During Stephen Murray’s 18-month tenure, Old Dominion hadn’t won a game. But in spring 2016, the team started reducing the point differentials in those losses, and the coach was optimistic about the improvements he was witnessing within the squad. Yesterday, the DII Capital conference kicked off and Old Dominion had the weighty task of beginning with perennial league finalist (and former national champion) Mary Washington. Old Dominion won 41-24.
“When I first came on, the players were hungry, athletic, but just didn’t have their skills honed necessarily,” Murray reflected. “We took our lumps and bruises, had some rough times.
“To win against a quality program like Mary Washington – it’s a feather in our cap and a good place to build from,” the coach added. “I’m really proud of them – how they stuck with it and kept believing in the program. Their desire to get better showed itself every day. This rise from the bottom has been a learning process, and we want to be that up-and-comer.”
Murray credited the season’s positive start to the core of veterans who have remained motivated during the victory drought. At the center of it all is Hope Allen, the club’s former president, who actually recruited Murray. The coach praised the natural leader, who not only nurtures the team, but also moved from second row to flyhalf this season.
“Because of our depth, Hope’s been a great person to have at flyhalf due to her knowledge and attention to detail,” Murray said. “She has some speed and brings a little of that forward mentality into the backline. She keeps them organized and will only get better as she learns the position more.”
Murray called the move a bit of an experiment, but several positional changes have been paying off. Sha’Quayla Davis moved from fullback to inside center, and she accounted for three tries on Saturday. Rookie wing Nicole Versis scored a try and then moved to lock for the second game. Also very dangerous in the open field was Lyric Jones, a very fast, saavy player who scored two tries and also upped her defensive presence this year.
In the forwards, versatility is found in Meghan Leithead, who lends power to multiple positions in the scrum. Yesterday, Alyssa Lehn asserted herself as a go-forward machine, breaking tackles and building momentum for the rest of the squad.
Murray was particularly proud of the rookies – two of whom scored – and the opportunity that the veterans bred for their new teammates. By day’s end, rookie wings Kayla Lawrence and Versis, Davis, Jones and lock Dulce Natalie Romero scored tries. Allen accounted for the conversions.
“I’m very proud of how we handled the win,” Murray said. “We’ve been on the losing end of the score many times and we know it hurts. We didn’t rub into our opponent’s face. We did our game cheer, shook hands and were cordial. We were respectful to the referees even though we were frustrated with the amount of penalties we committed.”
Although the coach did confess to screaming with elation once back home. He also acknowledged that Saturday’s win was just the beginning of the work that needed to be done. William and Mary awaits next weekend, and that match will be significant as well.
“They’re our local rivals … but we have a good report with them,” Murray said. “We played them in last spring’s opener and were leading at halftime. We ended up losing by 10 points or so, but we definitely came out of that game excited. It was the first time I saw that we were ready to take the next step.”
The rest of the DII Capital conference gets moving next weekend and will provide insight to the relative strength of the 12-team league. Stay tuned.
For more results on the weekend, click here.
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