The No. 4 Hofstra University women’s soccer team won an overtime thriller to advance to the semi-finals of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) tournament. The Pride defeated the No. 5 University of Delaware 1-0 in overtime, avenging their 2-1 loss earlier in the season.
The Fightin’ Blue Hens’ season is over, finishing the season with a final record of 6-7-6. Hofstra will go on to face Monmouth University in the semi-finals.
The Pride was powered by superstar midfielder Millie Davies’ walk-off winner. The junior scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season just under three minutes into the golden goal period.
Delaware tried to clear the ball following a shot by Hofstra midfielder Dagny Run Petursdottir. The loose ball came straight to Davies for a header to win the match. Davies led the Pride on the night with two shots on target.
Delaware forward Olivia Bley led the Fightin’ Blue Hens with four shots, including two on target but was unable to beat Hofstra goalkeeper Synne Danielsen who notched her second career shutout.
The match was tightly contested with both teams playing with their season on the line, leading to a relatively quiet first half.
Hofstra led Delaware 7-4 in shots in the first half, maintaining control of the game. Ellie Gough made a shot on target that was saved by Delaware keeper and CAA goalkeeper of the year Kyla Burns.
Despite the Pride having more opportunities, the Fightin’ Blue Hens had the best chance in the half. Midfielder Brooke Vogel found herself one-on-one with Danielsen.
Danielsen sprawled to her right to preserve the tie going into the break. The Fightin’ Blue Hens forced Danielsen into three saves on the evening.
“That’s soccer, it’s a game of inches,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. “[Delaware] were very organized, dangerous in the counter-attack, dangerous in possession and, fortunately for us, we managed to bend and find a way to get the result.”
The second half was livelier for both teams. Delaware started on the front foot, recording the first four shots of the half. The Pride responded with a few efforts of their own.
Emma Johnson sent a shot from outside the box that tested Burns. With 20 minutes left, Gough had a header hit the crossbar, keeping both sides level.
Delaware had the best of the last-minute efforts, testing Danielsen with just over five minutes left, followed by another attempt with 90 seconds left that was blocked by Hofstra’s Louise Hayden.
“Championship soccer is a different beast,” Riddiough said. “Our girls showed up tonight and made last-gasp tackles when we really needed it.”
It remained scoreless after the 90 minutes were up, leading to overtime.
“When we start chasing chances, which is what we did over the last 20 minutes, pockets of space open up and Delaware, to their credit, manipulated those spaces and created some good chances,” Riddiough said. “Thank the lord for [Hayden] at the very last minute to make that block.”
Hofstra has had mixed results in overtime games in recent years. They were defeated in overtime by Monmouth in last year’s tournament, while they won the championship off a Krista Agostinello overtime winner two years ago.
Hofstra edged Delaware 15-14 in shots on the night. Eight of the Pride’s 11 starters recorded a shot during the match. Gough and Davies had three each.
The Pride will remain in West Long Branch, New Jersey when they play on Sunday, Nov. 3, to take on the CAA regular season co-champion for a chance to make the conference final.
“[Monmouth] are a very talented team, and very well-coached,” Riddiough said. “We know it’s not going to be an easy game, but we’ve been here before. We’ve battled in championship games and playoffs before and we’ve come out on the good end of most of them.”
Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. from Hesse Field on The Great Lawn at Monmouth University.
Photo courtesy of Ethan Albin
