 50 seconds of the first half to tie the game 5-5 at the break.

At the start of the second half, ODU scored three consecutive goals and led 8-5 with 26:38 remaining. The Rams got as close as 9-8, scoring three of the next four goals to battle back with 13:36 remaining. Eventually, ODU would seal the deal after scoring the next two goals to pull away from the Rams.

Emond scored a hat trick on just six shot attempts, five of them on goal. Hyatt added two goals and three draw controls. Junior midfielder Blaire Langeler scored a goal and added an assist. Sophomore midfield Keriann McTavish scored a goal and added a ground ball while sophomore attack Jessica Del Rossi also scored once. Junior midfielder Clare Murphy added a goal and a team-high four draw controls.

Overall, VCU outshot the Monarchs 28-25, including 20-18 in shots on goal. The Rams also led 11-10 in caused turnovers and 11-10 in draw controls. ODU was led by Brooke Stein, who scored three goals and added two assists.

The Black and Gold will travel to Maryland to play against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers Feb. 24 at noon.

Jessica Wetzler, staff writer