The Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team picked up a crucial win to keep their playoff hopes alive, defeating Towson University 10-7 on Friday, April 12. The Pride improved to 3-2 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play. The Tigers fell to 2-3 in conference play.
Kayleigh Bender scored a game-high four goals to lead the Pride in a must-win game while Nikki Mennella added three points with two goals and an assist. Kristen Redding remained a consistent contributor for the Pride with her eighth multi-goal game of the season, scoring two goals.
“[It was] a big win, a win we needed to get,” said Hofstra head coach Shannon Smith. “I thought that [Luchianna Cardello] played great for us in the cage and our defense as a whole came up with a lot of big stops.”
Hofstra led wire-to-wire, grabbing the lead just over three minutes into the first quarter and didn’t relinquish it. Bender found Redding just inside the eight-meter arc, who fired a shot past two defenders and beat Towson keeper Jenna Cardeno.
The Pride scored a team goal to go up 2-0 before Ocea Leavy cut the lead in half to put the Tigers on the board. Bender and Mennella found their first goals of the evening to close out the first quarter with a 4-2 lead for the Pride.
Redding added another tally in the second, wrapping around the goal and sneaking a shot past Cardeno as the Pride took complete control early on.
Towson started to find their footing with back-to-back goals seven minutes later to bring the score to 5-4.
Cardello had eight saves in the first half, denying the Tigers at every turn. The junior goaltender tied her season-high with 12 saves in the game, and is continuing to play her best lacrosse for the remainder of the season.
“We just put in work every single week,” Cardello said. “[Smith] is always doing player-specific shots and working on scouting the other team and seeing what kind of shots they’re going to take and preparing me.”
Bender swung the momentum back toward the Pride a minute before halftime with her second goal, an absolute rocket of a shot off a free position. She completed her hat trick two minutes into the second half to give the Pride a three-goal advantage.
Mennella became the 16th player in program history to score 100 career goals with an impressive shot of her own, beating her defending one-on-one and freezing Cardeno with an attempt from the eight-meter arc.
Julia Harris got in on the action with her 19th goal of the season five minutes later to give Hofstra their biggest lead of the night.
The Tigers desperately fought to keep their season alive with two goals early in the fourth quarter from Leavy and Luca DeMaio, but Bender responded with her fourth goal less than a minute later to rebuild Hofstra’s four-goal lead. Leavy recorded her hat trick with three minutes to play, but it proved to be too little, too late as the Pride’s defense held strong to secure the win.
The Pride faced the toughest challenge of their season, as they traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on Drexel University on Sunday, April 13. The Dragons got the best of the Pride last season, beating them 11-10 on April 27, 2024, before ending Hofstra’s season in the CAA Championship Semifinals, 18-9.
“[Drexel] is a really-well coached team, they have a lot of really great players,” Smith said. “They’re a big rival for us … just really excited about the opportunity we have on Sunday, but I think it’s all about us and getting better tomorrow at practice and being ready to go. Hopefully, we give our best effort against Drexel. A game in conference means we want to come away with a win against a really good team.”
