Virginia Beach, Va. -- University of Lynchburg's women's soccer team laid claim to the 2022 Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship Sunday afternoon, besting No. 19 Virginia Wesleyan in penalty kicks after the two perennial powers finished the title match in a 1-1 draw.

After a scoreless first half, Megan Dee got the Hornets on the board in the 66th minute, collecting a saved Mac Joly shot and finishing with a tap-in to put Lynchburg in the lead.

Virginia Wesleyan's Olivia Bryant tied the match in the 79th minute with a header off a free kick in dangerous territory.

That was all the scoring either team did. Lynchburg keeper Jade Lecklider saved the other four shots the Marlins put on goal, and the VWU defense also held serve through regulation and the two 10-minute extra-time periods to send the match to penalties.

The Marlins took the advantage on in the best-of-five penalty-kick tiebreaker as VWU keeper Rachel Quigley saved Lynchburg's first attempt, but a pair of makes by Abbie Little and McKenna Dahm paired with a Lecklider save and VWU hitting the crossbar evened the tally. Ida Swisher, Leilianis Irigoyen, and Claire Lloyd all contributed makes before Lecklider stepped back in against Quigley in a keeper-on-keeper matchup. The Lynchburg junior guessed right correctly and saved the shot to send the Hornets into jubilation.

Graduate student midfielder Emily Santana won the tournament's most outstanding performer honor, and Lecklider, Haleigh Casey, and Sophie Walsh joined Santana on the all-tournament team for the Hornets.

It was the 17th ODAC championship for Lynchburg, all since the 1997 season. The Hornets will make their 21st NCAA Division III tournament appearance in short order. Lynchburg will learn its road to a national championship when the field is announced Monday at 2 p.m.

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--LYN--