Nikki Mennella had at least eight points for the fifth time this season. Still, it wasn’t enough as the Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team lost 18-12 to the University of Connecticut on Saturday, March 29. The Pride fell to 6-5 on the year in their final non-conference game of the year.
Mennella entered the game third in the country with 6.44 points per game and improved on that mark with a game-high six goals to go along with two assists. It’s the third time this season and the second game in a row Mennella has had six goals.
“What doesn’t [Mennella] bring [to the team]?” said Hofstra head coach Shannon Smith. “First, [Mennella] is healthy, a healthy [Mennella] is very scary … If you watch her play on the field, she’s going to do whatever it takes to help our team win.”
Megan Flannery returned to the lineup after missing the last two games, scoring two goals. Kristen Redding added three points with two goals and an assist while Julia Harris and Julia West each scored a goal.
The Huskies had six different players find the back of the net, with all six scoring multiple goals. Eliza Bowman and Emma Dacey led their side with four goals apiece, although Rayea Davis led the way with a game-high nine points on three goals and six assists.
UConn wasted no time as Dacey found Karsyn Burnash nearly a minute into the first quarter to complete the first goal of the game. Mennella evened things up a few minutes later with her first goal, but the Huskies outscored the Pride 6-3 over the last 11 minutes to take a 7-4 lead into the second quarter.
Davis scored all three of her goals within four minutes, completing her hat trick with seven minutes to play in the first.
Dacey scored her second goal to give the Huskies an 8-4 lead. Then, Mennella went off, scoring the next three goals for Hofstra to cut the deficit to 9-7.
Hofstra dominated the rest of the first half scoring three more goals to take a 10-9 lead into halftime. Kyndall Jackson earned her first two assists of the season finding Flannery and Mennella on back-to-back possessions to tie the score before Mennella capped off the 5-0 run with an assist to Flannery with 27 seconds to play.
“Really proud of our team and our resiliency that we showed in the first half to make that comeback,” Smith said. “We just got to execute a little bit better there in the second half … I think we saw a lot of positives, things that we really focused on this week with our team. It was a really good game for us to have as we move forward to the rest of our conference play.”
Kelsey Neary found an early equalizer to start the third quarter, but Redding put the Pride in front with her second goal of the game a minute later.
UConn flexed their strength the rest of the way, outscoring Hofstra 8-1 the rest of the game. Bowman knotted things up to start the run. Dacey, Bowman and Burnash each found twine with three goals in less than a minute to give the Huskies a 14-11 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was much of the same as Bowman and Dacey extended the lead with another pair of goals. Mennella tried to spark another Hofstra comeback with her sixth goal of the game, but Jenna Giardina sealed the game with her final two goals of the game, completing her hat trick with just 44 seconds to play.
The Pride return to action as they get back to Coastal Athletic Association play against Campbell University on Saturday, April 5. The first draw from James M. Shuart Stadium is scheduled for noon.
