The Hofstra University field hockey team picked up a 7–0 win over the University of New Haven on Sunday, Oct. 19. Hofstra improved to 7-8 on the season, while New Haven dropped to 0-12 in their first season as a Division I program.
“Good, fun game,” said Hofstra head coach Hillary Fitts. “Lots of people [were] involved, lots of people played … all-around happy day for everyone, and it’s good for us to keep building our momentum going forward.”
It was Alumni Day at Cindy Lewis Stadium as the Pride welcomed back former members of the program.
Teresa Karoff scored three goals, including her 10th of the season, becoming the first Hofstra player to record a hat-trick and score double-digit goals in a single season since was able to achieve both feats in 2019. Jaime Lewis added a pair of goals for her fourth and fifth tallies of the season.
“It’s fantastic [having Karoff on the team],” Fitts said. “I couldn’t say anything more than she’s one of the best leaders, one of the best players overall, just having fun doing it. She cares so deeply, so it’s cool to see her score so many goals … knowing she’s having fun doing it along the way.”
Karoff wasted little time opening the scoring. The Pride earned their first corner of the day after just two minutes of play. Kesia Richardson inserted the pass to Riley MacIntosh, who stopped and held the pass for Karoff to fire past New Haven goalkeeper Rae Kline. Karoff scored the first goal of the second half for her second of the day. After Gwenn van Dijk and Lewis had their shots blocked and saved, Karoff was perfectly positioned to tap in the rebound, putting Hofstra up 5-0. Karoff’s hat-trick came just over seven minutes later. Karoff inserted a corner to van Dijk, the freshman drilled a shot attempt on goal and Karoff, who was all alone in front of the goal, dropped to one knee and deflected the shot into the net.
Hofstra dominated from the opening whistle, outshooting the Chargers 9-2 in the first half and maintaining possession deep in New Haven’s half of the field. The Pride had 11 corners compared to just four for the Chargers. The Pride executed from the corners very effectively, using them to score five of their seven goals.
“I think it’s great.We want to have a higher conversion rate,” Fitts said. “It’s good because even in some of the breakdown of the corners, they were still able to find a way to get re-awarded a corner or a goal.”
Jamie Mc Millan scored her first goal of the season to extend Hofstra’s lead with less than 30 seconds in the opening period. After the Chargers came up empty on their first corner attempt of the afternoon, the Pride came down and immediately earned a corner of their own. Kristi Santos inserted the ball to MacIntosh, who passed to Mc Millan on her left. Mc Millan, with a defender closing in, passed to Karoff in the middle of the attacking circle. Karoff return the ball to an open Mc Millan, who sent it past Kline into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Kalyn Fluker earned her first career collegiate point with an assist in the third quarter. Fluker drove in along the left baseline, Kline came out to challenge, and Fluker chipped the keeper toward Kelly Levengood to finish off the mid-air pass and put the Pride up 6-0.
With just two games in conference play remaining, Fitts wants the team to remember the joy of playing the game.
“Once you start having fun, everyone plays in a little more of a flow state,” Fitts said. “Each day from now on, continuing to hold each other accountable, [continuing] to find where maybe we need to get better a little in some areas and challenging ourselves to doing that really well over the next couple of practices.”
The Pride will return to Coastal Athletic Association play in their next match, traveling to the College of William & Mary on Friday, Oct. 24. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
