By Joe Pantorno, Assistant Sports Editor
The Hofstra women’s soccer team achieved a national ranking for the first time in program history and extended its school record winning streak to 12 as CAA play continued against Towson University on Friday, October 8 and George Mason University on Sunday, October 10.
Towson came to Hempstead at 5-5-3 (1-2-1 CAA) coming off of a double-overtime scoreless draw against Virginia Commonwealth University.
In the fifteenth minute, junior midfielder Brittany Butts’ shot from the top of the 18-yard box caromed off a Towson defender, leaving junior goalkeeper Joclyn Papciak helpless as the ball hit the right post and rolled into the net.
After Butts’ second goal of the season, senior forward Salma Tarik got into the scoring action in the thirty-ninth minute. The forward, who has been held goalless since the Pride’s September 12 win over Indiana, got on the end of a Towson clearance, beat two defenders, and unleashed a strike from 20 yards out that found twine in the top right corner for her team leading sixth goal of the season.
The second half did not have to wait long for its first goal as senior midfielder Tiffany Yovino put home the attempted shot of junior midfielder Courtney Breen after it was deflected to the front of goal by senior forward Kayla Pifer in the fifty-sixth minute, extending the Hofstra lead to 3-0.
A Towson penalty shot would cut the Pride advantage to 3-1.
The Pride regained its three-goal cushion in the seventy-third minute when Tarik tallied her second goal of the match and her third multi-goal game of the season. After receiving a perfect ball from freshman forward Amber Stobbs, Tarik dribbled her way to the top of the 18-yard box and fired a strike into the top left corner of the net bringing an end to the scoring for the day. The 4-1 victory gave Hofstra a new school record eleven straight victories, an 11-1 overall record, and a 5-0 mark in conference play.
Tarik’s return to the score sheet was a great sign for head coach Simon Riddiough. “Goal scorers usually go through barren spells for weeks on end and that’s what she did,” said Riddiough. “But she kept plugging away, doing the right things, she kept believing, and we just did a little bit more by getting the ball to her feet a little bit more. When that happens, and she plays that well, she’s unstoppable.”
George Mason visited the Hofstra Soccer Stadium next. The 8-4-1 Patriots were looking to improve on their 4-2 conference record and climb the ladder in the CAA standings.
Tarik scored her third goal in two games in the twenty-first minute after a Mason clearance went awry off a Hofstra free kick.
Stobbs doubled the Pride’s lead in the thirty-fifth minute when she pushed her breakaway shot past the goalkeeper for her second goal of the season.
The end of the first half saw the Pride go over 1,000 minutes without trailing in a game. The last time it did trail was all the way back on September 3 against the University of Rhode Island.
In the fifty-ninth minute, Yovino took senior defender Dana Bergstrom’s pass, flicked past the Patriot defense and converted her break away chance into the right side netting.
The lead stretched to 4-0 after junior forward Laura Greene cleaned up the rebound from a Bergstrom shot that struck the crossbar. The assist from Bergstrom was her third of the match, becoming the fourth player in school history to have three helpers in a game.
The scoring ended in the eighty-seventh minute when freshman Ruby Staplehurst headed home a free kick from sophomore defender Amy Turner for the 5-0 victory.
The twelve game win streak as catapulted Hofstra to top of the CAA, the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional poll, and has seen the Pride enter the top 25 national rankings at number 23.
“It’s a fantastic achievement for the program to be nationally ranked,” said Riddiough. “Twelve wins in a row is a tremendous record to break. We just have to keep it going and that’s the tough part.”