The Hofstra University field hockey team lost a 3-1 road contest to Providence College on Sunday, Sept. 28. The Pride have now dropped two straight and sit at 5-4, while the Friars have won their last two and are rocking a 6-3 record as they head into the heart of Big East play.
Piper Cline was the driving force behind Providence’s offense with three points on the day, she assisted on the game winning goal and added one of her own for good measure in the fourth quarter.
The two northeast combatants were no closer to finding a victor after the first half, with the score still deadlocked at zero after 30 minutes of play. After only playing the final three quarters in Hofstra’s 2-1 defeat to Drexel University on Friday, Sept. 26, Luci Hollister reclaimed her starting spot in goal and was tested early, making three first-quarter saves.
Hollister stood tall in the fifth minute when she made a save on Ari Ftorek, the Friars were awarded a penalty corner seconds after which was inserted by Florencia Talarico, she cycled the ball until it found the stick of Bo Martina, who was denied by Hollister as well. Martina drew a penalty corner which she took herself, her insert was well-placed and the ball reached Lily Procaccianti, who became the third Friar to run into the brick wall of Hollister. She made three saves in under 20 seconds of gametime in this sequence to keep the contest scoreless.
Providence countered Hollister with their own freshman goalkeeper Ava Porter, who put together her second straight scoreless appearance and fourth of the season. Porter played the first 56 minutes before being taken out.
She faced a similar onslaught to Hollister from the Pride just a couple of minutes after, Jamie Mc Millan couldn’t beat Porter but corralled her own rebound to keep the possession alive. 18 seconds later, Kelly Levengood was shut down in front of the net, the Friars’ defense cleared the ball and escaped the threat unscathed.
Neither team got another shot on goal for 13 minutes of game time, Caitlin Lozano had a shot blocked and eventually Kristi Santos drew a penalty corner opportunity. Santos got her own opportunity at the net, but a save from Porter prevented her second goal in as many games.
The Friars pushed to take a lead heading into halftime, but Hollister stood tall and kept things scoreless.
After an evenly played first half which saw six shots from each side, Providence took control in the third quarter, outshooting Hofstra 5-1 and grabbing a 2-0 lead. Martina scored off a penalty corner three minutes in and Procaccianti added her team-leading sixth goal of the season five minutes later.
Cline iced things three minutes into the fourth quarter, putting the Friars ahead 3-0. The Pride failed to register a shot on goal until there were 43 seconds left in the game, when Tess Satterfield ruined Providence’s shutout bid with her second goal of the year.
The Pride return to conference play on Friday, Oct. 3, with a road matchup against No. 14 Monmouth University. Gametime is set for 3 p.m. from West Long Branch, New Jersey.
