By Stacy Troiano
Try as they might, opposing defenses have been unable to stifle the Hofstra Pride offense at the start of this 2007 season. In six games so far this year, the Pride have scored 18 goals after scoring 19 the entire 2006 season. Impressive in itself, that fact is supplemented by the fact that the 18 goals this year have come from 12 different players.
“We said at the beginning of the year that this team will win because it’s a team,” head coach Simon Riddiough said. “We’re going to have contributions from a lot of players at different times in the season, and that’s an example of what’s happened at the moment.”
Sunday marked Hofstra’s second five-goal game of the season. The most goals scored by the Pride in a game all of last season was three, which they did twice, against Fairfield and then George Mason.
The offensive surge has led Hofstra to a 5-1 record, and even in the one loss, which came to Columbia on Friday, the Pride took 19 shots, a handful of which missed the back of the net by mere inches or feet. Riddiough was happy with his team’s performance despite the outcome.
“We were obviously disappointed with the result, but I thought we played really well,” he said. “I thought our performance was the best we’ve had this season, and we were just quite unfortunate to come away with a loss.”
The Pride have scored two or more goals in each of its games, with the exception of Friday’s 2-1 loss to Columbia, a great improvement from a 2006 season in which Hofstra was shut out eight times in 19 games.
Not only has the offense scored with ease, but they have spread the scoring around during the start of the season. Five different players scored the team’s five goals on Sunday to make it an even twelve different goal scorers on the year for the Pride.
That may be what frustrates opposing coaches and defenses the most, and what Riddiough believes will help the Pride as the season moves on.
“It’s tough for teams to recognize what to defend,” he said. “They can isolate on one player, but then they’ve got to deal with another. They isolate on that player, they’ve got to deal with another. It makes it very unpredictable to defend against, and it gives us options to change things up as well.”
On Saturday, Hofstra will battle a defensive-minded Fordham team, which has not allowed more than two goals all season on its way to a 3-1-1 record. The Rams will have their work cut out for them against a dangerous Hofstra offense.
Sitting near the top of the northeast rankings at 5-1, No. 14 Edel Malone and the rest of the women’s soccer team have plenty to be excited about as CAA play nears. (Keith Meilink)