On a cold and rainy Sunday, Oct. 12, the Hofstra University field hockey team scored four unanswered goals against Wagner College. The 4-3 comeback victory took place at Cindy Lewis Stadium. The win snapped the Pride’s five-game losing streak. Now they improve to 6-7 on the season.
Gwenn van Dijk scored the game-winner just over four minutes into the overtime period when Teresa Karoff cleared the ball from just outside the Pride’s circle toward van Dijk, who took it more than half the length of the field with a defender on top of her. The freshman continued all the way into the Seahawks’ circle and sent a back-handed shot past Wagner goalkeeper Saar van Dalen for the game-winner. The Pride rushed onto the field to celebrate the comeback.
Sunday was Senior Day as Hofstra honored Karoff, Lauren Lucas, Pilar Penaloza, Jamie Mc Millan and Riley MacIntosh. Karoff had a goal and an assist, Penaloza had an assist and McMillan scored a goal late in the fourth to tie the game.
“It was a good way for [the seniors] to go out,” said Hillary Fitts, Hofstra head coach. “[The seniors] are sort of our big support system now; they are kind of the backbone to this team. They love each other through and through and want to see everybody succeed … The team fought for them, and they fought for each other … It was really cool to see.”
The Pride earned their 13th penalty corner of the game with just over a minute to play. Karoff inserted the pass straight to McMillan, who wound up and fired a shot past van Dalen into the bottom left corner to force overtime.
The Seahawks did have a final opportunity in the last moment of the fourth quarter, winning a corner with just over a second to play. Wagner’s Claire Evans was able to get a shot off, but Penaloza was quick to close the gap and block the shot out of bounds to secure the extra period.
Wagner was quick to get on the board to start the game. Victoria Gonzalez-Lopez intercepted a pass just outside the circle on the Hofstra end of the field, cutting between two defenders. Karoff crashed into Gonzalez-Lopez to set up a penalty stroke that Felicitas Herrero drilled past Hofstra’s Luci Hollister.
The Seahawks scored another pair of goals in the second to extend their lead to 3-0. Julia de Leeuw buried a pass from Julie Povel into the goal just under two minutes into the period. Wagner continued to press, getting two shots and a penalty in just under 30 seconds. Floortje Leunisse scored the second penalty goal of the afternoon as the Pride trailed heading into halftime, despite outshooting the Seahawks 8-7 in the first half.
Hofstra came out aggressive to start the second half as they looked to get on the scoreboard. Five minutes into the period, Kelly Levengood crashed into a defender along the baseline and earned the Pride a corner. Efremia Geralis inserted the corner to Caitlin Lozano, who stopped the ball, teeing it up for Karoff to send home for the first Hofstra goal of the game.
“[I] just kept the message of we had really good pressure,” Fitts said. “Keep getting into the circle, keep having a little more composure when we get in these moments, and one goal at a time, and they literally did it.”
The first of Hofstra’s two fourth-quarter goals came off the stick of Kristi Santos with two and a half minutes on the clock. Penaloza created the chance after receiving a pass just within the 25-yard line, driving past a defender and closing in on the left side of the goal. van Dalen came up to contest Penaloza, allowing the Hofstra forward to send a pass across the goal to a waiting Santos for the tap-in.
The Pride look to start a winning streak as they return to Coastal Athletic Association play in their next matchup on the road against Northeastern University. Game time on Friday, Oct. 17, is set for 3 p.m.
