By Stacy Troiano
A passing winter storm and chilly Maryland air didn’t stop the Lady Pride lacrosse team from roaring into Baltimore and defeating Loyola 13-8 in its season opener Monday afternoon.
The game was originally scheduled for Sunday, but winter weather over the weekend forced the postponement to Monday. The offense was led by senior midfielder Becky Thorn, who tallied four goals and two assists in her first game back after a medical red-shirt kept her off the field last season.
Thorn scored the first goal of the game just three minutes into the match, but Loyola came right back with goals by Kate Filippelli and Maura Kenny to make it 3-4. The Pride responded jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind back to back goals from junior attacker Kelly McGrath and senior attacker Kim Hillier. The Greyhounds played catch-up to draw within two, but Hofstra remained ahead and took an 8-6 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Pride came out strong in the second and broke open a tight game, scoring the first three goals of the half at the hands of Thorn and sophomore midfielder Lauren Whitcomb, who had three in the game.
Loyola came back to cut the lead to 11-8 with 15:00 left in the game on a goal by Colleen O’Keefe, but Hofstra held the Greyhounds scoreless for the rest of the contest, and added two insurance goals by Whitcomb and sophomore attacker Alicia Recco with under two minutes left to secure the 13-8 victory.
Junior goalie Maisie Osteen played a strong game in the net and led the Pride’s ruthless second-half defense, tallying 11 saves, nine of them coming in the second half. She out-dueled Loyola goalie Karen Nicolaus, who finished with seven saves in a losing effort.
“Maisie came up huge in the second half,” Morgan said. “She held them to two goals and let our attack do what they needed to do to close out the game.”
“We got the jitters out in the first half,” Osteen said. “Personally, in the second half I was seeing the ball and trying not to focus on everything else. The whole defense took a breath and played more calm and collected and everything worked well together.”
The Pride offense didn’t disappoint either as Hillier and Thorn led the Pride’s onslaught. Hillier notched two goals of her own to go along with a game-high four assists. With her four assists, Hillier moved into third on Hofstra’s all-time assist list with 63 and needs just one to tie Kristin Marshall for second all-time.
Rookie head coach Abby Morgan couldn’t contain her excitement after coming away with a win in her Hofstra debut.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I was proud of the girls that they were able to play the game well and do what we do. Can’t wait for game number two.”
The excitement was well-earned as Morgan started her young career off on a great note, leading a poised squad to victory.
“We were very composed,” she said. “Something we’ve talked about since day one is just being smart and we did that, and I was really happy about that.”
Morgan said her team was able to overcome a rusty first half on defense because of their composure and smart play, which she attributes to the leadership of the captains and senior offensive juggernauts Thorn and Hillier.
“Becky and Kim just have such a great connection. It was awesome to see them play together again,” Morgan said.
Freshmen Corinne Gandolfi and Ashley Jones also added to the offense, each tallying their first career goals. Hofstra took 26 shots in the game, converting an impressive 50 percent of their attempts.
The Pride are next in action on Saturday when they travel to Boston University to take on the 17th ranked Terriers. Hofstra upset BU last year, and looks to continue its success against the Beantown squad. The Pride will play its first home game on March 9th at James Shuart Stadium.
