The Monarchists

ODU Women’s Soccer got out to an early start offensively last week and improved their record to 2-1 on the season. Their first half advantage saw the Lady Monarchs take a 2-0 victory against William & Mary. 

“We started the game so well tonight. I thought we looked bright, sharp, moved the ball well and created a lot of really good chances,” said ODU Head Coach Angie Hind. “Inevitably, when you go up so early there are going to be phases when the opponent comes into the game and when they did defensively, we stood strong. 

Freshman Brooke Edwards got the Monarchs on the board early in the fifth minute of the match. Edwards broke free off a great pass from Andrea Balcazar Algarin and was able to put a ball in the top corner. 

Algarin wasn’t finished as just three minutes later she capitalized on a pass from Rhea Kijowski. Seven minutes in to the contest the Monarchs had a two goal advantage. 

The Tribe tested keeper Emily Bredek early as she stopped multiple point-blank shot attempts in the fist half.

Bredek continued to show why she is the reigning Sun Belt Keeper of the Year and Keeper of the Week. W&M kept the pressure on with nine shot attempts in the second half. Bredek saved all seven shots on goal on her way to her first clean sheet of the year. It is the 15th shutout of her career. 

The Tribe ended up outshooting ODU 15-13, but the Monarch offense forced Jazzy Lorenz to make all five of her saves in the second half. Two early goals proved to be the difference as the second half ended 2-0. 

Algarin earned player of the game honors along with Bredek. Algarin posted her first multi point performance of the season. The Midfielder from Mexico City is entering her Junior season and is one of Coach Hind’s key returners. 

UNCW: 

The Monarchs opened up their homestand with a second straight 2-0 victory, this time against former CAA foe UNC Wilmington. ODU was propelled by another stellar defensive performance, and an early candidate for goal of the year off a huge blast from Gry Boe Thrysoe.

“Really pleased with the performance first and foremost today. I thought we had a lot of the ball and showed some good composure. UNCW is a difficult team to play against as they have a real threat in attack, but I felt our back line were solid throughout,” said ODU Head Coach Angie Hind. 

The first 35 minutes came and went and the score remained deadlocked at zero. ODU had chances once again early on but nothing to show for it. 

Thrysoe earned a free kick with 6:40 left in the half and absolutely delivered. From 25 yards out she buried a ball in the corner of the net to fire up her team and give ODU a 1-0 lead. 

The second half was a defensive battle between both sides. Riley Mullen forced a turnover just in front of the box with 21 minutes remaining. Mullen ripped another blast past Seahawks keeper to extend the lead to 2-0. 

Mullen, a midfielder from Staten Island is entering her Sophomore season. She played in 20 matches last season and has already matched her goal total from 2023. 

“The two goals we scored today were fantastic individual efforts especially Gry’s which was a tremendous strike which wrapped up a great performance from her,” Hind said. 

Emily Bredek and Erin Jones were beneficiares of another great defensive effort as they did not have to make a single save. Bredek’s second consecutive clean sheet was enough to earn her Sun Belt Defensive player of the week. 

ODU extends their record to 3-1 on the season. They will take on LSU at home on Sunday. 

“We now get the chance to recover and have a full week to get better in preparation for a big challenge on Sunday against a great LSU team,” said Hind. 

The Monarchs host the Tigers on Sunday at 7pm.