The Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team returned to postseason play this season after missing the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) tournament in 2025. Despite the heartbreaking 14-11 loss to Towson University in the CAA Semifinals, this season marked significant progress both for the program and several individual players. The Pride won 10 games for the first time since 2019 and had six players honored with individual CAA honors. In addition, head coach Shannon Smith shared the CAA Coach of the Year award with Stony Brook University’s bench boss, Joe Spallina.
“[Losing] doesn’t take away from the success that this team had this year,” Smith said. “Once they get over the sadness and being upset from the loss, and being mad about it, hopefully they can take a step back and have a sense of gratitude and appreciation for how far we came this season. We truly got better every game, and there was a lot of hard work and commitment and accountability on the player’s side.”
Nikki Mennella had yet another historic season and was honored as the CAA Attacker of the Year for the second year in a row. Her 65 goals are the second most in a single season in Hofstra history, and her 90 points are the third most. She climbed the all-time conference leaderboards as well. Mennella now sits 13th all-time in the CAA with 180 goals and 13th in points with 260.
The Robin to Mennella’s Batman this year was Kayleigh Bender. After 31 goals and a CAA Rookie of the Year nod in her freshman campaign, the Long Island native potted 36 and added 15 assists, earning herself a spot on the All-CAA second team.
Madeleine Rudolph, Hofstra’s main draw taker, made the second team as well.Rudolph won 89 draw controls this season.
Christine Dannenfelser displayed her usual defensive prowess, picking up 42 ground balls, 39 draw controls and causing 37 turnovers en route to her second straight All-CAA First Team selection.
Perhaps the biggest boon for Hofstra was the emergence of freshman attackers Charli Joyce and Shannon Steck, both of whom were awarded spots on the All-CAA Rookie Team. The duo often played off of each other to obtain great success. Steck started the season with an explosive 15 goals in Hofstra’s first eight games. After a slow start to conference play, she had six goals in the final three regular-season games, finishing with 24 scores. Joyce had 18 goals and 13 assists with eight multi-point games along the way.
While Mennella is expected to come back for her redshirt senior season, the other three seniors who were honored on Senior Day will be departing the program. Rudolph, Luchianna Cardello and Julia Harris have all played their last game for the Pride. Harris struggled to find offense at times this season, following up 22 goals last year with just nine this season, but she scored in the semifinal game and had two goals on Senior Day. Cardello started 61 games in the net in her career, winning 29 games and finishing her collegiate career with a .416 save percentage.
Stony Brook University ended up winning the CAA championship; they clinched their fourth straight title with an 18-7 win over Towson.
