By Andrew Scharff
For the Hofstra men’s soccer team, everything that normally happens this time of year is happening. The team is in Virginia Beach, Va., participating in the CAA Tournament and had a bye in the first round. Hofstra is set to play Old Dominion (ODU) in a semifinal game as these two schools will get a chance to renew their rivalry as the No. 23 Monarchs beat UNC-Wilmington 1-0 in overtime to advance to meet the Pride Friday night at 7:30.
Everybody knows the recent rivalry between the two schools. This will be the third straight season where Hofstra and ODU will meet in the CAA Tournament. In 2004 and 2005, ODU won the regular season game between the two squads while the Pride was able to take the conference championship game. This year, though, has been different as Hofstra beat ODU 2-1 earlier in the season and the Pride now hopes it will be able defy recent history by winning both the regular and postseason games.
“Everybody knows [Hofstra and] ODU have a good rivalry. We beat them earlier in the year and that means they’re going to want it even more,” Hofstra assistant coach Brian Suskiewicz said.
Beating ODU for a second time this season will be easier said than done. The Pride will have its hands full as the Monarchs are a strong team and can be very dangerous at any time.
“ODU is a very talented team, they have great players, they are a very competitive team and they have been there too, so they know what they have to do to win,” Suskiewicz said. “But we are confident in our abilities because we have tremendous experience and we’re going to out their and play a hard working game.”
“They are solid defensively, they retain possession and they play an end-to-end game,” added Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall.The key to beating ODU, as Nuttall said, is stopping its end-to-end play, and by doing that the Pride will have to neutralize ODU’s playmaking forwards Edson Elcock and Zachary Kinney.
“Elcock is the one to watch when he has the ball,” Nuttall said.
Elcock, who is the Monarchs leading scorer this season and most dangerous player on offense, is not a big guy, but makes up for his lack of his size with tremendous speed. Kinney, who scored the ODU goal in the regular season loss to Hofstra and in his team’s win in the first round of the tournament, has size that Elcock does not. With Elcock’s speed and talent and Kinney’s size, the Pride will have its hands full in stopping both. Gary Flood will most likely mark Kinney and the task of marking Elcock will probably go to Charalambos Rossides, who is very confident that the Pride defense can stop the dangerous duo.
“We have the best defenders in the conference,” Rossides said.
For Hofstra to win, it will have to maintain its focus and the players will have to play their game. Hofstra generates its offense from the defense and the ability to take the ball away. If Hofstra can contain ODU’s offene then the Pride will have a good chance to play for its third straight championship.
In the other CAA semifinal game, top-seeded Towson will take on No. 4 George Mason (GMU), after GMU advanced to the semifinals with 1-0 win over Northeastern. Towson and GMU were both at the top of the conference until the end of the season when GMU went through a cold streak, losing to ODU, James Madison and Towson (in double overtime).
Towson, who is currently ranked 15th by the College Soccer News, is led by leading scorer Sebastian Haensel and goalkeeper Billy Chiles, who is 6-0-2 in 10 games this season.
It is the first time in a long time that all four teams have a legitimate shot to win the tournament and earn the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
“It is going to be the team which performs the best on the day they perform. All four teams have a chance, with ODU being a slight favorite” Nuttall said. “It’s the playoffs now. The preseason [and] regular season are over. It matters now.”
