By Andrew Scharff
With three minutes left to go in games, the Hofstra men’s soccer team reserves are usually just sitting on the bench watching the clock wind down and hopefully awaiting a victory. On Sunday, that look was a little different.
The bench was on its feet in anticipation of what was about to happen: the Pride was on the verge of beating the 12th ranked team in nation.
With the help of two goals by senior forward Michael Todd and five saves from backup freshman goalie James Winters, the Pride held on to defeat No. 12 Old Dominion (ODU), 2-1.
“This was a fantastic win for the program,” Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall said. “I am so proud of my guys. They worked hard, got a lead, held a lead and for the last five or six minutes gave up no quality chances.”
The game-winning goal was set up as Pride freshman midfielder Rory McCrea was taken down just outside the left side of the penalty area.
Junior Chris Cox took the free kick and sent it past the right side of the ODU wall. Todd was waiting two yards away from the goal line and was in perfect position to deflect the ball past ODU goalie Evan Newton.
“The play was very similar to the free kick taken in the Towson game,” Todd said. The only difference was that this time the Pride was able to score off this kick.
Todd started the scoring in the 53rd minute with what turned out to be a controversial goal.
The play started with Pride midfielder Constantinos Christoudias sending Todd in with a perfectly placed ball. Todd was able to get behind the defense and saw that Newton was coming out to challenge him for the ball and chipped the ball over the goalie’s head.
From the naked eye it looked like Todd received ball offsides. “I thought it was offside, I was on that side. The referee made a linesman’s call,” Old Dominion head coach Alan Dawson said.
A few minutes later, the attention was drawn to Hofstra starting goalie Tom Johansen. After being looked at by the training staff, Johansen was taken out of the game due to a pulled quadricep. And then in came Winters, who was making his collegiate debut against the No. 12 team in the country.
“Yeah, I was nervous coming in,” Winters said. “It’s a big game when we play Old Dominion.
The Monarchs (8-2, 3-1 CAA) did tie the game against him in the 72nd minute. ODU leading scorer Edson Elcock was able go down the left side of the Pride’s defense and send a crossing pass to forward Zachary Kinney, who headed it in from six yards out.
“The goal scored on him [Winters] seemed to settle him down,” Nuttall said.
It must have, because Winters came up big two times down the stretch. Minutes after ODU tied the game, Elcock had a golden opportunity as he found himself all alone in front of the net. Elcock had Winters moving, but a combination of Elcock mis-hitting his shot and Winters guessing right, he was able to make the save.
“I knew he was going to my left, so as he hit it I was already going there,” Winters said. “He just missed the ball. I was able to get lucky.”
Winters also made a nice stop on Ambene Emmanuel from 20 yards out.
The Pride (5-3-2, 2-1-1) continued its dominance of playing ranked opponents, improving to 9-2-1 in its last 12. It was the biggest game of the year so far for Hofstra, and the team needed a win if it wanted to stay in good position in the CAA conference standings.
“It was a big win. It was the biggest game of the season so far,” senior defender Gary Flood said. “We were disappointed with the tie against Towson and loss against George Mason last weekend. We wanted two wins this weekend and we wanted to beat these guys.”