By Max Sass, Sports Editor
Every pair of eyes in Shuart Stadium was focused on Hofstra freshman attacker Lindsay McKinnon.
The Pride’s women’s lacrosse team had just rallied back from a 9-6 deficit to tie the game and McKinnon earned a free-position with just seconds on the clock.
In the biggest moment of her young career, McKinnon converted. With 7.8 seconds left she scored to give Hofstra a 10-9 win over a Notre Dame.
“I heard Maryann [Miller] whisper to me, ‘Lindsay, I trust you’ and that was the final push to say, go all out, you have nothing to lose,” McKinnon said of her game-winner.
In the moment, McKinnon may have underestimated Miller’s tone of voice. “I heard the, ‘We trust you Lindsay’ as well from the sideline,” Hofstra head coach Abby Morgan said.
The Irish had the Pride’s number prior to Sunday, having won the previous three matchups by a total of four goals.
“This one feels very, very good.” Morgan said. “It’s a win that is not just for this team, but for the alumni that were here today because this is a game and a team that we have fallen to three years in a row.”
Notre Dame struck first, scoring off a feed from behind the cage, but Hofstra soon matched on a free-position goal from senior attacker Stephanie Rice.
Hofstra took the lead at 2-1, when freshman attacker Jenn Ward converted after a pass from McKinnon.
The Irish fired right back less than two minutes later when senior midfielder Kailene Abt beat Hofstra junior goalie Jackie Pandolf.
It took 8:51 for another goal, but it was Hofstra that scored, as Rice found her second of the game and fifteenth of the season.
The back-and-forth play continued as Notre Dame scored to tie the game 3-3, and Hofstra followed with a goal from McKinnon to go back ahead.
Keeping with the flow of the game, Notre Dame tied the game at 4-4 with seven minutes to play in the half.
The Irish took the lead just 32 seconds later on a goal from senior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney.
Abt scored her second goal of the game for Notre Dame after the Irish beat Hofstra downfield on a clear to score in transition.
Hofstra brought the score to 6-5 when Rice passed to senior midfielder Jennalee Trombley, who was cutting down the middle and then beat ND goalie Ellie Hilling.
Hofstra tied on the game on freshman attacker Jill Maier’s twenty-first goal of the season, but Notre Dame took the lead again when it caught Pandolf out of position to go up 7-6.
The Irish opened a three-goal lead on Blaney’s second and third goals of the game.
Hofstra ended its scoring drought of over 18 minutes when Maier converted a free-position shot to bring the score to 9-7.
Rice took a pass from Trombley and turned past a defender on her back to score for the Pride. The goal was Rice’s third of the game and brought the deficit to just one with 4:30 to play.
The Pride tied the game with 2:48 to play, when, after a long methodical possession, McKinnon fed Maier, who punched it in.
With 53 seconds to play in the game, Pandolf made a save on a shot by Blaney that kept the game tied.
“I played Shaylyn Blaney through high school,” Pandolf said. “She honestly destroyed my high school team, so it felt really good that I stopped her.”
The Pride took the ball to its offensive end and earned McKinnon’s free-position.
And with all the eyes on her, McKinnon did not blink in the face of the pressure and moved Hofstra to 4-5 on the season.
