Conshohocken, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats were defeated Friday evening by the 19th ranked Old Dominion Monarchs in overtime, on "Senior Night." Villanova falls to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in BIG EAST play, while Old Dominion improves to 7-3 on the season, 2-1 in BIG EAST competition.
The first period of the game saw all three shots on goal saved, one for the 'Cats and two for the Monarchs. After the scoreless frame, Old Dominion jumped on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead early in the second period. At the 4:21 into the quarter, they were able to work the ball around the shooting circle and past the Villanova defense.
After holding their lead into halftime, Old Dominion kept their momentum going, scoring 3:05 into the third quarter. The Monarchs two goal lead held steady till the final minutes of the match, when Villanova's press defense wreaked havoc.
The Wildcats defense put the pressure on the competition in the final minutes of the game, as they looked in all directions to find some sort of energy. As
Anne Drabbe worked the ball around the shooting circle, she found teammate
Amanda Middleman with a lone defender on her. She was able to work past the defense and find
Meghan Mitchell in front of the goalie. Mitchell dribbled around the Monarch's goalie and scored with 43 seconds left in the match, to make the score 1-2.
With momentum swaying, Villanova kept firing on all cylinders in the final seconds of the match, causing a late turnover and forcing a penalty corner with 20 seconds left in the contest.
Jamie Pennington sent the ball into a set play to
Sabine de Ruijter, who's initial shot was blocked by the goalkeeper. The ball found it's way to Mitchell's stick close to the goal and she fired a shot, that was redirected in by
Caitlin Van Goeverden with 11 seconds left.
Villanova scored two goals, 32 seconds apart, in the final minute of the game to tie the score 2-2.
As the action headed to overtime and 7v7, the Wildcats looked to keep momentum in their favor. The Monarchs were able to compose themselves and fire off the game winning goal just one minute into the overtime period.
Meghan Mitchell recorded three points in the contest, her sixth multi-point game on the season.
Jordan McGinley recorded six saves in 57 minutes of action at goalkeeper for Villanova.
