By Joe Pantorno, Assistant Sports Editor
The Hofstra women’s soccer team looked to improve on its 4-1 record and extend its four game win streak when it laced up for a long weekend with games against Columbia University on Friday, September 17 and Princeton University on Sunday, September 19.
Arriving at Columbia, the Pride had seen its offense firing on all cylinders, scoring thirteen goals during its win streak. Columbia, who was on a four game winning streak of their own, did not give up a goal during their respective stretch.
So it was no surprise when the game did not see a goal through all of regulation even though Hofstra was mounting a lot of pressure on the Columbia defense throughout the match. After some early pressure from the Lions in both the first and second half, Hofstra proceeded to outshoot Columbia 22-6 in regulation.
Junior midfielder Courtney Breen had the best chance of regulation when she saw her header get cleared off the goal line by the Columbia defense. Junior goalkeeper Lillian Klein stood on her head, steering clear many Hofstra threats as both sides tried to win it in extra time.
Hofstra almost made its offensive output meaningless when Columbia came inches away from ending the game with seconds left in the first overtime. With five seconds remaining, a Columbia free kick was saved by senior keeper Krista Thorn and rebounded back to Columbia’s senior defender Lauren Cooke. Cooke’s shot was able to beat Thorn, but not sophomore defender Danielle Murino as she cleared the shot off the line to preserve the tie and another overtime.
The second overtime saw much of the same as the Pride offense desperately looked for that golden goal. After being awarded a free kick and enduring a five-minute delay to remove a skunk from the opposite side of the field, sophomore defender Amy Turner stepped up from the left edge of the penalty area and blasted home her first collegiate goal for the Pride and the game winner past Klein whose fourteen save effort was not enough for Columbia.
The double overtime thriller saw Columbia drop to 4-2 on the season and Hofstra improve to 5-1.
The weekend was far from over as the Pride had to come back home to put its five game winning streak on the line when Princeton University came to town.
Despite their 3-2 record going into the match against Hofstra, the Tigers’ defense has been solid for a majority of the season and the side has not been short of goals either. So this match proved to be yet another difficult test for Hofstra in all aspects.
Just like the match against Columbia, the first half saw no goals as the goalkeepers stole the show. Thorn, who earned her first shut out against Columbia, repelled anything shot her way including a clear look from junior midfielder Sara Chehrehsa from fifteen yards out and a thundering free kick from thirty-five yards out from sophomore defender Diane Metcalf-Leggette.
Princeton’s sophomore shot stopper Kristin Watson had a few gems of her own as she stole a couple of goals from Hofstra’s attacking duo, junior Laura Greene and senior Salma Tarik, with two diving saves.
It was not until the fiftieth minute that Hofstra hit the back of the net. After receiving a pass from senior midfielder Tiffany Yovino on the left wing, Tarik took a shot from twelve yards out which was saved by Watson. Before Watson could gain total control of her save, Laura Green dispossessed the keeper and fired the ball into the back of the net from six yards out.
The Pride had to withstand some Princeton pressure in the closing half, but senior defender Dana Bergstrom and company made sure the Hofstra goal was not breached until the final whistle to secure the Pride’s 1-0 win over Princeton and its sixth straight victory.
Along with the weekend sweep, head coach Simon Riddiough was very pleased with his team’s defensive effort over the weekend. “I don’t think it was our best offensive performance,” Riddiough said. “But defensively, we manhandled them. We went to double overtime Friday and to keep that same intensity throughout the long weekend is impressive.”
The weekend sweep catapults Hofstra into a first place tie with Dayton in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional poll.