A late goal condemned the Hofstra University women’s soccer team to their fifth consecutive tie on Thursday, Sept. 18. This time, they did it against a conference foe. The Pride drew 2-2 against Elon University to move to 3-1-5 with an 0-0-1 mark in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play, while the Phoenix sit at 6-0-3 with an identical 0-0-1 conference record.
“The soccer gods weren’t paying attention to today’s game; the girls put in a tremendous effort,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough.
The Pride and Phoenix went back and forth all night, with Hofstra breaking through the stout Elon defense for two goals after the Phoenix had given up just one in their first six matches.
“To come back from 1-0 down against a team whose only conceded one goal in their first eight games is pretty impressive,” Riddiough said.
Elon opened and closed Thursday’s battle with goals, but were held silent in the other 88 minutes. Just over a minute in, Grace Gelhaus found some space and fired a long-range pass to Ashlee Brehio just outside the six-yard box. Brehio kept the ball in front of her and had a step on both Gabriella Marte and Alexia Des Croisselles. She used that leverage to fire the ball into the net.
The Pride controlled the majority of the first half chances after Elon’s opening salvo, mustering four shots on net compared to only one from the Phoenix. Two of the shots came from Olivia Pearse, with Mathilde Braithwaite and Marte recording the others. Despite facing an active offense, Elon keeper Katie Bisgrove stood tall, making some solid stops and keeping her squad in front heading into halftime.
The rivals played for nearly a half hour of stalemate soccer in the second stanza. Gabby Hoschek of Elon recorded three shots on net, but Lilly Bailey robbed the All-CAA Second Teamer every time.
After being held to just a single shot in the first 23 minutes, Hofstra’s offensive futility at Captains Field ended. A Polly Watson shot was deflected behind the net when Manon Lebargy took the corner kick and elected for a short pass to Thorhildur Thorhallsdottir. The duo played give-and-go until Lebargy sprung loose on a pass and sent a crosser into the box. Hailey Moschitta found the ball and headed it into the back net, knotting things up at a goal apiece and giving the Pride their first home goal in 256 minutes on their home pitch.
Twelve minutes later, Hofstra gained their first lead of the evening. Bisgrove’s goal kick was headed back into the offensive zone by Aimee Hodgson, and a speedy Braithwaite caught up to the ball near the 18-yard box. She muscled Alexis Pierce out of the way and sent the ball home, putting the Pride in front.
“[Braithwaite’s] the best athlete in the conference,” Riddiough said. “If you give her time, she’s going to punish you.”
Unfortunately, Braithwaite’s heroics were not enough to secure a win for the Pride. With a minute left, Pierce set up for a free kick far away from the net at a strange angle and curved the kick perfectly. Hoschek got a piece of it and the ball, after bouncing around as if it was in a pinball machine, crossed the goal line, securing the draw.
“We have to do a better job of managing the game with five minutes to go – we panicked,” Riddiough said. “That comes from us as a coaching staff, we get frantic, we changed the system to defend the goal, maybe it wasn’t the right decision.”
The Pride looked to build off their hard-earned draw on Sunday, Sept. 21, when they welcomed Campbell University to Long Island. Gametime was set for 2 p.m. at Captains Field.
